Leadership lesson learned from being fired

 Leadership: I went through a span recently as a civilian where I lost 3 jobs in the span of a year. I was working my ass off and everything just started going to shit. The worse thing about this time was adhering to the work ethic and values from the Army. I was truly naive and at this led to me making some bad decisions which ultimately cascaded into being fired, and having to relinquish a position I put a lot of blood sweat and tears into. I truly felt that i had let my crew down by leaving abruptly in one situation and then being asked to not come back in another situation. Shortly after the second thing happened I was asked to brief the FBI which snowballed into me losing my TS clearance, the third job and having to decline a very promising position that would have spanned cyber security for the entire intelligence community.

During this time i worked with some amazing selfless people, individuals that owned cyber security engineers and analysts that were on the fringes of attack sensing and warning, fore  


Ladies and gentlemen I am no longer on the _ contract. The client did not feel confident in my abilities to lead the team any longer and requested my removal. This is not a reflection of your abilities to be 100% successful on this contract. Our team has proven on numerous occasions that we are not only capable but exceed expectations;

There were times when they doubted individual abilities but obviously forgot we are a team and would support each other. I witnessed every day your commitment to success and I supported you above all else. I continue to have confidence in you and yes there are areas for improvement which I know you will continue to focus on no matter who sits in the _ desk.

So thank you again, I enjoyed each and every opportunity I had working with you all. You have my contact information feel free to contact me about anything I may be able to assist you with in the future. 

It was a pleasure working for you Bro, you looked out for us no matter what and my first though when I heard the news was a number of us had let you down and could have fought harder especially if we knew this would be the end result.  Look forward to staying in touch with you and I know you'll continue to be a success no matter what your next role may be.

Thanks for being a great supervisor and team player. 

Well, I'm not going lie, it broke my heart when I found out. I honestly did not like the way it was handled. I believe the issue was not with you and removing you from the contract will not solve the root of the problem, but rather misplace it elsewhere. The cards were stacked against you and the team from the start but you tried to keep it together and keep things afloat. 

I know it has not been an easy year, for any of us. I hope you find a position somewhere that will allow you to grow and utilize your skills to its capacity. 

I do want to thank you for everything you've done for us. I know I wasn't an easy person to work with, and my being slightly high-strung didn't help either. (: However, I do hope to keep in touch and look forward to hearing from you again soon. 

Your hard work has  always exceeded the _ _ they through at you. _ God bless you and if there's a job out there you needed me to fill. Text or call me I'll always work for an honest man. Peace _! LOL 

Felt like I should reach out and thank you specifically for your patience with me during our time together. Your commitment to your people above all was something I experienced first hand. Even through my brooding and often critical moments, you always seemed to want to understand and relate on a personal level, well beyond your professional obligations. I regret not returning your kindness more often. Perhaps a missed opportunity for me from being too rigid and absolute in my expectations for our office.  I can say that through your example and time here, I learned from you more then I thought I would. I would like to think I would do things differently if I ever have the pleasure of working with you again.

Thank you for your service,