Arnold Peter
Date: September 25, 2026
Originally published on LinkedIn
Summary: A reduction in force can be deeply personal, even when the decision has little to do with an executive’s performance. Drawing on experience on both sides of the table, Arnold Peter offers seven practical steps: stay professional, understand severance terms and earned compensation, consider reputation alongside money, avoid impulsive social media posts, reconnect with trusted contacts, and explore what comes next. For employers, the message is equally clear: deliver difficult news with compassion and dignity.
Advice From Both Sides of the Table
In this article, I want to offer some practical—and, I hope, somewhat humbling—advice to both sides of one of the most difficult experiences in corporate life: a reduction in force. For those who suddenly learn that their position has been eliminated, there are important things you can do to protect yourself, preserve your professional reputation and begin thinking constructively about what comes next.
But I also want to speak to the executives, lawyers and HR professionals who have the enormously difficult responsibility of implementing these decisions. Never forget that there is a human being on the other side of that table.
The person sitting across from you may have spent 10, 20 or 30 years building a career and, quite possibly, helping build the very company that has now decided it can operate without them. They may have a mortgage, children in college, aging parents or simply an enormous part of their identity wrapped up in the work they have performed extraordinarily well for decades.
So before delivering the carefully vetted corporate talking points, try something very simple: imagine the roles reversed. Imagine that you were the one who arrived at work that morning expecting another ordinary day and instead learned that your career there was over.
Think about how you would want to be spoken to and how much dignity you would hope to be afforded. Would you want five minutes to ask questions rather than being rushed through a script, and how would you want colleagues to remember your years of contribution?
Compassion costs remarkably little, and humanity costs nothing. Neither is inconsistent with carrying out a difficult business decision.
I Have Been on Both Sides of the Table
I have been on both sides of that table. During my years as an in-house lawyer at Universal, I participated in corporate restructurings and layoffs, helped address the legal issues and worked on severance packages. I understood the business reasons behind those decisions and the responsibility management has to the larger organization.
In private practice, I have also spent years sitting on the other side, representing executives—from directors through some of the most senior levels of corporate management—after they receive that call from Human Resources. Seeing the process from both perspectives has changed the way I think about it.
The Disney Warning—and the Human Reality Behind a RIF
The news coming out of Disney this week therefore hit me differently than the typical story about corporate restructuring. Deadline reports that Disney’s Chief Legal and Global Affairs Officer, Horacio Gutierrez, has warned employees that his organization will become “much smaller” as Disney rethinks how legal and related work is performed, including through automation, self-service models, alternative legal providers, shared services and outsourcing.
Those words—smaller organization, hard choices, staffing investments—are familiar corporate language, but behind that language are human beings. There is something particularly heartbreaking about a Reduction in Force—a RIF—when it happens to a senior executive who may never before have experienced significant professional rejection.
Many senior executives have spent their entire lives succeeding. They were good students, competed for internships, attended strong universities and graduate schools, fought their way into highly competitive industries, worked nights and weekends, missed dinners and vacations, accepted difficult assignments, built teams, mentored younger employees and survived reorganizations that eliminated other people’s jobs.
Then, perhaps at 45, 50 or 55 years old, someone effectively tells them something they may never have heard before: “We don’t need you anymore.” For someone whose professional life has largely been defined by achievement and advancement, those words can land with an enormous impact.
Of course, that usually isn’t literally what the company is saying. A RIF may have almost nothing to do with the individual’s performance and instead result from a merger, changing economics, new leadership, outsourcing, automation, artificial intelligence or simply a decision that an organization needs fewer layers of management.
But that distinction can be difficult to appreciate when you are the person sitting across the table. That is precisely why how a company handles the moment matters.
A termination meeting may occupy 20 minutes on an executive’s calendar, while for the person receiving the news it may be a conversation they remember for the rest of their life. Companies should remember that, and employees going through it should remember something equally important: how you respond during those first few hours and days can materially affect what happens next.
Seven Things to Do When It Happens to You
After watching executives navigate these situations for years, I have developed a few pieces of practical advice. None eliminates the pain of the experience, but they can help someone navigate it more effectively.
First, don’t react in the room. You may be angry, feel betrayed or want to explain why the decision makes absolutely no sense, but resist the impulse to respond emotionally.
Listen, take notes, ask questions and remain professional. The people communicating the decision may have had nothing to do with making it, and today’s HR executive, general counsel or division president may become tomorrow’s reference, client, business partner—or even the person who recommends your next position.
Second, don’t sign anything immediately. A severance agreement is a contract, not a sympathy card, and it may address compensation, bonuses, equity, benefits, restrictive covenants, confidentiality, non-disparagement, cooperation obligations, releases of claims, intellectual property and other significant rights.
There is rarely an advantage to signing something before you fully understand it. Take the time available to understand what you are agreeing to and, where appropriate, obtain professional advice.
Third, understand what you have actually earned. Executives sometimes focus exclusively on the number of months of severance being offered, but that can be a mistake.
