Black Friday deals are here. My best selling books and the Get Clear Assessment are on sale for just $12. Shop now at ramsysolutions.com slash store. I'm gonna give you some phrases that signal you might be experiencing a layoff. Uh oh. These are telltale signs and then Amazon making news again leading the charge back to five days of work in the office. We'll break it down.
All right. Welcome to the Ken Coleman show. I want you to win at work because I'm going to tell you, if you're winning at work, you got a chance of winning in the rest of your life. So I want you getting better so the paycheck can get bigger. That's our aim. And so let's, let's do a little bit of a warning, shall we? Um, for you history buffs, I feel a little bit like Paul Revere today. The British are coming, the British are coming, the British are coming, right? I want to warn you because we are in a cooling job economy right now. Now,
We'll see what shakes out in the next quarter because the Fed has spoken. Everybody's excited about Jerome Powell now, aren't they? Oh, Jerome, Jerome, Jerome, have you saved us? I'm talking about the Fed chair. For those of you who aren't paying attention to the news every day, I got your back.
So here we sit. Now the Fed is in a cycle. They've announced, we'll see where it goes. How's it going to play out? But as we sit and as we converse together today, we've certainly seen a cooling of the job economy. And is there going to be a soft landing, right? Which means no recession.
from all of the interest rate hikes. And now the Fed is beginning to lower the interest rates. And will we have a soft landing, meaning no recession, which means less layoffs remains to be seen. But in the spirit of this, whether it's now or later, here are some very interesting statements. And I'm just giving you a couple.
specific statements from American companies in memos and statements made by their executives. And these are examples of phrases. You start to hear this. You should start thinking we're headed towards layoffs because we see a history of layoffs after these kinds of statements. And for the record, it drives me crazy.
And I'm going to tell you what leaders, if you are having to navigate laying off people, I'm going to give you some specifics on how to do this the right way. So it doesn't harm the company because we know from data that when a company does layoffs, whether they needed to or not, it has a profound effect, not just in the moment on the people up behind, but to the future.
So here we go. Here's a couple of statements. These are actual statements. PwC, we are aligning our workforce to better support our strategy. Now I want you to picture an executive with a teacup in their hand and they're pinky up in the air. Maybe they got a pinky ring on, cause this is how this stuff comes across. It doesn't come across as authentic. It comes across as a bunch of lawyers, wordsmiths, some stuff, and it's just so snooty and devoid of emotion.
We are aligning our workforce to better support our strategy. No, you're not. You're laying people off. You're laying people off. Just say what it is. You're not aligning your workforce to better support your strategy. That's gobbledygook corporate speak. It's designed to put lipstick on a pig. Have you ever seen a pig?
Have you ever seen lipstick on a pig? It's an old phrase. I've never seen it, but I can tell you this. If I put lipstick on a pig, it would not make that pig look any better. Here's a second phrase. We've seen this from Goldman Sachs executives. We're doing a strategic resource assessment. No, you're not. You're looking at who you're going to lay off and who you're going to keep. And by the way, layoffs while unfortunate,
and painful to navigate. It's not unethical. It's not always the best solution, but sometimes it's the right solution or the best solution available to a company. So executing a layoff doesn't make a company and its leadership big bad wolves, but the way you do it can certainly make you a big, big, bad wolf. And these kinds of statements
don't actually do the thing that they're intended to do. These kinds of statements are intended to soften the blow. But can I just tell you something? They're so softening the blow. I think of resetting a bone is my metaphor today.
There are times where a doctor must reset a broken bone. It is in the best interest of the patient and it's short-term and long-term health of the bone and the patient. It requires to reset the bone. It sucks. Never had it happen to me, but I've had it happen to a couple of my buddies and they describe it. It's not fun for the doctor. Resetting the bone.
is a necessity, but it is an unfortunate necessity. But there is no softening the blow of resetting the bone. There's no doc speak. There's no bedside manner that actually reduces the uncomfortableness or the pain for the patient.
Now, can they, can they, uh, prepare the patient mentally for what's about to happen? Sure. But again, it's not gobbledygook. The doctor goes, Hey, Ken, we got to reset your bone. And this is going to hurt. Pretty simple. I now am able to go. What's about to happen to me is going to suck. But.
