- Long before Mike Bloomberg was the billionaire businessman, politician, and philanthropist he is today, he was laid off from a company he had hoped to work at for the rest of his career. After being let go as a partner at Salomon Brothers in 1981, he wasted no time crying over spilt milk, and turned around to found legendary software, data, and media giant Bloomberg LLC the very next morning. He has no hard feelings over the firing—but still carries some important leadership and business lessons from the experience.
Being involuntarily ousted from a job—whether that be a layoff or firing—is a universal, career-altering experience that very few professionals are lucky enough to never go through. Many of the greats have gotten the boot: Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985 after an intense power struggle at the $3 trillion company; Oprah Winfrey was fired from her job as a TV anchor in Baltimore, deemed “unfit” for the role; and even pioneering inventor Thomas Edison was dumped from several jobs while he continued to shape our modern world.