What happens to your bonus, equity, restricted stock, options, deferred compensation, commissions, accrued vacation, health benefits, retirement benefits and expense reimbursements? What happens to compensation tied to transactions or projects that you substantially completed before your departure? For senior executives, those questions can sometimes be worth considerably more than the headline severance number.
Fourth, remember that money isn’t the only thing that can be negotiated. One of the most overlooked issues in executive departures is the story that accompanies the departure and how it may affect the executive’s next opportunity.
How will the company characterize the departure internally and externally? Can the executive announce the departure first, what will the company say when a prospective employer calls, and can the parties agree upon a reference? For someone with a 20- or 30-year career, protecting professional reputation can be every bit as important as negotiating another few weeks of severance.
If you are receiving severance and the company is open to alternatives, you may also be able to discuss whether it will be paid as a lump sum or whether you will remain on payroll for a period while no longer reporting to work but remaining available for appropriate questions and transition assistance. Those details can matter both financially and professionally.
Fifth, don’t immediately broadcast your anger on social media. The temptation is understandable, particularly when someone believes the company has treated them unfairly, but the internet has a much longer memory than our emotions.
Your next employer may be watching, as may recruiters, former colleagues and potential business partners. A furious LinkedIn post written 90 minutes after being terminated can remain searchable long after the emotion that produced it has disappeared, so control the narrative rather than allowing the moment to control you.
Sixth, start calling people—but don’t merely ask them for jobs. A much better conversation might begin: “I’ve recently left XYZ Company after a terrific 12-year run. I’m taking a little time to think about what I want to do next, and I’d really value your perspective.”
That conversation is much easier for both people than simply asking, “Do you know anyone hiring?” In my experience, it also often produces better results because it reestablishes relationships rather than immediately turning them into transactions.
Seventh, recognize that your next chapter may not look like your last one. This may be particularly important now because technology is changing not only which jobs exist, but also how organizations structure professional work.
The Disney memo is striking because it expressly discusses technology, automation, alternative providers, outsourcing and different models for performing work. That isn’t just a Disney issue; it reflects a much broader transformation of professional work.
For some executives, therefore, the goal shouldn’t necessarily be finding exactly the same title at another company. It may instead be an opportunity to ask a bigger question: What do I want the next ten years of my professional life to look like?
That could mean another corporate position, but it could also mean consulting, entrepreneurship, board service, teaching, advising startups, joining a smaller organization where your experience carries greater weight—or combining several of those things. A forced transition can sometimes create permission to consider possibilities that would have seemed unthinkable while comfortably employed.
Final Thoughts: A Job Is Not a Career
Finally, allow yourself to acknowledge that losing a job hurts. I’ve watched enormously successful people apologize for being emotional about a termination, but there is nothing surprising about that reaction.
Work provides more than compensation; it gives many of us community, routine, friendships, identity and purpose. For senior executives who have spent decades building a career, separating the person from the title doesn’t happen overnight.
But I have also seen something remarkable repeatedly over the years: some of the most interesting professional transformations begin with a meeting that, on the day it occurs, feels like a catastrophe. The executive who walks out of the building after a RIF is still the same person who walked into it that morning—with the same education, relationships, judgment, experience, accomplishments and capacity to create value.
A company can eliminate your position. It cannot eliminate your career. And perhaps there is an equally important message for the person sitting on the other side of the table: today you may be delivering the news; tomorrow you could be receiving it.
Organizations change, leadership changes, technology changes and industries change. No title makes anyone permanently immune from that reality, and remembering that simple fact may make us a little more compassionate when we have power—and a little more resilient when suddenly we don’t.
Sometimes an unexpected interruption becomes the moment that forces even the most successful among us to ask a question we have been too busy to consider. Perhaps that is the most constructive question with which to begin the next chapter: What do I actually want to do next?
Frequently Asked Questions About Executive Layoffs and Severance
What should an executive do immediately after being told their position has been eliminated?
The article recommends listening, taking notes, asking questions, and remaining professional. Preserving relationships during the initial conversation can help protect your reputation and future opportunities.
Why should an executive review a severance agreement before signing?
A severance agreement can address much more than severance pay, including bonuses, equity, benefits, confidentiality, releases of claims, and other obligations. The article recommends using the time available to understand the agreement and obtaining professional advice where appropriate.
What compensation should an executive review after a reduction in force?
Review the treatment of bonuses, equity, restricted stock, options, deferred compensation, commissions, accrued vacation, health and retirement benefits, and expense reimbursements. Compensation associated with substantially completed projects or transactions may also deserve attention.
What might be discussed in severance negotiations besides money?
Depending on the circumstances and the company’s willingness to negotiate, discussions may include references, internal and external departure announcements, payment structure, and transition arrangements. The article emphasizes that professional reputation can be as important as additional severance.
How should executives approach networking after a layoff?
The article suggests reconnecting with trusted contacts to ask for perspective, rather than immediately asking for a job. Those conversations may help rebuild relationships and identify possibilities such as another corporate role, consulting, entrepreneurship, board service, or teaching.
How can employers handle a reduction in force with dignity?
Recognize the employee’s contributions, communicate respectfully, and allow room for questions. The article encourages executives, lawyers, and HR professionals to consider how they would want to be treated if they were receiving the news.
