Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Career Fear
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
What would you do if you were fired today? No way, you say. "It couldn't happen! I'm doing a great a job! The economy couldn't be better! My company is in great shape! Why on Earth would I be fired?"
The truth is it could happen, and the reasons might not have anything to do with you, the economy or the great job you're doing. But they could have a lot to do with your company.
What better example than Enron?
Many hardworking people at Enron--that goes for the rank and file, right up the ladder from the help desk people, programmers, systems and networking experts and project managers to the power-wielding senior managers--lost their careers and their pensions. Everything could collapse right under you: your career; your big plans for yourself and your family.
Jump back in time to 2001, when the once high-riding dot-com companies imploded and then collapsed largely due to the havoc wrought by inexperienced, arrogant and incompetent managers who barely had a vague idea how the business and technology worlds worked. Hopefully, they've been humbled by the experience.
So what would you do if you suddenly were handed the proverbial pink slip? Odds are you've never given it a thought. In the paragraphs ahead, I'm going to open you up to some real-world possibilities.
The ideal time to start laying out an emergency scenario in case you suddenly lose your job is …
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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." - Mark Twain |