Quotes from The Crossroads

My day has consisted of endless conversations with those who are at a crossroads.  For some it was an unexpected pink slip upon return from a long weekend.  For others it’s the heart wrenching decision to lay off staff in order to keep their business alive.  And for others it’s a question of whether they raid the college fund in order to pay their mortgage and grocery bills.  

Let’s face it folks – times are tough, no one is immune and fear is spreading.  Even the hope for change cannot seem to stop this runaway train.  So what the hell are people supposed to do?  

Here are a few quotes that caught my attention for those caught in the fray.  I’ll let you decide for yourself between arrogance and empathy.  Enjoy and let’s keep the conversation going.

“Remember, this is not my company, and this is not our investors’ company. This company is all of ours, and it’s up to all of us where we go from here. The power lies in each and every one of us to move forward and come out as a team stronger than we’ve ever been in the history of the company.”  - Email from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh following an 8% layoff

“Tell them to take the afternoon off and give them a gift card for free pizza. For someone working for $14 or $15 an hour, getting a $50 restaurant card is a big chunk of change.” – SHRM member and Intelligent Compensation President Bob Cartwright on incenting employees

“Any serious businessperson knows that a contract is a contract.” - Danny Donohue, President of the Civil Service Employees Assocation, in response to New York Gov. David Paterson’s call for $5.2B in budget cuts, including union renegotiations

“The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.” – Andrew Lahde, former hedge fund manager who quit after making a 800+% gain last year