ABSTRACT

It is a difficult time to be a leader. As we write these final pages, the headlines toll an all-too-familiar tone. Tech giant Hewlett-Packard has just announced that it plans to cut 27,000 jobs over the next two years—the largest reduction in personnel in the company's 73-year history. Some perspective is helpful here. If we round up a dozen HP employees, one of them will be gone. On the same day in our little city, a mid-sized logistics company announced that 189 employees will lose their jobs over the next three months. Although this number dwarfs by comparison, the magnitude of impact is no less for those affected.