LTYM - Budget Cuts and the Beard

Letters to a Young Manager

Budget Cuts and the Beard, #512
LTYM > Leadership and Values

Dear Adam,

***

When you don't have the freedom to speak up about an injustice, sometimes you need to make a silent protest.

Right after the dotcom bubble burst, around 2001 or 2002, at Save the Children , we had these massive arbitrary budget cuts. Each department was told you have to cut 10-12% off of your budget. There is no way to make that kind of cut without laying off people.

I'm not arguing about the need for a large reduction in expenses, especially in the face of a steep decline in grants and revenue. But department managers were not part of the process to come up with where they could cut and not cut expenditures. So this was something done to us rather than by us. We complied, but there was no buy-in. And our trust in senior management was impaired.

And so I decided after that exercise, I'm going to do something that nobody can tell me to cut. So I grew a beard, man, it stayed with me since. It's my silent reminder of the importance that I get to decide.

***

Sincerely yours,
Ed

________________________

References...

Takeaways:

Protests can sometimes be silent

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the injustices that you've seen at your organization?
2. What examples of silent protests have you participated in?
3. What are the negative sides to protests, silent or otherwise?

For Further Reading:

See "Rallying the Team to Die," Story #24

So I grew this [beard] because of Save the Children. It was right after the dotcom bubble burst right around 2001 2002. We had these massive arbitrary budget cuts. Each department was told you have to cut like 12% off of your budget. And so I decided that Okay, after that exercise, I'm going to do something that nobody can tell me to cut. So I grew the beard, man, it stayed with me since.