WellMed employees received this tone-deaf corporate message on Monday as part of the company’s daily “Firestarter” email. These emails are supposed to offer daily anecdotes and lessons meant to inspire the enterprise.
This felt especially insensitive given last week’s mass layoffs.
The “key takeaways” from Monday’s email read,
“· Events are neither inherently good/bad nor lucky/unlucky – Events are merely a destined chronological occurrence, to which we assign a positive or a negative value based on our perception. Sadly, more often than not, we lend a higher level of focus and energy to those events we perceive as negative versus the positivity and beauty that typically surrounds us 99% of the time.
· You never know what will follow – Sometimes the greatest challenges in our lives will push us to grow into more than we were before, or become greater than we ever thought possible. Hardship can tear you down if allowed, but it can also yield strength and wisdom if embraced. Your newly acquired resilience will be an upgrade to your emotional armor, and the lesson learned will serve as a sharpening of your intellectual sword. With every new battle, you are a fiercer warrior, so long as you keep standing up.
Life will always be full of uncertainty, both large and small, but happiness and peace are a PERSONAL CHOICE. If we do not empty our emotional travel bag from the trash we picked up yesterday, we may not be curious enough to collect tomorrow’s bounty.”