How Not to Leave Your Job

We may all sometimes have a fantasy—a dream—about how we will one day leave our jobs. Some picture having a big, catered party with their coworkers, ending in a crescendo of toasts/speeches that go on way too long and hopefully, a lovely parting gift from the company. Others, well, they hope to simply walk out into the night, hoping for no cake, no balloons, no fanfare. These dreams of leaving voluntarily—whether a few months from now, in a year or two, or in a few decades, ending in retirement and a gold watch (well, maybe a fake gold, good knock-off watch from TJ Maxx these days)—are generally of the pleasant variety.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the alternate fantasy—that of basically having a glorious, spectacular, if ignominious ending to working for "the man." Indeed, having a jaw-dropping, unforgettable and soon to be legendary moment with your job exit where you—figuratively—"Napalm the bridge behind you" is one of the great subjects in popular culture, dating all the way back to that classic 1977 country hit by the aptly-named Johnny Paycheck!

If you want a more "modernized"—and direct—version of the song, here's an especially good rap-country-rock fusion remix of Paycheck's classic hit as performed recently by the Moonshine Bandits.

This latter version leaves no mystery as to the "shove it" part of the equation! And speaking of the "take this job and shove it" end of the leaving your job spectrum, we now have the story of Earl Thomas of the Seattle Seahawks. In a routine regular season game between his team and the Arizona Cardinals, the Pro Bowl-level defensive back has left an indelible image and a moment that will be shared forever on social media. This is because his job exit may well become the modern day pic, GIF, meme, and video clip that captures how one leaves his or her job with an "F-U"—literally—to your employer—and maybe your coworkers as well.

Earl Thomas' Farewell Salute Leaving the Field After His Injury

For just a little background on the "middle finger salute" that became the "hot take" on every sports debate show on cable and many talk radio stations, here's just a brief overview of what happened—and perhaps why Earl Thomas was so frustrated in that exact moment. After being a first round draft choice for the Seahawks in the 2010 National Football League (NFL) Draft, Thomas became an invaluable member of the team's defense—the so-called "Legion of Boom—that would receive much of the credit for helping the Seahawks win their first ever Super Bowl (XLVIII) against the Denver Broncos in 2014. Gradually, however, the Seahawks have been experiencing a slow decline after losing the Super Bowl the next year against the New England Patriots on a last second interception in the end zone as Seattle appeared to be locked-in for the winning touchdown. Part of the cause of the team's recent lack of success has certainly been due to the fact that the Seahawks' management chose to pay their star quarterback, Russell Wilson, top dollar, leaving less money to work with under the league's salary cap. And thus, a number of the team's star players either left voluntarily or were traded to other teams.

As the Seahawks went through some tumult in recent years, so too has Earl Thomas. While he continued to start and star at safety for the team, he also had to deal with a devastating injury. In December 2016, Thomas made a spectacular play leaping to prevent a pass from being completed against him. However, in doing so, he and his Seattle teammate Kam Chancellor collided in mid-air, and as a result, Thomas suffered a broken tibia. The injury was a devastating one to the star player, who even contemplated retirement in its aftermath. When he did come back to play in the 2017 season, Thomas made it clear that he either wanted to secure his future in Seattle with a long-term contract—or to be traded to a team that would offer him financial security by having guaranteed money in case of another season-ending injury.

Thomas' demands went to no avail, and after sitting out the entire preseason for the current NFL season, he did join his team at the start of the regular season. In fact, in the first three games of the 2018 season, Thomas had certainly been one of Seattle's most valuable players—recording three interceptions in the first three games. However, in the fourth game against the Cardinals, well, his fate—and future—took an unforeseen turn. On a routine defensive play, and really without any contact, Earl Thomas suffered the same injury—a broken tibia—on the same leg, and he knew it the moment it happened.

Thomas was hurt. Thomas was greatly disappointed. Thomas was frustrated. As he was loaded onto the injury cart, teams from both players gave Earl Thomas their best wishes—offering him the respect a Super Bowl winning, Pro Bowl player arguably deserves. However, in the moment that the cart began to move to take him off the field for the final time early in the 2018 season, Thomas' anger toward the Seattle Seahawks—its upper management, it coaches, and maybe even some teammates who had not fully backed his desire to secure his financial future against just such a devastating injury—boiled over. The rest as they say is history, and that moment—almost assuredly his last moment with the Seahawks and perhaps even his last moment in the National Football League—Earl Thomas' middle finger salute became the stuff of legends!

