Why didn't you quit before you got fired?

Whether you are physician employee or an advisor or consultant, it is increasingly likely that your white coat will get the pink slip. There is no corporate loyalty, and the fact is that newco founders run out of money and are no longer willing to pay you.

When that happens, here are some things you should do.

But what took you so long to quit before you got fired?

It is common to ignore the signs and symptoms that you might be in trouble:

SIGNS YOU MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE

• Your boss stops dropping by your desk with suggestions.
• You’re left out of important meetings you used to attend.
• Once-friendly colleagues start to avoid you.
• You never get any feedback.
• You never ask for any feedback.
• You start comparing yourself to mediocre peers rather than stars.
• You’re not sure what your boss cares about.
• You don’t care what your boss cares about.

It’s a question Kellogg’s Harry Kraemer, a clinical professor of strategy and former CEO of Baxter International, gets all the time: “How do I decide whether to stay in my current position or seek an opportunity in another organization?”

And it turns out, he doesn’t have a readymade answer to something this specific and personal. But he does recommend that everyone develop their own criteria for staying vs. leaving, and (better yet!) he is willing to share his own criteria, which he developed decades ago and still uses today.

1) If I stay in this specific position or another position in the same organization, will I have an opportunity to learn and grow?

2) Am I adding value to the organization and making a real difference?

3) Am I having fun?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you should pull the plug and learn.

Wake up and smell the pink slip. Here are reasons why it's a clever idea to get yourself fired, or even better, taking the buyout, or firing yourself.

1. You are not innovating unless you are pissing people off. If no one wants to fire you and you have not made enough enemies, you probably have not been an effective change agent.

2. You don't like your job or career that much anyway, but don't have the courage or risk tolerance to quit and do something else.

3. You can get unemployment compensation to pay for your lattes while you decide what to do next

4. You have followed one of the 10 Commandments of Intrapreneurship: Don't ever be afraid of getting fired.

5. You can threaten lots of administrative remedies to get your employer to buy you out and "retire" instead of calling it getting fired

6. The Brits like to call it being made redundant. "Fired" seems to have much more American feel to it.

7. As more people get fired, the stigma will be removed, and we can all be a lot more adult about it

8. Trying to get yourself fired might even result in your getting promoted to your level of incompetence and getting an office with a door and a window instead of a coworking space next to the air hockey machine

9. Getting fired will force you to think about what's next. Necessity might be the mother of invention, but Plan B often is an orphan

10. Once you get fired, then you can join the growing ranks of the sick care gig economy.

11. It will force you to learn resilience

12. It will force you to do what you should have been doing all along...planning your next career move while you have a job. Given the lack of corporate loyalty, your boss has already put you on the bubble, so why not pre-empt him or him or her

13. You are doing your team a favor by adding creativity to the group

14. You will get to keep your $75 Million for not coaching at your former job.

15. It is an opportunity to move on to higher yielding gigs in your career ladder portfolio

Firing yourself is empowering. Take a tip from the other Buffet. Take some time off and congratulations on writing the next chapter.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack