I was shown the door late 2020 as part of CDA, after a pretty decent run.
It is almost 2024 and I am still affected by this. Like so many of you brilliant people, I had given my all to this company; working long hours for years, and allowing the work calendar to frequently get in the way of my own PTO with my family. More fool me. I thought such loyalty (for quite so long) would be returned, but being laid-off was the greatest kick in the teeth.
I was at the company long enough to see and feel the culture deteriorate, but the biggest impact was felt after the inteoduction of JD. From a warm and personal leader like MP, who would greet me if I passed him within the Berm or even on a weekend stroll in NW Portland, to this horrific “leader” JD who was more keen to talk (on-all-Company calls) about the shooting of Drake’s music video on campus, than give us any update on CDA, - our futures(!). My workspace was relatively close to JDs executive suite, so he would pass through quite regularly. Never did he say hello, hold a door open, or even make eye contact. He’d simply push through and be gone. Now I know MP had his fair share of failures during his tenure in the hot seat, (e.g. losing control of one of his lieutenants, resulting in the whole FOT disaster), but at least he had some authentic Nike DNA left in him. He had a heart.
So as I sit here, 5000 miles east of Beaverton, reading about the vast size of the latest planned re-org, my heart goes out to all of you. I had to wait 5 months from the announcement of CDA to ultimately learn my fate. It was brutal. It was draining.
If you have not already started to prepare yourself, perhaps do so. Ensure your resume is sp--k and span, make sure your LinkedIn is thorough and enticing, and perhaps even start to look for other employment opportunities. If it is going to be as big as they warn, there could be many skilled individuals seeking employment in the coming months, so perhaps get ahead of it.
I’ll end on this. As much as I have been affected by the whole ordeal, (ultimately forced to pickup and move my family half way across the world), there really is life after Nike. I have had some great opportunities and landed in a rather good place, reasonably quickly. I do still miss the old life, but I am making the most of this new chapter. I know that (for those of you who want to stay) these coming weeks and months will be extremely stressful. Please try to not let it affect your relationships, your family life. What will be, will be, just try to prepare yourselves the best you can in case of the worst case. There is obviously still a chance that you will keep your / a job at Nike.
Either way, I wish you all the strength and good fortune whatever might come.