Yes, we all work in the meat industry, but we have to learn to work well with people first and foremost, so you could say we work in the people industry first and in the food industry secondarily.

Working with people is challenging. I’ve had many co-workers and friends say over the years, ‘I love my job; it’s the people I don’t like.” If you spend a career in any industry, you’re going to encounter difficulties working with people. And at some point, you’re likely going to get fired or be asked to leave.

Sometimes the problem is the other people, i.e., your boss, your board or your team members, but the problem of fitting in, getting along, and performing your job effectively, can be you.

In my 32-year career in the meat industry, I’ve been fired several times. The first time was just 24 years old, and I took a job with a small poultry processor and distributor. The general manager was my boss, and we did not get along. I was in outside sales, so I didn’t have to spend too much time with him, but we were oil and water. He was immature, petty and jealous of my sales success. I didn’t respect him, nor did I show him any, and I told the absentee company owner very often that his new GM was a first-class loser. This eventually made its way back to the GM, and he fired me. No doubt that my insubordination was grounds for termination.

I’ve also been fired as a food broker a few times, and this is less personally painful because normally it’s just a business decision by the food company. My Farmland regional manager fired me because he was new to the company, and he wanted to hire his old friend who also owned a food brokerage firm. I didn’t take this personally, as I couldn’t compete with an existing 20-year friendship and working relationship that he enjoyed with his old broker.

But it’s common to take getting fired very personally, and I have fallen hard at times when I’ve been let go abruptly, with little or no stated cause.

Looking back on my career, I have some advice for those younger than myself for when you get sacked.

First, understand that there’s no shame in trying a new job, company or position, but it may turn out that you’re not a good fit for the job. You can’t know this unless you try. But after a few months or a year, you may come to realize that you’re not the best fit for the job you have. If it’s a well-paying job or one with some cool title and some status, this job may be hard for you to let go of on your own. You’re not likely to quit, but you may get fired, demoted or asked to turn in your resignation.

Secondly, don’t take it personally. This takes a lot of emotional maturity, and even the most sturdy, thick-skinned professionals tend to take it personally. I certainly did at first. It may take you some time, months or years before you have enough objectivity to realize you weren’t the best person for that job at that time on that team.

Thirdly, don’t burn any bridges when you get fired. Don’t retaliate and say mean things that you will regret later. Move onward and upward. Realize that we all fail forward and learn by trying. Learn from your mistakes and use this as a personal growth opportunity. It sucks getting fired, and it’s very humbling. Realize that God has put this in your path to cause you to learn, grow and find your core strengths.

Lastly, when you get shown to the door or asked to move on, realize you're in great company. Many successful leaders have been fired in their career and most will say it was a great, humbling, essential personal growth experience for them. They learned a lot about themselves by trying.

In closing, here's one of my favorite quotes from Teddy Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

What other advice do you have for others when they get canned?

What to do when you get fired

Join for free* to continue reading.