Some of us are fortunate enough to work for ourselves or companies with
vision. Some of us are still pretty fortunate because we work with
companies that trust us to give them vision, even if they don't always
take our advice. Then there are the poor saps among us that work for
companies that haven't caught up to the new-fangled business philosophies
called...um...trust and...um...employee empowerment...and...um...the
customer.

You may think that's a recipe for disaster. And it is. In fact, it's a
slowly dug grave, but it's being dug nonetheless. These companies fire
their innovators because they 'rock the boat' and keep the 'yes-men'
because they are 'on track'. On track to what, preytell?! Your own
funeral?

Just imagine for a second that you work at that company. What do you do?
Do you quit? What if you have a family at home and you are the sole
breadwinner? You have very little savings to fall back on. They've beaten
you down so much over the years that you don't believe your talents
saleable. Yet, you have ideas. You have passion. They haven't snuffed
that. Something in you still burns. You find refuge volunteering, writing,
blogging, networking...maybe even just dreaming. You've written 25+ well
thought-out proposals over the year that would save your company oodles of
dollars and/or provided unbeatable advantages for customers to use your
service vs. another on...but you continually get the pat on the head and
your proposal gets filed under 'trash'.

And then the day comes when they decide to shake up the organization.
Something needs to change. And, somehow, the people patting you on the
head get to stay and you get let go. And you walk away thinking, "If
that's change, I don't want anything to do with it."

Don't ever let them tell you that layoffs and organizational change is
always getting rid of the deadwood. Remember, deadwood floats.