I got laid off One day before Eid Al Adha 2023...!

Here’s what I learned so far about Job Security and Disruption

I got laid off from Ford Motor Company after a honeymoon that lasted for ten years. During which, I had the dream job that any immigrant PhD student would die to have: I worked on cutting edge technologies, ranging from powertrain controls research to automated driving. I was fortunate to be part of a team that moved the aforementioned technologies to production. I was awarded more than 80 technical papers and patents. My technical expertise was so needed that it was easy for my employer to file a petition to the US government to issue me and my wife a US green card in 2017. I was in a growing field and in a relatively safe group and position. Nevertheless, and without any warning, I received on June 27^th 2023 a short meeting invite that ended more than ten years of job stability and growth in five minutes.

Photo by JD Designs on Unsplash

What happened to me and thousands of other white-collar workers in the auto industry is a microcosm of the big monster of disruption! Normally people define disruption as the advent of new technologies, business models, and worldviews that replace existing ones. Think about Netflix and iTunes and how they disrupted the video / music industry forever. Think about life after COVID and how it changed the way we work and study. Think about the Ubers and Lyfts of the world and how they disrupted the Taxi Business, or how Short-Term-Rental companies (such as AirBNB) disrupted the hotel business. Think about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its potential to disrupt many jobs and professions. Beyond the above-mentioned applications on the job market, it is important to pay attention to other areas of our lives (family values, faith and spirituality, human relationships, mental health, etc.)

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The Hammer, and the Nail

The challenge here is that many of us are still trying to solve newer problems using outdated approaches! This is a known tendency in human beings “Once you’re a hammer, you will look at everything as a nail!”. If you really want to adapt your career, and later in life, to this consistently evolving world, you will need to add to your mental model and toolbox a new set of tools, starting with the goggles that you use to see the world (AKA your worldview). Without these tools, you will be a Mario in the face of Bowser with no mushrooms. You will be left alone in the face of these waves of disruption wondering why your hammer isn’t working. Therefore, consider the following mindsets as “safety glasses” for this new era: 

• A mindset of taking initiatives   

• Be careful from climbing the wrong ladder

• The importance of faith and trust

(1) A Mindset of Taking Initiatives

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) said a very profound statement (Hadith) that has always given me a mindset of being proactive before the calamity hits:

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ بَادِرُوا بِالْأَعْمَالِ فِتَنًا كَقِطَعِ اللَّيْلِ الْمُظْلِمِ يُصْبِحُ الرَّجُلُ مُؤْمِنًا وَيُمْسِي كَافِرًا أَوْ يُمْسِي مُؤْمِنًا وَيُصْبِحُ كَافِرًا يَبِيعُ دِينَهُ بِعَرَضٍ مِنْ الدُّنْيَا

118 صحيح مسلم كتاب الإيمان باب الحث على المبادرة بالأعمال قبل تظاهر الفتن

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Hasten to perform good deeds before a tribulation which will be like the dark part of the night, in which a man will be a believer in the morning and an unbeliever in the evening, or he will be a believer in the evening and an unbeliever in the morning. He would sell his faith for some goods in the world.”

Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 118

Photo by malith d karunarathne on Unsplash

The word “Baderoo”, which can be best translated as: “take the initiative, rush and run”, carries a powerful imagery. The root word in Arabic language comes from badr, referring to the full moon. Back in the day, the Arabs used to appreciate that the full moon shows up in the horizon late afternoon, and starts illuminating their way before the darkness prevails.

(2) Climbing the Wrong Ladder

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.” – Stephen Covey

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

It is safe to assume that the accumulated advice for over a century on “climbing the corporate ladder” has been based on expired models and worldviews. I am not calling to reject all of it, but to seriously question the conventional wisdom on:

• Loyalty and corporate citizenship.

• Graduate degrees and becoming the SME (Subject Matter Expert) in your field.

• Networking and connections within a certain company or industry.

Clearly, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, and this is so limited to my current situation and observations. But one can see how each one of those requires its own “major software update”:

Loyalty

Nowadays, there is a wide level of admiration and appreciation to the career hoppers who bring different experiences and mindsets from other companies. There is a reason why most companies have extra benefits and vested stocks for those who stick around for three years or more: three years in a company makes you a veteran and a “very loyal” dude compared to the average employee these days.

Graduate Degrees

Imagine spending a 5-year PhD program studying a technology that is soon-to-be replaced. I don’t deny the benefits of graduate school, as there are always transferrable skills that come along the way. However, the disruption in the tech industry could deem any of these skillsets obsolete. Instead, one could think of resurrecting the polymath, jack of multiple trades, model as a safer investment in one’s education beyond a bachelor degree (Here’s an excellent article on this).

Networking

I get it, some people still believe in playing golf with the higher-ups and investing in deeper relations could get them somewhere. This may still work in some circles and for some people. But for most of us, networking is a double-edge sword if we choose the wrong side or bet on the wrong horse. Moreover, with companies being open to remote work, the nature and dynamics of human relations are changing forever.

(3) Trust and Faith

Probably the best worldview that you should adopt is that of positive realism, which is the exact definition of Tawakkul in the Muslim worldview (Trusting God).

Photo by Artak Petrosyan on Unsplash

As believers in an Omnipotent, Overseeing God, we believe that our Rizq, sustenance, has been written for us before we even came to this earth. This is not an invitation for complacency and laziness, as we are also commanded to work hard to get what was already written for us. As some scholar nicely describe: “God has guaranteed your sustenance and put it in front of you, but you still have to extend your hand and consume it”!

One can NEVER make sense of these challenges and sleep peacefully at night without such faith and such conviction! That’s why I am deeply invested in the Productive Muslim company training and coaching packages. This is what encouraged me to jump to action immediately after being laid off, and start actively promoting this side-hustle of mine and use it to inspire others and prepare them for the inevitable.

I was put in a position to give Eid Khutba just one day after my layoff notice. Filled with bittersweet emotions, I tried to use that as an opportunity to inspire myself first and foremost to stay positive, work hard, and trust God’s plan. In the words of Mohammed Faris, the Productive Muslim company CEO:

“Eid Mubarak bro!

InshaAllah you’ll celebrate this moment for years to come ;)”

CALL TO ACTION

In this article, I shared some of the tools and mindsets that I found useful during this transitional period in my life. The best service you can do to your future self is to pick up a journal and start reflecting on how these tools may look for you? Try to write in that journal few points about your career “parachute” and use that as a mechanism to transfer the fear and anxiety we all have towards positive action.

Remember, it is important to worry about the Starting line not the finish line! Start small and I pray you will be investing towards a better future in the age of disruption.