And we hit a wall

All the changes that had started being implemented in my firm since the beginning of the year, with the appointment of a new CEO, have come to a sudden halt yesterday. The meeting of the board which was supposed to vote on the new stategic plan lasted less than thirty minutes, after which they asked the CEO and the personnel representatives to step out of the room. They never went back in, and we learnt later that the CEO had been sacked, not because his plan wasn't good, as they didn't even let him present it, but because of an "incompatibility" between him and the chairman of the board (who was also our CEO until 1st January and, o surprise! is stepping back into his old shoes as of today).

The dominant feeling is a kind of bereavement. Strange to say as this is "only" work, but it really is what quite a few of us are experiencing. We had such high hopes that the hard work we'd put in setting up this new plan would yield benefits for our firm. Well, sadly, all this plan was demeaned this morning in a meeting called by the managers and where the old/new CEO made an apperance, to say, among other things "that all these meetings amongst yourselves [were] over" and "it's time to get back to work". Right.

The truth is, abandoning his role as CEO has been a step back that he just couldn't bear; some even start saying it was all planned, that he hired the new CEO with a view to have him sacked very rapidly, just to appear as the firm's saviour when he'd come back. Except I don't think anyone believes him...

Can you fathom the image the firm is giving of itself with these political shenanigans? What will our clients, our suppliers think, seeing us change our management back and forth in the course of just a few months? It sickens me just to think of it.

So today, I give you this soft but, I think, rather sad-looking face. It quite mirrors what I'm feeling. Sadness at a beautiful project cut short before it even had any chance of being implemented.

Enthused for four months
Then hit hard
Oh - it's just work. Right.