Many of you have noticed the news about layoffs at my current employer and have asked if I'm still gainfully employed there. I am, indeed, still gainfully employed and was spared the axe, myself. Alas, I also had to lose two people from my team, and that is not happy-making.

One of my former employers seemed to go through layoffs on a regular basis. It was not one of the happiest places I've worked. And, yet, there were other folks there (one in particular) who actually thrived with this employer.

We all have different styles, and different things inspire us. I, for one, am not inspired by the management style that involves periodic layoffs. Frequent layoffs (even if we're talking about once a year, which seems to be the pattern with my current employer, thus far) imply consistently bad decision making and/or setting a low bar when hiring candidates. I am not inspired by the idea of either working with fools or working for fools, so it doesn't really matter to me which is the case in this particular instance.

In my not so humble opinion, however, given the quality of the people who ended up being let go... I'm not inclined to think that the problem has been a low bar for hiring.

Anyway, suffice it to say that while I remain employed, I'm finding myself in the inevitable unhappy mode that follows layoffs. Nonetheless, I'm working on figuring out how to ensure that *I* don't make the kinds of boneheaded decisions that would result in a further cutback on my staff.