A “shot-down pilot” is how Russians describe a senior executive who suddenly finds themselves out of work. These painful events are happening more and more often: there is a crisis, companies are reorganising — or rather “optimising” — structures are getting flatter, and the number of management posts is shrinking dramatically.
No one is safe from losing their job, especially now that constant change has become the new “normal”.
But it is especially hard for “shot-down pilots”, because the culture of “successful success” seems to leave no room for those who have failed.
I suggest we think about what one could do today and look for your own solutions without stepping into the void. Books written when the world was clear and predictable no longer work, and stories about how a crisis is an opportunity, or how successful people closed many projects before their “unicorn” took off, are not exactly inspiring.
In today’s situation a person essentially has to put themselves together anew.
There are many forks in the road, and whether or not the person plans to go back to the corporate world, they will need to regroup — that is, be ready and have the strength.
Trying to jump onto a new path quickly, without rethinking and owning this experience — unpleasant, but very important — usually leads to faster burnout. And recruiters sense with their spine what state a person is in and whether they are ready for new achievements.
So the first thing I would advise is to take a pause, to take it in and — forgive me — REST. Yes, yes, you have the right to rest!
The first thing you will have to do is admit that it happened (Stefanie P. Spera, Eric D. Buhrfeind and James W. Pennebaker, 1994). Yes, it happened to me; yes, the situation is stressful… But it is not a catastrophe! It is a new experience. And remember the Russian saying: “one who has been beaten is worth two who haven’t”. Really.
What matters is how you live through this experience and what you take from it.
Yes, in any situation you can find positive sides and treat it as a chance to gain new skills. You could even write a book: “Screw-ups for beginners”.
This approach worked for a client of mine who was let go from a large IT company after a change of owner and the restructuring that followed. Eight months later she joined the board of a Russian bank and now oversees its IT. We laugh when we remember that “plan A” was “hug each other and cry”, while “plan B” was “use every connection I had built up”.
The next stage is to give up the mantra “I can do it, I’m strong, I’ll do it all myself!”
In a closed system you can’t pull yourself out by your own hair like Baron Munchausen, so don’t be shy about asking for help. This is perhaps the hardest part. It is hard to admit that you are not all-powerful, that you can’t control everything, that right now you are vulnerable — but it is NOT shameful. To be vulnerable is to be alive and real, not a pretty cardboard façade. Besides, no one but the psychologist will know, and psychologists keep things confidential.
I had a client who was brought in by his wife. The young man had headed a department in a large Russian holding company, with several dozen people under him, but it so happened that his whole department was disbanded. For several months he spoke to no one and hardly left the house. Things were made worse by his health: an ambulance was called several times for “heart attacks”, but his heart turned out to be fine. Prolonged stress had set off panic attacks.
Our strategy was this: first we deal with the panic attacks, then we choose what to do next. In the end the client took a similar position, but in a company from a completely different industry. The hardest part was not finding a job but deciding to go to a recruitment agency.
The next step is to take stock of your knowledge, skills and competences.
People say now that past experience does not apply when there is so much uncertainty. True, experience can’t simply be “transplanted” from one reality into another — it has to be reworked and made sense of. But meta-skills such as creativity, flexibility, systems thinking and the ability to communicate are very much applicable in any situation. Everything may flow and change, but in this chaos it is important to have constants to lean on, and to add new knowledge and skills as you need them.
One of my clients, with long experience as a finance director at various companies, lost her job when her employer, an American company, decided to leave Russia. Who needs experience in managing finance? Everyone! Startups especially. So my client became a kind guardian-angel consultant to Skolkovo startups. But she does not rule out going back to employment and talks to recruiters from time to time.
And the most important step is to stop feeling resentful.
I tried so hard, I worked myself to the bone, I burned out so many times — and this is the thanks I get! Fired! Or made redundant. Resentment also takes a lot of energy, so all that is left is to understand and forgive (Breines, J.G. and Chen, S. 2012). It is not easy for them either.
As a psychologist, I have to put in quite a lot of effort to help a person remember that they have other, no less important sides.
And you will also have to come to terms with time.
Getting through the “stress curve” takes time, but most people try to rush past the unpleasant situation as fast as they can — under pressure from their loved ones’ expectations or for fear of lowering their standard of living and losing social status (Samantha A. Conroy and Anne M. O’Leary-Kelly, 2014). Of course, you can go straight into a new job, but your body will take its revenge: the stress has not gone anywhere.
By the way, she now advises a PR agency and helps it win tenders.
You can look at time as a resource to invest in learning. Or create a “Shot-Down Pilots Anonymous” club and start a peer-support group for people who speak your language and also need support.
Of course, there are no universal strategies that suit absolutely everyone, but you can feel your way to them together with a specialist.
Works mentioned in this article
- Paul, K. I., & Moser, K. (2009). Unemployment impairs mental health: Meta-analyses. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74(3), 264–282.
- Spera, S. P., Buhrfeind, E. D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1994). Expressive writing and coping with job loss. The Academy of Management Journal, 37(3), 722–733.
- Breines, J. G., & Chen, S. (2012). Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 1133–1143.
- Gabriel, Y., Gray, D. E., & Goregaokar, H. (2013). Job loss and its aftermath among managers and professionals: Wounded, fragmented and flexible. Work, Employment and Society, 27(1), 56–72. doi:10.1177/0950017012460326
- McKee-Ryan, F. M., Song, Z., Wanberg, C. R., & Kinicki, A. J. (2005). Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(1), 53–76.
- Conroy, S. A., & O’Leary-Kelly, A. M. (2014). Letting go and moving on: Work-related identity loss and recovery. The Academy of Management Review, 39(1), 67–87.
Psychoanalyst, clinical psychologist, psychologist, organisational consultant · 11 years in practice
I combine different approaches — psychoanalysis and clinical psychology — to help people find their inner resources and restore balance in their relationships with themselves, their loved ones, their colleagues and the world.
