Better Days (part 1)

Photo credit: Deb Achak Photography

The great thing about life is that if you stick around long enough, you will see everything.

Many years ago, a company I worked for was acquired by a larger competitor looking to break into industries in which we already possessed a strong footing. In many ways, the acquisition made sense. We needed the revenues to continue to grow and they needed access to new locations, industries and management.

We were a smaller, scrappy company and would now be part of a much larger organization with revenues more than double what ours had been.

I was excited because I would be making more money (always a good thing) and would have the ability to sell more solutions and across more locations to potential clients. However I was understandably disappointed as well. I loved what we had been building the past few years and I truly believed in what my company had been doing. In addition, while my current firm was based in Oregon, I would now be reporting to offices on the east coast. I was already dreading the increased travel but trying to open minded.

A month into the acquisition, I was called to the corporate office in DC for a sales meeting. There I would meet my new boss, his marketing assistant, as well as the entire sales team I would now be a part of.

I didn’t know it at the time but I would never forget that day.

Equal parts shocked, confused and disillusioned all in the span of a few hours, it remains the most disorienting business meeting I have ever attended.

To be continued…