It needs to happen. And it's going to happen. That's all that's needed. At that point, the person's got to deal with it. So the doctor's clear. Bones broken. Best case or the best steps going forward is to reset the mode. And it is going to suck. And we're about to do it. Are you ready? Right. I mean,
This is fundamentally when, when corporations need to do layoffs, they should probably treat it like a doctor says, or like a doctor does in resetting a bone. The doctor doesn't say it is time for a strategic alignment of your bones. We're not going to reset your bones. Nathan, we're not, we're not going to reset your bone. We are going to, um, have a strategic realignment of the bone to best use the resources of your body.
If the doctor says that, do you go, would you shut up and just frickin' set the bone? What are we talking about here? All right, you got it? This is common sense leadership, folks. It's common sense. But that's not what these companies do. They say this crap, and so what happens? Three things happen. Number one, it creates confusion.
Oh, where do I stay? Where do I stay? We say crap like this. And the person who works for that company immediately goes, where do I stay? Am I going to get laid off? And so what does that do? It creates confusion. A lack of clarity creates confusion. And then that confusion creates anxiety. Oh my gosh, what's going to happen? Very natural. Number two, after the initial unsettling, if we could call it that, that confusion and then the worry that comes with that, now,
Immediately after that initial blow, the trust starts to erode. I don't trust them that they have our best interest in mine. I don't trust that I'm going to be handled fairly in this deal. I'm going to get laid off unfairly. Why? Because you gave them gobbledygook. We will be aligning our workforce to better support our strategy. The person's going to want the craps, our strategy and we're in all I've fitted, right? No.
We're going to be doing layoffs. You're going to find out from your manager within 24 hours. Rip the band aid off, set the bone better, right? The third thing that happens as the erosion of trust happens, by the way, even those who aren't laid off, we know from data that the trust erodes for those who even didn't get cut.
It's not like you do massive layoffs in an organization and everybody left behind goes, whoo, whoo, those unlucky, you know what's, ha ha, I'm super excited about staying at this company. Now they go, what's next? Is there another round? And so what happens, cynicism? Just these people, they don't talk to us like we're adults.
They talk to us in platitudes and corporate legal speak, cynic, they become cynical. And by the way, I say all of this is natural and it's understandable. That's the way any human would handle it. So what do you do? Leaders, here's what you do. Number one, back to my metaphor, setting the bone, tell them the truth. Tell them the absolute truth.
I didn't say you have to be insensitive, but you tell them the truth. The doctor can be very kind and nice and go, we gotta reset the bone and it's going to suck. Tell them the truth. Number two, tell them why.
That's what a doctor does. We've got to reset the bone. And when we do this, it's going to heal faster. It's going to aid healing. They tell them why. So tell them the truth, tell them why we've got to do this, be empathetic, be a human and go. This sucks. And I know how this feels. I've been through it before. I know what you're feeling. And then number four, be helpful. Get them some resources.
Come alongside of them, walk it through with them, tell them what's next, what they can do. Are there any resources the company will give them as a result of the layoff? So quick review, tell them the truth, tell them why it's got to be done and be empathetic and be helpful. If you do that and as a leader across the board, we do this through corporate layoffs and leaders, if you're in a small business, you got to let me tell you something. That will not erode trust and create cynicism for those left behind.
because by being truthful to them, they feel like they're being dealt with as an adult. And they go, you respect me enough to tell me the truth. I respect that you've got some tough decisions to make. And I hate to be, and let me tell you something, those that are left behind will be empathetic to you, leader, if you're transparent. They'll be empathetic to you. They don't want to be in your situation.
And they certainly are grateful they still have their job, but more importantly, they're grateful to be treated like adults. And so that's the takeaway. Hope that helps those of you to be aware of what might be happening. And for those of you who have to lead through layoffs, do it the right way. It's going to come back to really help, not haunt.
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All right, Amazon in the news a lot all the time for seemingly for who knows what, but not too long ago, they made headlines for finally doing what a lot of observers, yours truly included, thought was coming. Over the last year or so coming out of the pandemic, we've seen a gradual policy change for Amazon.
to return to work and that's hybrid, some in, some out and a lot of observers. And again, I thought this was happening. Uh, it has now been announced, has been announced the new, uh, CEO, Andy Jassy, by the way, who I've been very critical of Amazon in the past. I've got a lot of praise for Amazon on this deal, but recently they said, look, you're back five days a week. Now,
For those of you who love to take shots at me when I take strong positions on stuff, I'm not anti-remote work. Never have been, never will be.
