Dear SafetyXChange Members:

Getting fired isn't just an unpleasant experience. More often than not, it's a shocking one. Most "firees" don't see the ax coming until it actually sinks into their backs. But you can't let the words "you're fired" cause you to lose your poise, especially if you're in a position to negotiate the terms of your departure. In her book, I Didn't See It Coming: The Only Book You'll Ever Need to Avoid Being Blindsided in Business, Nancy Widmann offers 8 tips about what to do in the moments after being told that you've been fired.

1. Don't Surrender Your Chair

Don't agree to give up your chair, i.e., your office, immediately. Insist on being allowed to keep coming in while you work out your deal.

2. Call a Lawyer

Talk to a lawyer who specializes in employment agreements. Don't sign anything until your lawyer has reviewed and approved it.

3. Don't Be Bullied

Your boss or HR director might shove a settlement in your face and demand that you sign it by the end of the day. Stand your ground. There is always time.

4. Don't Take the First Offer

Don't accept the first severance offer. You do have leverage. There is usually room for negotiation and your company can probably do better.

5. Exercise Spin Control

Make sure you and your boss agree on the story of why you were terminated. Demand veto power over press releases or announcements inside and outside the company. Ask that your boss and HR manager say that you left to explore other opportunities. Don't say that you are leaving to spend more time with your family. The "family" excuse for termination has become a joke.

6. Get the Right to Talk to Your Staff

Insist on being given the opportunity to address your team or staff before anyone else talks to them about your departure.

7. Take the High Road

Don't assign blame. Avoid name-calling and petty gossip. The business world is small and you never know when you'll find yourself sitting across the desk from a former boss or colleague or relying on them for a reference.

8. Stay Cool

The most important piece of advice I can give you is to keep it together. Try your hardest to remain poised and appear confident at all times.

Conclusion

I hope that none of you ever have to use this advice. But I'm realistic enough to understand that some of you will. After all, if you work in business long enough, you're probably going to get fired eventually. Remember that how you react in those crucial moments after getting the bad news has an enormous impact on the terms of your departure and your prospects of securing another position in the future.

Wishing you career success,
Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet, www.execunet.com

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Honoring the Fallen

By Glenn Demby

Some of the men who fought and died in the fields of Flanders

The year was 1918. On November 11, at 11:11 AM and 11 seconds, Paris time, the armistice ending what at that time was humanity's bloodiest war took effect. World War I was over. And from that point on, November 11 would be observed as a holiday to recall the war and honor its millions of victims.

France and many of the Commonwealth countries mark the exact moment that the armistice went into effect - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - with two minutes of silence. The emblem associated with the holiday, which is known in most of the world as Remembrance Day, is the poppy. Why? It's not just the poppy's blood red color. What makes the wearing of the poppy a part of the Remembrance Day tradition is its use as an ironic image by the Canadian military physician John McCrae in his poem "In Flanders Fields" (printed below) describing the now peaceful cemeteries abutting some of the war's bloodiest battlefields.

In the U.S., November 11 is known as Veterans' Day. But it's not a public holiday. The Memorial Day holiday in late May/early June has replaced Veterans' Day as the occasion that Americans commemorate the soldiers killed in battle.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

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