Opinion: Tender resignation before hearing, 'You're fired'

Even if resignation has not drifted through your mind in the last half-hour, it is always a smart strategy to determine the conditions that would prompt you to write your own pink slip.

Resignation is a proactive choice.

We spend most of our lives just reacting. Today, it will be a light bulb that expired before its time, a tire that deflated while we shopped, a tooth that broke in its prime, a child who contracted the flu prior to a Christmas trip … you get the idea. Using bailing wire, old chewing gum and duct tape, we spend an amazing amount of time just binding up the broken parts of our lives.

Resignation, in my opinion, is one of the few personal acts that is genuinely proactive. I do not know about you, but I would much rather take the initiative to siphon myself out of a work environment than have someone fumble over syllables that end with “your services will no longer be needed here.”

Therefore, I have six reasons why any of us would want to regain control of our destiny by penning a letter of resignation.

First, I am convinced you should resign if, over a long period of time, you have to sacrifice your ethics on the altar of the regular paycheck. I know, I know, it is easy for me to say that.

We chip away at our self-worth if we know we are working through a lie each day.

In the book, “The Smartest Guys in the Room” (the factual story of Enron), an executive with Arthur Andersen said, “We all knew what they were doing, but it was such a large account, no one said a word.”

Second, you should resign if there is no acceptance of your skills.

When your boss or your work team consistently denigrate or remain silent about your professional aptitude, this is not the right place to be dispensing your craft. It is the age-old passive-aggressive method of getting rid of someone by constantly minimizing this person’s contribution to the work place. No one has the glands to say, “We have observed you do not know what you are doing here.” So, take a hike. Life is too short to work every day where everyone takes his best shot … at you.

Third, you may want to resign if your job is driving a wedge between you and the people you say “matter most” in your life. In the process of bringing home the cash, are you trading in intimate relationships (spouse, children)? At the end of your life, you will have immense regret that your 401(k) cost you a family.

Fourth, resignation may be an option if there is an in-your-face ceiling on advancement. What are the options for increased responsibility and financial rewards in your job? If you have spent time examining your options and find they are nil-to-zero, it may be time to find another work place that encourages career growth.

Fifth, and I hear this all the time in my work, I believe resignation is a much better option than allowing yourself to become a verbal punching bag for an unbalanced manager.

It is difficult for me to understand how puny little minds get stuffed into inflated job descriptions that include regularly humiliating employees. You and I just do not have enough days left on the calendar of our lives to walk into a work place where once again we will become the target for a boss who believes yelling and screaming obscenities at us has anything to do with leadership.

Finally, go to your laptop and start writing, “This correspondence is notification of my resignation …” because you despise what you are doing.

Are you consistently going to a job where you would gladly sever a limb instead of clocking in one more time?

I am talking about a long history of your body going to work and your mind and your passion making a U-turn back to bed. Sometimes work is just that … work.

But if you hate what you are doing every day, you also know, deep in your neo cortex, that your life is waning in remorse.

A letter of resignation is your best option.

Cal LeMon of Executive Enrichment Inc. solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. He can be reached at execenrichment@aol.com.