But I'm for what leaders believe is best for their culture. And Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, believes that having people back in the office five days a week is best for their organization. Now there's all kinds of conspiracy theories. He's doing this to further cull the herd to get people to quit instead of fire them. Sure. Okay. Maybe.
but that's their prerogative to put out a policy that they believe is right and if people leave, they're okay with it. I don't think it's that kind of evil chess, maybe it is, but that's their prerogative. But this is fascinating. So quickly, here's what's happening. By January 2nd,
uh, workers will need to be in the office five days a week. So they're essentially, and by the way, I, I applaud this leadership and they're getting out in front of this and they're going, you got a basic quarter to decide. You got three, four months to decide whether or not you want to adhere to our new policy, but come January 2nd,
You got to be in the office five days a week. All right. So that's what got all the headlines. That was the big hullabaloo because, you know, a lot of people just, it's become this coming out of the pandemic. This, this, this right to work remote has become like its own issue.
and very clear and emotional lines on this. I mean, if you want to get shot at verbally on social media, you want to take some darts, some arrows, throw out an anti-remote work post and just sit back and watch it. Whoa, boy, oh boy, if I unintentionally stepped into some of those bad boys.
just by commenting on policies that are out there. And again, I'm not anti-remote work at all. I mean, I've talked about four-day work weeks. I report the studies folks and look, of all of the studies done with four-day work week, this is pretty positive. But that doesn't mean that I'm saying that's what needs to happen. I'm just telling you, and I've said clearly,
And by the way, my position on four day work week is the same as in remote work or hybrid work. If you can make it work as a leader, I sit back applaud and say, go, come on.
Who am I to say that only one size fits all? Never gonna do it. All right, so the news and the headlines were Andy, Jassy, Amazon, Big Bad Darth Vader is making all the Amazon workers come back to work. It's unrealistic, it's wrong. He's trying to get people to quit, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But in the same memo to me is the more news worthy story.
and it's never gonna get the headlines. So I'm gonna give it some real attention because I actually think this is good. Here's what he also said. This is a direct quote. Amazon also, this is in addition, he's already announced in the memo, we're coming back January 2nd, everybody's gotta be in the office five days a week. He then goes on to say, Amazon also plans to simplify
It's corporate culture by having fewer managers in order to remove layers and flatten organizations. He's talking about teams within the massive Amazon, which is over a million employees. So what he's calling organizations, you're going to hear this some more in this, in some of his statements. He's talking to teams within the organization, smaller organizations within the greater.
because Amazon owns multiple companies, you get it. All right, this is fascinating. He goes on to say that each organization will be expected to increase the ratio of individual contributors that's employees to managers, increase the ratio from employees to managers by at least 15% by the end of the first quarter of 2025. That means
He wants more employees who don't manage anybody and less managers. Fascinating. He wants to flatten the structure. And to that, he is asking each team to review their structures as a part of this process and identify roles that are no longer required.
and he changes their justice will be announced at the team level. So he is also, not only is he looking to flatten the bureaucracy structure, he's also empowering the individual leaders of these teams within Amazon organizations to say, this is what we need to do. And folks, before you get up in arms, he's actually saying, I want less managers, more employees.
He's not saying, get rid of more employees. He's saying, get rid of more managers. And I'm a fan of leaders, but oh my goodness, this got my attention. And I got a little, I got a little flutter in my tummy on this one. I was like, ooh, this is good leadership here. Why? Why do I believe this? If you haven't already figured it out, he said, I want to make these changes to ensure that we are remaining nimble.
And to underscore the point, he said the company created a bureaucracy mailbox. This is Alex when I got excited. I emotionally stood up and started applauding. I stayed in my chair, but emotionally I was giving CEO Andy Jassy a much deserved standing ovation. Are you kidding me? A bureaucracy mailbox?
Are you kidding me? This is a dedicated email address.
to which anyone can send an email to to root out unnecessary processes and excessive rules. I was like, go Andy, go, go Andy, go. Because if you haven't figured it out about me, if you're new to this program, if there's one thing I hate and I mean, I'm saying this with, with, with all caps. And I'm talking about deep seated hatred. And it's not towards people.
but I hate with everything in my fiber, unnecessary rules, and excessive processes. I get allergic to it. In fact, anybody that rams these losers who's been in a meeting with me, if I feel that there's some unnecessary process, I challenge it immediately with great fervor, because I'm just wired that way.