Of course, in the 24/7/365 sports media culture in which we live, many, many folks around the country—and indeed around the world—instantly saw—and related—to Earl Thomas' frustration with the situation—and with him team. This made the moment an instant social media sensation! And of course, in the Age of the Internet, the still, the Photoshopped, the memed, the GIF-ed, etc. versions of Thomas' farewell to the Seattle team.

So, now we have the instant legend of Earl Thomas that has joined the pantheon of great-bad job exits of all time! And yes, there's quite a hall of fame that one can call upon with just a click or two to get advice on how to make quitting your job as dramatic as humanly possible. From the now 50-year-old Johnny Paycheck musical example cited earlier to movies and now viral Web videos, there's certainly no shortage of popular culture sources out there to say: "Well, if you gotta go, you might as well make it spectacular!"

In the end though, what's the real lesson we should take from that now iconic image and video of Earl Thomas and his farewell ride into the sunset of his time with the Seattle Seahawks? As a management professor and consultant, let me make it real simple for you. In one word: don't! I would not—repeat, not—recommend that you follow the lead of this football star in your own career decision-making! In the same way, don't fall for remembering how the fictional Jerry Maguire or a real local TV news anchor quit their jobs and see these as role models for how you should exit stage right when you think that the time is perfectly right—or perfectly wrong—depending on your perspective on things.

The reality is that today, we are truly in a world where we live, we socialize, and yes, we work in an environment characterized by six degrees of separation. This is a simple concept, with the idea being that:

"Any person on Earth is, on average, six 'steps away from knowing any other person, such that a chain of 'a friend of a friend' statements can be made to connect any two people in no more than 6 steps." (Source)

And today, in an era of instant, constant communications and social media, that number is shrinking from six, to five, to four—and maybe even going lower as we become ever more interconnected to one another.

And so, being cognizant of this fact, can you—should you—ever today go all Earl Thomas, Johnny Paycheck, Jerry Maguire on your employer—even if you may have an unbelievable desire to do so? Well, as the expression goes, just because you can doesn't mean that you should!

In our increasingly interconnected and intertwined existence then, when any company hiring, be they Apple, Alphabet, or the corner store, the Web is the number one place that almost all potential employers go today to search for info about potential new hires. If one wants to find out information about job applicants, between a Google search on them and checking their social media sites, anyone can get a read on anyone else on the planet today! You can no longer simply pick out the two, three, or four people for your references that you would want a potential new employer to call to check you out—those, of course, being the two, three, or four former managers, professors, coworkers, etc. that you are most confident in telling that company only good things about you ("He simply works too hard!"). Now, in the click of a mouse one can find connections who will connect you with all the info you could possibly want to know about the person you might want to hire. And after seeing what they have to say, you may well not want to do so!

Images and video only exacerbate this reality of living with ever-increasing connectedness! The smartphone in everyone's pocket or purse means the reality is today that moments in our lives—the good, the bad, the ugly, and the very ugly—don't just become legendary, they become permanent—and searchable! You could get lucky, however! Maybe your blow-up in the office with your boss won't be filmed on a security camera. Maybe a coworker won't grab his or her iPhone to capture your tirade as security escorts you out the door. Maybe you actually do think twice before posting a rant about your boss, your company, your coworkers, your customers on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. But today, one should—one must—always be thinking that they are acting on camera at any time when you are out in public or on the job.

Sports commentators have already speculated on how much money Earl Thomas might have cost himself with his goodbye gesture. He may have even cost himself a chance at even playing in the future. And for everyday folks like us working everyday jobs - let alone top corporate executives and government officials - listen to the wisdom of NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter:

"The difference between class and A-S-S... It's a big difference!"—Cris Carter

While being able to flip off your boss, to tell your manager to "take this job and shove it," to be able to feel like you got in the "last word" and had a "drop the mic" moment may feel very good in the moment, too many folks who star in viral videos of them walking-off the job on their terms don't really think about what this may cost them in the long-term. And so while we may seemingly glorify exploits such as what Earl Thomas did, this is no way to manage your own affairs if you want to be truly successful in today's world—unless your career ambition is simply to get your 15 minutes of fame by going viral!

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