Re-applying for your own job
03/04/2014
Last night was the Gala dinner associated with the Leadership Summit at Cranfield. I was told an interesting story over dinner which I think should be a lesson for us all. One of our MBA alumni is now a director of a private company employing around 3,000 people and he was telling me the tale of their recent re-structuring. Like many companies this involved redeploying people and people reapplying for their job. There was one particularly good salesman who was worth a significant amount of money for the business and they told him his job was safe but asked him to polish up his CV, which he did. However, when he saw his own CV he realised how good he was and got himself a really good job elsewhere.
That reminded me of the time I was trying to by a quarry in Essex some 20 years ago. I approached the owner who was close to retirement and we had several long discussions about the business and its potential. Just as I was about to make an offer for the business, Geoff kindly told me that he had really enjoyed our chats, but they had made him interested and excited about the business again so he didn’t want to sell any more.
So everything we do has consequences, not always the ones we were expecting
Mike Bourne
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
From classroom to cockpit: What’s next after Cranfield
The Air Transport Management MSc isn’t just about learning theory — it’s about preparing for a career in the aviation industry. Adit shares his dream job, insights from classmates, and advice for prospective students. ...
Setting up a shared group folder in a reference manager
Many of our students are now busy working on their group projects. One easy way to share references amongst a group is to set up group folders in a reference manager like Mendeley or Zotero. ...
Company codes – CUSIP, SEDOL, ISIN…. What do they mean and how can you use them in our Library resources?
As you use our many finance resources, you will probably notice unique company identifiers which may be codes or symbols. It is worth spending some time getting to know what these are and which resources ...
Supporting careers in defence through specialist education
As a materials engineer by background, I have always been drawn to fields where technical expertise directly shapes real‑world outcomes. Few sectors exemplify this better than defence. Engineering careers in defence sit at the ...
What being a woman in STEM means to me
STEM is both a way of thinking and a practical toolkit. It sharpens reasoning and equips us to turn ideas into solutions with measurable impact. For me, STEM has never been only about acquiring ...
A woman’s experience in environmental science within defence
When I stepped into the gates of the Defence Academy it was the 30th September 2019. I did not know at the time that this would be the beginning of a long journey as ...