Uh, true, by the way, unless you think I'm puffing myself up, hear me say, I'm never the smartest person in any room, but I am always the most. Listen to me, common sense person in the room. I'll say that because I hear about bureaucracy and unnecessary rules in the media here at Ramsey Solutions. I'll go, why are we doing that? And I make everybody uncomfortable, by the way. And I'm not trying to make everybody uncomfortable. I just go, I don't understand.
and you're going, Ken, are you saying they're unnecessary bureaucracy at Ramsey Solutions? Yes! Not because Ramsey Solutions is bad, because Ramsey Solutions is a company, and every company has this stuff. And so we need to always look out for it. Do we have a lot of it? No. So everybody relax. Oh, I'm gonna send an email to Dave. No, no. He would say the same thing.
We got to always guard against it, folks. That's just me being honest and transparent. And you show me a company that goes, we don't have unnecessary rules and unnecessary bureaucracy. I'm going to go, you're out of your freaking mind. Pull your head out of your, you know what? The very nature of an organization is to sometimes implement unnecessary rules and unnecessary processes. So folks, I'm just being honest. If you don't like it, I don't care.
I'm just being honest. This is amazing. He goes on to say after introducing the bureaucracy mailbox, gosh, I love that idea. Wish I had come up with it. It's a, it's a reporting mechanism to go. There are some arcane and unnecessary processes and rules. Now, by the way, the employee might be wrong.
but that's okay. They ought to feel like they can raise the flag and go, I don't think this process makes any sense. It's stupid and the leader can go, thank you for sharing that. I'd like to talk about and allow them to go, this is dumb and this is stupid. And if the leader hears it and is able to A, make their case and thus get that person on board with that, healthy organization or B,
actually listen and go, I think you're right and have the, you know what's to make the change, healthy organization. But it's when people don't feel like they can report this kind of stuff that leaders start to develop blind spots everywhere. And you know what happens? It takes the customer going, you guys are a bunch of idiots. And then corporations start to pay attention.
Here's what he said, and I'll wrap this. We want to operate like the world's largest startup. This means having a passion for costly inventing for customers. First word out of his mouth.
Why do we want to remove bureaucracy? Why do we want to get rid of more managers and have more people getting, you know, what done? Because we want to be flexible. We want to be pliable. We want to invent on behalf of the customer. In other words, we listen to the customer, not our stupid freaking bureaucracy rules.
Because we want strong urgency for the biggest opportunities. We want high ownership, fast decision making, scrappiness, frugality and deeply connected collaboration and a shared commitment to each other. He says, when you are joined at the hip with your teammates, when inventing and solving hard problems, that's what happens. Let me tell you what happens when we have too many managers. It starts to be a cover your, you know what.
The more managers, the more checks and balances, the more checks and balances, the less innovation, the less collaboration. Bureaucracy is where
Progress goes to die. I'm gonna say it again. Bureaucracy in government, bureaucracy in your business, bureaucracy in your ministry, bureaucracy in your nonprofit is where progress goes to die. If you don't like that, you're wrong and I'm sorry. I did my best in the last few minutes to enlighten you.
Good luck as everybody else passes you, and you're in love with your stupid processes and dumb rules.
everybody needs a coach and if you don't realize you need a coach you need to first work on being more coachable and then once you become coachable you need a coach and I want you to know that for a long time we have been excited and working through how to do it and we are piloting a coaching program right now where you can get a coach
who is Ken Coleman approved. It's a group of coaches that we've assembled. They're trained coaches. They're really good at what they're doing. They can help you with your career coaching and your financial coaching, Ken Coleman dot com slash coach, Ken Coleman dot com slash coach. Check it out. Get with somebody today. Parker's up next in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Parker. How can I help? Hey, Ken, how are you doing? I'm living the dream. What are you doing? I'm trying to as well. I like the sound of that. How can I help?
Yeah, so I kind of have a two-part question. So the first part is, how do I find peace at my current employer? When I know it's not somewhere I want to be long-term. And then along with that, how can I stand out in a difficult tech job market when the technologies I'm currently using don't exactly translate to what I want to do in the future? OK. All right. Two questions there. I'm going to answer them one at a time. By the way, really good questions.
So I wrote down on my notes when you asked me, peace in the present.
