(08-21-2019 01:36 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Doing bankruptcy, insolvency, and turnaround work, you encounter a lot of really bad situations.

I remember a point in time when I had a really bad situation at home, ultimately (but not soon enough) leading to divorce. At the time, I was trying to turn around a deal that was in really bad shape. I spent my day trying to talk vendors into extensions and responding to employees coming in to ask if their paychecks were going to be good. On several occasions, we had the sheriff show up with a moving van and start hauling furniture out. The paychecks were always good, and the deal eventually pulled through, but it was a very near thing. Anyway, even at the worst, I very distinctly remember my stomach muscles relaxing as I drove in to work each morning, and tightening as I drove home at night.

Sorry for you pain in all of that, but I sincerely doubt a high correlation between home life quality and being totally invested in one's work. I've seen those who couldn't concentrate at work because of home issues, and those who functioned poorly at work with great home lives, and those who functioned wonderfully at work and had great home lives as well. I think we are looking at theories here which were examining situations that would prove their theory rather than looking at all situations.

But I have watched and experienced lower level employees who ran afoul of any level management for being too sharp. I remember one guy who was beloved by fellow employees, but was responsible for editing his boss's information. When he brought up one data set's inaccuracies there was a closed door session in which his boss was the distraught one and within a month the one editing was gone and the office was forbidden to ask questions. It took the corporation another year to catch and can this guy's boss. I guess it is too bad that the company won't put on his termination information that he was too smart and caught a crook. It will just remain listed as a firing due to insubordination. The man was in his late 40's, highly credible, and had a hard time finding another job and was finally hired for a position well below his capabilities. I've even witnessed these kinds of situations in my non profit work after my corporate career. The information gap, and the turf protection, is always a part of these situations.