Former CIO for advertising agency Leo Burnett, Ron Orrick is now an IT consultant for Eastbay, a sneaker and athletic apparel catalog. I’m never going to ride this train again. That’s what I was thinking as I rode from Chicago to my home in Cary, Ill., around 3:30 on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004. I’d just lost my job, and I was dizzy. I sat brooding by the window. I barely noticed anyone getting on and off as the train made its stops. No one sat next to me. I wouldn’t have sat next to me.I’d been blindsided. I had had one of my regular meetings with the global CIO of Publicis, Bill Jenks, to whom I reported, scheduled for three that afternoon. [Leo Burnett is a division of Publicis.] We were going to discuss IT strategy. When Bill swung by my office and said, Let’s talk with Linda [Wolf, CEO of Leo Burnett], I wasn’t suspicious.But when I walked into Linda’s office and saw the corporate attorney, John Spitzig, sitting on Linda’s red upholstered couch, I knew I was going to be released. John was always there when people lost their jobs. At that point, all I could focus on was a painting Linda had on her wall: a circus showgirl getting knives thrown at her. I felt as if the daggers that had missed her were hitting me. RELATED LINKS See more “What It’s Like To…” stories On the train, I tried to make sense of things. Bill and Linda had explained hastily that the management team at Publicis was restructuring, and I was the first of several CIOs in the company who would lose their jobs. The plan might have made sense to the executives who conceived it. But all I could think was that I had worked hard to build a high-quality, top performing team, and now I was getting laid off for it.Resentment gave way to self-pity. As I looked out the train’s window, I saw my reflection and wondered who I was. We shouldn’t define ourselves by what we do, but we can’t help it. I had been CIO of Leo Burnett; now that was gone. When I got off the train, my thoughts moved to my wife, my 9-year-old and 12-year-old daughters, and my 7-year-old son. I wasn’t too worried about their immediate welfare because I got a fair severance package, but I didn’t want them to worry. I was suddenly nostalgic for the four years we had spent working for Publicis in Germany, before I was transferred to Leo Burnett. My wife and I had made an effort then to spend time together as a family. It made us strong. And I took comfort in thinking about that strength, which I owed in part to the time I spent in Europe on behalf of the company that had just fired me, as I found my way home.—As told to Meridith Levinson Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP When natural disasters strike Japan, Ōita University’s EDiSON is ready to act With the technology and assistance of SAP and Zynas Corporation, Ōita University built an emergency-response collaboration tool named EDiSON that helps the Japanese island of Kyushu detect and mitigate natural disasters. By Michael Kure, SAP Contributor Dec 07, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by BMC BMC on BMC: How the company enables IT observability with BMC Helix and AIOps The goals: transform an ocean of data and ultimately provide a stellar user experience and maximum value. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by BMC The data deluge: The need for IT Operations observability and strategies for achieving it BMC Helix brings thousands of data points together to create a holistic view of the health of a service. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe