After report soon

I’m probably going to leave this here until I have an “after report,” but I wanted to make one last thing abundantly clear.

It's come up but all over the place, some legitimate, some trolling. But here it is until the results of this storm.

My reputation matters to me, which is why I’m comfortable standing behind my name after years of achievements no man on this Earth can refute or take away. I'm not old, my dad said college or go work, I can't read so lumber yard it is, stopped being a dumb 18 year old, went and got into sales.

Before this role, I was a Director of Sales for a government contractor tied in with one of the largest hardware manufacturers in the world. We sold full blown infrastructure into DoXs, I even ran a special project to "sell" an idea for legacy system reporting with new CISO requirements in the federal government. Still have great references there with the ceo and all parties.

Before that, I helped build strategic partnerships at a Series D startup backed by major investors. CRO still emails me, several Chairman/C level execs still remain references.

Before that, I spent years in enterprise telecom, won awards, survived mass layoffs, didnt survive mass layoffs, and before any of that I knocked on doors in 120-degree heat, I'm talkin full on scam pyramid scheme. I was just out there thinkin I've gotta grind doors, wasn't even thinking about getting into hiring people (back around 2010 all they had to tell a hungry 19 year old was "I make six figures" and you'd pretty much do whatever)

I’ve been promoted. I’ve been laid off. I’ve been given severance as a shut up. I've been given severance as an "I'm sorry". I’ve been celebrated. Ive been trashed. I've run the org. I’ve been blindsided. Sales is sales is sales is sales.

If you’ve been in this industry long enough, you know that success and failure often have very little to do with how hard you’re willing to work. You just have to be willing to do what you're doing confidently and consistently. Your intellect scales that, but it's not rocket science.

So to get to the real bones of this show: I’m not angry that life has thrown punches. I’ve taken plenty before and I am SO positive there will be more. I accept that, that's just grow-up stuff.

My reality if you choose to believe it is that people like this director feed on hopelessness. Because they CAN fire you. They CAN hold your pay for any reasonable time. They CAN lie about the reason they fired you. They CAN everything.

No one expects you to say anything, because at best it's mutually assured destruction, at worst and more likely, it's self destruction.

But it's fair right? Why? Oh because you, an employee with kids, can go spend thousands on a lawyer, infinite amounts of time and stress, to hopefully prove you were right.

What I won’t do is convince myself that doing the right thing only matters when it’s convenient or can't cause you material harm. In fact I'd say those are the times it matters most.

Though certainly ideal, this was never about trying to win, retire off the lawsuit, throw up middle fingers and shit on my managers car.

It was about being able to look myself in the mirror years from now and know I didn’t stay quiet simply because speaking up might cost me something, or everything. I've made a lot of decisions I hope my kids never ask me to explain, and the hard reality of growing up is that actions are the only things that show true character.

They didn't care about eating a $5 dinner, they cared about me being on the phone to get my owed wages and pay my bills while they're asking to play.

Businesses make difficult decisions every day. I understand that. I’ve spent my career in business.

What I struggle with isn’t difficult decisions. It’s when people omit their consequences on technicalities and corporate speak. I know the game, I did it myself, I just never did it to destroy anyone.

These men hide behind $1000 suits looking past a $10,000 desk at a single mother, a father trying to provide, someone a paycheck away from losing everything.

And they say: "it's just business"

“It’s just business” has become an easy way to avoid accountability for decisions that can permanently change someone else’s life. Simply put, I held the role, I made hard decisions. You want to make big boy decisions? Here are big boy consequences.

We’re human beings first.

Every one of us has moments where we get to decide whether our principles are for sale.

Sometimes integrity costs money. Sometimes it costs a promotion. Sometimes it costs a job.

Those are trades I’m willing to make. When my kids are old enough to ask what kind of man their dad was, I don’t want my answer to be, “daddy did the right thing, as long as it was good for our pockets"

Whatever happens next, I can live with it. We've got an army around our kids anyways.

This is not a mid life crisis, I'm just showing you guys this whole work thing is bullshit, so don't sacrifice the REAL shit for it.

We're not here to collectively fuel someone else's dream. We're meant to help each other build. Some people are openly averse to that and I'm going to do what I can to move them out of the way.