I had seen it coming, but that didn’t help diminish the pit in my stomach any. For months, we employees had watched our 2 bosses struggle to find the financing not only to finish their massive new opening in Marseille, but also to pay us. I’d been late on my rent the previous 3 months because we had been paid so late! So when the ball dropped and layoffs needed to happen, I wasn’t surprised that I was the first to go, as I had been the last one in. And that pit in my stomach was very familiar in those years, when I worked for start-up after start-up which didn’t really get beyond the start.
I loved working for start-ups! I loved the energy, the smallness of the team, the family feeling, the “all-hands-on-deck”, “all-ideas-welcome” and this idea of being a part of something from the very start. LOVED it! To my mind, this suited more my “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” personality at that time. However, right then, I was so. very. tired. of having the rug pulled out from under me. I decided then and there that it was time to go hide in a cubicle, do whatever job they would give me to the very best of my ability, keep my head down, but enjoy the security of it, and experience what a well-established, structured company felt like.
It was wonderful. The corporation I worked for changed my life in so many – SO MANY – positive ways. I met amazing friends, traveled the world, grew in knowledge and self-esteem, worked for many inspiring, strong women bosses who lifted me up. I experienced the positive aspects of internal structure (and the dark side when it turns into bureaucracy), and I even got to lead some groundbreaking projects, which felt again a little like that start-up energy I had so loved once upon a time. I am forever so very grateful for the beautiful experience I had working in a corporate environment.