And I wanna tell you that I'm gonna speak very, very personally today because I will tell you that I think it's one of the biggest things that we humans suffer from and of all the people that suffer from it, I probably suffer from it as much as anybody. So I'm gonna share with you what I have learned about getting peace in the present, because I think that's what you need. In other words, you're not where you wanna be, you know that, and you've got this wrestling match.
between your head and your heart, because your heart's going, I want to get out of this. This is not me and your head's going, whoa, partner, slow down. We got to take care of ourselves, right? Does that sound about right? Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, I mean, it's tough. So here's how we get peace in the present. And then I want to focus on the second question. The key to having peace in the present is this. Number one, we must root ourselves in gratitude.
That's the first thing. So when we are dealing with this tension between, we know we're not where we want to be, but we have to be there anyway. Gosh, that sucks. I don't want to be here, but I have to be here because I don't have a there. The there is not either revealed or the there is not ready. You still tracking with me?
Right. Yep. Yeah. So it's like, all right, I got to figure out the there, the next, if you will, let's call up the next or there. Uh, so that means until I figure out the next, I am in fact in the now and we want to go from feeling stuck in the now to peaceful in the now. So here's how we do it. First gratitude. I'm grateful for the paycheck. I'm grateful for all the things that the paycheck is providing me.
I'm grateful for family. I'm grateful for friends. I'm grateful for health, whatever. Anything that you can put down that you're grateful for, that's your focus on a daily basis. And I highly recommend in the morning and at night, a reminder of all the things that you are able to be grateful for and be grateful for those things. That's the first thing. Okay. The second thing is,
we need to come up with what our next is. So we do the hard work while being grateful in the now, we begin to do the hard work to say, well, what is the next? And this is where all of my, you know, all my books and content really drive people towards getting clarity on
Where can I go? Where should I go? How do I get there? How long will that take? How much it will cost? You get all that. And I think you're in that space right now. That's going to lead us to question number two. But we really must determine what our next could be. Watch this. And what our next should be. So we are grateful for the now. And then we begin to focus on what our next could be.
options and then should be, that's what we're, that's what we're choosing. Okay. And, and once we do that, now we begin to take steps to get to the next. And that's it. And that's how we stay in this space of resilient as we're trying to bridge the gap from where we are to where we want to be. Now, second question.
All right, Ken, I know what technology I want to do. Did I understand that right? You know what kind of technology job you want? Yep. All right. But what you're saying is you don't currently have those technology skills. Is that also correct? I have some of the skills, but I just don't have a portfolio of projects built up and... So you have all the skills you need to step into the next.
No, no, no, not all the skills. I'm still developing those, but I do have a good baseline knowledge. Okay, but my point is is you got to go get the skills. So when you're in the now, you're going, what do I have to do to get to the next? And what I've got to do to get to the next is you should have a list of technology skills or certifications or training. That's your immediate checklist. What's that going to cost me financially?
And how long is that gonna take time wise? The brain and the heart need those specific answers. So if I was coaching you for a longer session, a dad would be going, what are the five, six, three, four, whatever things you need? And you would tell me, I'd go, okay, how do you go about getting those skills? And you'd say, well, this class or this program here, maybe like a Bethel Tech, and it's a nine month program. And then you'd say, this is how much Bethel Tech costs.
And so then that brain and heart, they will get aligned by going, oh, we now know that I have to do this, this, and this. It's going to cost this, this, and this, and it's going to take me this long. Now all of a sudden, the loop of uncertainty dies inside of our brain and our head and heart go, all right, we got ourselves a plan.
and that's where resilience and, um, gumption come from. Uh, no one moves forward with certainty and excitement when they don't know where to go and what to do. But you show a person what they got to do and how they do it and how long it's going to take. Guess what happens? Enthusiasm, and gumption, and then they step out. So that's what you've got to do right now. You got to make that list and then you got to determine what you got to do, how long it's going to take, how much it's going to cost. Now from that point, that's when you walk into
the lowest level. There is a starting level for that in technology, and you don't try to go up three levels on the ladder, go to the level that you're supposed to go to, to then get the portfolio of work, to then allow yourself to climb those steps on the ladder to get where you ultimately want to go. And that's the process, my friend. It's that simple.
It's that simple. You just gotta have that plan and then start climbing the ladder. And before you know it, you're stepping into it with certainty and great purpose. Thanks for listening to The Ken Coleman Show. For more, you can find the show on demand wherever you listen to podcasts and watch the show on YouTube. You can also find Ken across all social media by following at Ken Coleman.
