Career Curveballs: How Getting Fired for Alcohol Changed My Life

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers share how they turned setbacks into success. Read all their stories here.

I was 16 and working my dream job as a summer camp counselor and lifeguard at the 4-H sleep away camp on the Long Island Sound. I loved working with the kids in my cabin and I loved the environment and the 4-H culture. After all, it’s where I had been a camper myself for many years.

One particularly hot evening, I impatiently sat through an all-staff meeting as I looked forward to hanging out later with my first real girlfriend. I barely listened as the camp director opened a can of beer, said there had been problems with alcohol use by counselors and announced a zero tolerance policy.

A few days later, I had a day off, so my girlfriend and I spent it together away from camp. Along the way, we got a six-pack and I managed to finish the first beer of my life. I carried the remaining few beers in hand as we walked back into the camp and crossed paths with the camp director. He immediately noticed and confiscated the beers and said he would talk to me about it in the morning.

I was shocked the next morning when he fired me. I thought having beer on my day off was my business. But bringing the beer onto camp property was exactly what he had said was verboten.

I was devastated and humiliated. I called my father and asked him to pick me up. He came in a few hours, and I remember my deep sadness and even tears on the ride home. I also remember he never chided or scolded me. He saw my pain, knew I had learned a lesson, and his great judgment and love for me meaningfully collided in silence.

Time eased the wound of being fired. But I think of that transformative experience often for what it taught me. I learned that actions have consequences. If you violate a rule, be prepared to pay the price. Even today, while I don’t let rules or laws define my ethics or morals, before I consciously violate a rule, whether it’s jaywalking or not wearing a seatbelt, I assess whether the likely penalty or safety risk is worth the consequences.

Being fired is a humiliating experience, and a good boss must be empathetic. As a result of my own experience, I insist, as CEO, on approving every employee termination. I leave it to the lawyers to assess the legal risk; my job is to make sure we have been fair to the person.

I can’t help but empathize with an employee being fired and will ask multiple questions before any termination. Was there one bad act or a series? Did they have feedback and a chance to change? Was it performance or personality? Absent fraud or transgression, is there a different job in the organization the employee could succeed at? How do we tell them and what, if any, severance is offered? What help can we offer in finding another job more suited to their skills? How can we preserve their dignity?

Experience has taught me that quick action, including walking someone out that day, is best. At my company, we often encourage job-seeking before an actual termination. In some cases when an employee is terminated for malfeasance, I have spoken to spouses, urging them to support the employee, especially emotionally. Being fired can cause strong, even suicidal, reactions.

My early experience being fired also taught me about the connections that matter most. I learned that a good parent does not pile on. My father didn’t chide me. He showed that same patience at other points throughout my life. I learned from those experiences that when someone is down, that’s when they most need support, and it is when parents (and friends) matter most. Applauding excellence and achievement is easy. But being there for people when they’re down proves you care. I make it a point to call friends who have lost their jobs, because I know that is when they need me most.

Being fired for violating alcohol rules at camp changed me. It taught me valuable lessons about rules and being a good employee. More than that, I gained real insight into the strengths it takes to be a good leader, a good father and a good friend. Like many other dark moments in my life, getting fired from my job at camp strengthened me, taught me empathy and helped shape me into a more well-rounded person.

Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies, and author of the New York Times best-selling books Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World's Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. His views are his own. Connect with him on Twitter: @GaryShapiro.

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