She said it almost every day during the transition: “I’m going to sprint to the finish.”
The company we worked for, Time Warner Cable, was in the midst of being absorbed by Charter Communications. A number of my colleagues were looking forward to the close of the transaction so they could take their packages and ride off into the sunset, including this particular executive.
The Charter deal was atypical. Normally the acquirer is bigger and looks for cost savings by cutting heads at the company it’s buying (“synergies” is the preferred corporate euphemism). But in this case Charter was much smaller than Time Warner Cable, as a result, it was not a fait accompli that the executive team and much of the staff of the division I worked for would be exited. (In my case, I was asked to stay and lead marketing for the combined company.)
It would’ve been so easy for her to coast during the always strange phase of an acquisition where two companies that are about to become one must operate independently. After all, she wasn’t auditioning for new bosses or angling for a seat at the table. Yet her attitude was the opposite. She worked as hard as ever, right until the end. It was a master class in professionalism, commitment, and dedication.
I’ve thought about “sprint to the finish” often over the years. It is a great lesson for anyone, yet following this advice isn’t as easy as it sounds. The temptation to coast can be very strong, especially when you know you’re leaving.
A successful corporate career requires decades of working long hours, commuting, traveling, and tolerating a lot of bullshit. For all the amazing rewards and experiences that come with corporate success, unless you’re one of the select few blessed with a charmed career, at one time or another inevitably everyone is forced to swallow a super-sized helping of bad decisions, indignities, and broken promises.
It’s not grandly exciting or inspiring to talk about in commencement speeches, but young people need to know that achieving professional success in corporate America is as much a function of endurance and patience as anything else.
Given that reality, it’s hard to blame someone for cashing the check and doing the bare minimum if you can get away with it.
Everyone knows the timeless adage; you never get a second chance to make a first impression. It’s why we are so conscious of how we present ourselves when walking in the room for a job interview, meeting a new boss, or greeting a potential client.
Yet there’s a bookend corollary to this idea of first impressions that even the best of us can lose sight of: the last impression you make tends to be what people remember. How you leave matters. You could work hard for decades but if you coast or mail it in at the end, it likely will tarnish the cumulative impact of all your years of hard work and commitment. It’s not fair, but it is human nature.
Whether you are a young person giving notice from a job you detest or an older professional waiting to be shown the door in the next round of layoffs, don’t coast. Whatever short term sugar high you get from getting one over on your employer, even if they richly deserve it, in the end you’re only putting at risk all the blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested in developing your reputation.
“Sprint to the finish” is more than just sound advice about how to leave a job gracefully. To me, it’s a credo for how to approach all our professional endeavors, especially for older workers.
I call middle age our peak years because I believe it is the time of our professional lives when we have the potential to make the most impact. Thanks to a lifetime of hard work and dedication we’ve amassed skills, experiences, relationships, and wisdom that put us in a position to create enormous value for ourselves and others.
Yet it’s also a time when the temptation to coast is at its strongest. Again, it’s easy to understand. Maybe our employer is asking us to do more with less, and, oh by the way, also announced that there will be no merits or bonuses this year. Maybe we’ve come to hate the job and are counting the days until retirement. Or may we’re just worn out and need a break.
All that is understandable, but deciding to coast at the very moment we are at our peak robs ourselves of so much opportunity. It’s like buying a Ferrari and only driving it to the grocery store. What’s the point of investing a fortune in a high-performance vehicle if you aren’t going to find the open road and pop that baby into fifth?
While we choose to work, we owe it to ourselves to make full use of the powers and skills we’ve labored so hard to hone over the years. If you’re employer no longer fully values your contributions, find another one. If that doesn’t make sense financially, find another outlet like mentoring, teaching, or serving on charitable boards.
If you’ve been coasting – and I think all of us have at one time or another – getting yourself into gear will take some effort. It’s like exercise, it may hurt at first if you’re not used to it, but you will be glad you did it afterwards. You will feel more alive; younger and vital. Who knows, perhaps after shaking off the cobwebs you may be inspired to try something entirely new.
To be clear, I fully understand that many people work hard throughout their careers so they can slow down, spend time with their families, and enjoy the fruits of their labors. There’s nothing wrong with looking forward to retirement. I’m not suggesting that everyone should stay on the corporate treadmill, running themselves ragged until they drop.
But if you’ve made the decision to show up to the race, you owe it to yourself to give it everything you’ve got and sprint to the finish.
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