“Please Don’t Fire Mommy…”, The Little Girl Whispered to the CEO, and Christmas Changed Everything
The Boardroom Decision
The snow was falling heavily outside the floor to ceiling windows of the executive boardroom on the 42nd floor. Thomas Warren sat at the head of the long conference table surrounded by his senior leadership team.
All of them were in expensive suits. All of them were focused on the spreadsheets projected on the screen at the far end of the room.
The numbers weren’t good. They hadn’t been good for two quarters and the board was demanding action.
“We need to cut 20% of staff,” said Gerald the CFO, his voice matter of fact. “Primarily from operations and customer service.”
“We can outsource most of those functions and save millions.” Thomas was 35 years old, the youngest CEO in the company’s history.
He’d gotten the position through a combination of hard work, strategic thinking and, if he was being honest, family connections. His father had founded Warren Technologies.
When the old man had retired three years ago, Thomas had stepped into shoes that felt too big most days. “20%,” Thomas repeated.
He looked at the list of departments that would be affected. “That’s over 300 people,” Gerald, right before Christmas.
“I understand the optics aren’t ideal,” Gerald said. “But the alternative is risking the entire company.”
“We make these cuts now, we stabilize, and we can rebuild in the spring.” Thomas looked around the table.
His VP of operations, his head of HR, and his general counsel all nodded in agreement. This was business.
This was what leaders did; they made hard choices. “I need to think about it,” Thomas said, which earned him several frustrated looks.
“We’ll reconvene after lunch.” He called for a 15-minute break and walked to the window looking out at the city below.
Somewhere down there were 300 people who had no idea their jobs were about to disappear. These were 300 families who were planning Christmas, buying presents, and making memories.
They had no idea that everything was about to change. Thomas heard the conference room door open behind him but didn’t turn around.
