Surviving a Layoff

Well media company Conde Nast has roped in McKinsey & Co. to rethink the way they do business, and Gawker.com is thinking "layoffs".

Here's what some of the Gawker readers think is the way to survive an impending layoff:

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  I survived one. I refused to fill in all the boxes. Best way I can think of to survive one of these is to disable PowerPoint. Otherwise, you're screwed.

• Being well acquainted with the "Firm" here are a few pieces of advice...

1) Run

2) If you're not at least a VP (or the Conde equivalent) there's not much hope in changing your future. The consultants only works with high-level executives.

3) Familiarize yourself with the lingo - start talking about the Minto Pyramid Principle around the water cooler if there are consultants within earshot, mention key learnings, and make sure everything you say is "structured."

4) Request to set up a series of problem solving sessions with your boss and suggest that you 80/20 everything.

5) Start putting lots of chevrons, arrows and Action Titles into any presentation your working on. Source it by saying "Team Analysis"

6) Make sure everything in your cubicle can fit into one box

• I've (so far) survived a process by one of their competitors, which I suspect is same slop, different bucket. Appear to have a staff or "staff-like" function that makes outsourcing inconvenient and/or have "installed capacity" in the organization's "core competencies." Otherwise, you can use the same principles as apply to zombie attacks.

Wow, consultants whose recommendations lead to rightsizing are not really liked by employees.

Big surprise.