PLAN B - The building blocks of life after swoosh
I didn’t have a PLAN B.
Everyone was talking about their PLAN B’s and how in control it made them of the upcoming restructure. If their job was impacted, having a PLAN B made them feel able to cope with it; made them know they’d be able to smoothly move on to something else without falling apart. I was filled with dread and a sense of utter panic as I didn’t know what the hell my PLAN B could even be, let alone have it squared off and know it was up my sleeve, my ’get out of jail free’ card if I was facing redundancy.
Being at Nike for 20 years and spending close to half of my living years with the company made me feel like I was pretty much a part of the furniture. The longer I was there the more settled and content I felt to have so many years of service behind me and have respect from colleagues that made me feel I was a solid part of the company. I’d always get an appreciative reaction in meetings when introducing myself, giving my Nike story, when the rest of the room heard how long I’d worked for the company. It wasn’t that it made me feel smug, it was more that I felt proud I’d stuck with one company for that long and that I could be relied upon. A bit like when you’re at school and look up to a teacher, and then go back many years after leaving for a reunion and feel a sense of contentment to know that teacher is still at the school and remembers your class from all those many years ago. It made me feel safe.
It had crossed my mind on many occasions that being middle-aged and working for such a huge, dynamic, global brand whose core consumer was a 17-year-old Generation Z-er, I might have a limited life span of employment at the company. I wondered how I would fit in when I was 50 and whether I’d still have the passion then that I do now for the brand and its vision to #MAKESPORTADAILYHABIT. It stemmed from a place of fear that I just didn’t know anything else other than Nike; what else could I do? It crept into my thoughts during the night, in a middle of a big meeting, during my annual performance review sessions. I didn't feel like I knew anything other than what I did right now and being a part of Nike. But I knew somewhere deep and dark inside that at some point I would be faced with having to find that something else.
I didn’t get my PLAN B formulated before the realisation that my job and function would be massively impacted started to become apparent.
I did panic, I did shed tears and I did think “I can’t leave as I’ll be screwed!”. But somehow there was a thread of thought beginning in my head, telling me that maybe there was something else beyond this Nike world I was so comfortable in, something that might make me feel inspired and driven and actually pay the bills. I wasn’t quite sure what it was. It was like little pieces of Lego scattered around the carpet that a child was gradually picking up and putting together to build something that they didn’t have the instructions for, but knew if they kept going they’d end up with something just right.
And just like that, this thread started to wind and grow in my mind and although it wasn’t a solid PLAN B it was enough to turn on a switch that made me somehow feel in control. It made me feel that I could face whatever was about to come and rather than cower under the covers like the big bad monster was hiding under my bed, it enabled me to feel I could whack it away and jump on the bed in celebration of my victory. I hadn’t experienced this feeling before. I hadn’t ever imagined I’d be capable of feeling anything like this. In my head, I saw myself as the person running away from something so scary and falling apart because I couldn’t build that magnificent Lego sculpture (I have always been rubbish at creating anything of any interest from Lego). But feeling this for the first time started to create bubbles of excitement and anticipation and dare I say creativity!
