Once upon a time, I was working at a tech company, and the President of the largest division exited. I remember thinking this was a big deal. After all, this individual had taken their revenue from basically zero to a billion. And then all of a sudden, they were gone.
There was an email, some kind words exchanged in the halls, and just like that, their email and Slack were deactivated, and they were gone.
A few months later, I watched a CEO exit. A new one took over. Same thing.
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I’ve seen a lot of high-profile people leave, and each time, I think, “How can this business run without them?”
But it does. Life goes on. The business goes on. Almost nothing changes. It’s like they were never there. Poof. On to the next.
If a CEO is replaceable, we are all replaceable.
It doesn’t matter what your role is, what you did yesterday, what you were going to do next quarter, or even how well-liked you are or were. You can be here today, gone tomorrow.
Like a Thanos snap, you’re gone.
The funny thing, though, about being replaceable to one company only means you are irreplaceable to another company, and that’s the learning opportunity here.
One company may have no issue getting rid of you, but another company may be dying to hire you. The thing you need to understand, though, is that maintaining your confidence through the entire process will make all the difference in the world to you, and knowing you can become valuable to another company before they make a layoff decision can be valuable as well.
Too many people make the mistake of tying their entire identity to one logo, one building, one Slack workspace, or one leader who happens to believe in them at a particular moment in time. Then one reorg happens, one acquisition happens, one quarterly earnings call disappoints Wall Street, and suddenly the same company that told everyone they were “family” starts creating lists of names.
Corporate loyalty is a very strange thing when you really step back and analyze it. Companies will absolutely celebrate your contributions right up until the second they decide they no longer need them anymore.
That sounds harsh, but honestly, I think understanding that reality can become incredibly freeing once you stop taking it personally. If you understand that everyone is replaceable within an organization, you also realize that rejection from one company does not define your actual value in the marketplace.
Timing changes. Leadership changes. Strategy changes. Entire departments disappear overnight, even when the people inside them are wildly talented. Plenty of incredibly smart people have lost jobs simply due to bad timing and bad luck, while less talented people survived another quarter simply because they happened to sit closer to a profitable line item on a spreadsheet.
The people who navigate these moments the best are usually the ones who maintain confidence through uncertainty instead of allowing one company’s decision to completely shatter their self-worth. The second someone gets laid off, put on a performance plan, or pushed out of a company, they often start speaking about themselves differently. Their energy changes. Their confidence changes. Their belief in their own value starts collapsing before they even begin applying for the next opportunity.
Meanwhile, another company across town may desperately need the exact skill set, leadership style, communication ability, or personality they bring to the table.
I think about professional athletes a lot when it comes to this topic. One team cuts a player, and the sports media starts talking about them like their career is over. Two days later, another organization signs them, changes the system around them slightly, gives them confidence, puts them in a different environment, and suddenly everyone starts calling it a comeback story. Same player. Same talent. Different fit. Careers work exactly the same way, even if people hate admitting it.
The dangerous thing is that many people stay in environments that no longer value them simply because they are scared to test their worth somewhere else. They would rather slowly lose confidence over three years than experience three uncomfortable months of uncertainty while searching for a better opportunity. Over time, that kind of emotional erosion starts changing people. You see it in their posture, their communication, their motivation, and eventually even their identity. They stop seeing themselves as valuable long before the market actually stops valuing them.
That is why I always tell people to build confidence independent of one company’s opinion of them. Build relationships outside your organization. Build skills that transfer. Build a network. Build visibility. Build adaptability. Most importantly, build a life where your identity does not fully depend on one CEO deciding whether your name still belongs on an org chart next quarter.