When “The Company” I’d worked for for 25 years was acquired by a “Bigger Fish”, there were several thousand of us who feared (rightly so) that our jobs were in jeopardy.

Having survived several painful mass layoffs before this acquisition, I could see that that management often neglected human emotional needs in those situations. During tough times such as these I came to realize the importance of a leader’s ability to provide employees with perspective, grace, and dignity to help them through.

The employees of The Company were representative of a bygone era of employment -many of us had worked for The Company for many years. This company had a legacy of employing people for their entire careers – in fact, parents and grandparents had, in many cases, also worked for The Company.

The Company also took care of us by providing subsidized-cost lunches, a barber shop on site (yes, a barber shop!), and a Human Resources philosophy that treated each and every employee as an individual. Some employees even recalled a company bus that would pick them up for work and take them home at the end of the day. We had the best benefits in town and were compensated very well. You can see why most didn’t want to leave.

Once it was announced that a Bigger Fish would acquire The Company, we knew it would be a full year before all of the regulatory hurdles were completed to finalize the deal and to officially announce and begin layoffs. During that painful year, we had to hunker down and figure out what needed to be done while suspecting that many of us would be leaving. It was a year of excruciating uncertainty.

The hardest thing during that year was seeing people cling to what used to be; to jobs and a company that would no longer exist. There was so much sorrow and grieving.

During that year of uncertainty, I became curious about how a few managers seemed to lead so well, with all of the ambiguity. Although few in number, these leaders were providing perspective, leading with grace, and treating their employees with dignity, even in the uncertainty of whether they would be losing their jobs. It was obvious that these leaders were able to impart something special; their employees appeared to be the calmest of those who could be exiting the company.

My curiosity led to a discussion with one of those exceptional leaders. He seemed quite resilient to the turmoil and uncertainty (resilient doesn’t mean ignorant, by the way; he knew things weren’t rosy). That resiliency was evident in his staff as well.

When I asked him about his ability to remain steadfast and dedicated in this turmoil, he spoke of perspective. As a Viet Nam veteran, he knew that losing his job wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to him. And he knew it wasn’t the worst thing that would happen to his team either. Yet he remained empathetic to them and their concerns. He was able to project confidence and pragmatism and to lead himself and his team through the rough times (and eventually out the door) with perspective, grace and dignity.

This leader gave his team a wonderful parting gift. This gift allowed these employees to leave the company and to begin new lives with perspective, grace, and dignity. Perhaps these attributes, though rare, are some of the most important ones a leader can have in tough times.

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