3. You Already Know

Most people aren't blindsided by a layoff. Not really. They felt it coming for weeks and talked themselves out of it.In my recent case, they told us a month before that there would be ‘significant cuts’, most people worked on knowing that decisions were being made that they couldn’t influence.The body knows before the email does. The trick is letting yourself hear it.The signals around youSome of these are about the company, and they rarely come one at a time. A hiring freeze that nobody will call a hiring freeze. Travel restrictions. A reorg announced with the words ‘this is not about headcount’, which is almost always about headcount. Consultants you've never met, in rooms you're not invited to. The budget conversations changing tone. Senior people leaving slightly too calmly. A sudden fondness for the word efficiency. Return-to-office mandates that look a lot like a quieter way to thin the ranks.None of these proves anything on its own. Together, they're a forecast.The signals…