What I learned from Working for a Company that Went Bankrupt

It’s perhaps very easy to look back with a bit of jest at the situation I found myself in, when the company I dedicated a good few years of my life working for went totally bust. We were all laid off, bar no one at all, but as much as I never thought I’d get past that brief, dark moment in my life, I can honestly look back at it now as one of the most educational moments in my entire life.

There were many lessons learned and many which I had to learn very quickly as I tried to adapt to my new life as a businessman and I’d really love to share those lessons with you.

#1 – Nothing is guaranteed

A high-flying company which employs more than five thousand staff across the country is definitely not one which you’d bet against. As I came to learn, however, nothing is guaranteed. It was like a joke when we were all called into a special meeting and told that we’d all be out of a job because the company had actually been out of business for a while now, with the final details of officially listing it as bankrupt getting ironed out.

The lesson learned going into the subsequent world of business was indeed that nothing is guaranteed. What one should do with that little bit of wisdom however is be sure to put something aside for a rainy day, no matter how far away that rainy day seems, so when you have a little bit of extra money burning a hole in your pocket, don’t look for ways to spend it, but rather look for ways to invest it.

#2 – Authority should never be absolute

As part of the company’s obligations to its employees in the event that they might be out of a job because of something like bankruptcy, they had to walk us through the possible reasons why things went awry in the manner that they did. Now I can point to so many instances when the company’s business went by the wayside on the back of the so-called authoritative figures being given way too much power to take decisions which turned out not to have been the best for the company. Junior staff getting overruled purely on the basis of their rank is clearly a recipe for disaster, so I guess the lesson learned is that input should be valued from everybody who forms part of the day-to-day operations of the business.

#3 – Entering the market at the right time is key

I was going to say entering the market early is the key to success, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes delaying entry into the market works out better than entering early or even getting in first.

Sometimes having to hold an annual general meeting as per listed company operational stipulations hinders progress for example, like when you’re clearly in a position which requires you to enter into the market early, so it’s all about timing and maintaining the flexibility to take advantage of the timing factor.