The Time I Found Out I was Replaced…via a Slide Deck

The following is a glimpse into what I would consider a bad day.

I was a project manager working for a vendor that provided services to a client. The client gave me a dedicated space in their office so I could work on-site as part of their team.

On this particular day, it was time for the Steering Committee meeting. The client’s project manager, project sponsor, senior leadership, and I were all seated around the conference room table.

The client’s project manager kicked things off by reviewing the past quarter’s accomplishments on the screen:

• Project status: ~35% complete.

• Completed new data model.

• Replaced the vendor’s project manager.

• Budget variance: +/-5%.

Everything looked like a solid update. Good progress.

But that third bullet point caught my eye: “Replaced the vendor’s project manager.” I remember thinking, “I thought their project manager was doing a pretty good job. Why did they replace him?”

Then I read it again. It didn’t say “their” project manager. It said “the vendor’s project manager.”

Wait…I was the vendor. And I was the vendor’s project manager! I was the one who had been replaced! And that slide, in that meeting, was how I found out I was no longer on the account.

Awkward.

After the meeting ended, I called my VP to see what was going on. He said, “Yeah, I meant to tell you about that. Sorry, things got busy around here. But don’t worry, you’ve been assigned to another client.”

Long story short, that new client turned out to be fantastic and opened doors for years to come. What started as a very bad day ended up being a positive turning point in my career.

Lesson learned: There’s going to be bad days from time to time. Some will be rough, some might even be a little embarrassing. But you never really know what’s right around the corner. If you roll with the changes, stay adaptable, and keep moving forward, those bad days happen less often, and many times they lead to something much better.