Aug 26, 2026 · 49 min · 11 segments
If you work in tech long enough, there’s a good chance you’ll go through a layoff. Either your own, or one that leaves you wondering whether you’re next. Shanon Olsen, COO of Henley Leadership, works…
to talk more about culture under stress, because that's kind of the nature of this.
Can your purpose, can your culture... not can you, how do you make sure, how do you make your culture more resilient enough? How do you make your culture resilient enough to survive layoffs? And how do you convince employees it's real and not just the things, you know, people say when they got to lay people off?
And, you know, our firm went back and forth about it because really there's nothing we can do to make people feel safe.
But as leaders, we can create cultures of where people belong and there's dignity.
And so I think that when a culture is under stress, if those two things are intact and you're much more likely to stay engaged, to stay in, to stay present because you know you have a place.
Even if you know something's coming, you know I still belong here and you know that you're going to be treated well.
And so I think that there's some space in there for organizations to play where do people know that they have a purpose, not just a position? Do people know that they are a contribution to where we're growing? I mean, I've heard recently of so many people that are pretty much working themselves out of a job.
Part of it is they're clear that they're going to be taken care of at some point.
to talk more about culture under stress, because that's kind of the nature of this.
Can your purpose, can your culture... not can you, how do you make sure, how do you make your culture more resilient enough? How do you make your culture resilient enough to survive layoffs? And how do you convince employees it's real and not just the things, you know, people say when they got to lay people off?
And, you know, our firm went back and forth about it because really there's nothing we can do to make people feel safe.
But as leaders, we can create cultures of where people belong and there's dignity.
And so I think that when a culture is under stress, if those two things are intact and you're much more likely to stay engaged, to stay in, to stay present because you know you have a place.
Even if you know something's coming, you know I still belong here and you know that you're going to be treated well.
And so I think that there's some space in there for organizations to play where do people know that they have a purpose, not just a position? Do people know that they are a contribution to where we're growing? I mean, I've heard recently of so many people that are pretty much working themselves out of a job.
Part of it is they're clear that they're going to be taken care of at some point.
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