A man who worked at Microsoft for more than thirty years was abruptly fired in February. His job loss came as Human Resources (HR) adopted the hub-and-spoke model for Learning and Development (L&D) – a strategy he had passionately advocated. Now, months after losing his job, Jeff Bogdan, director of Learning and Development (L&D) at Microsoft Windows, took to LinkedIn to share his “incredible” experience at the tech giant.
“My 33-year career at the great Microsoft came to an end in February when my job was cut. Over the past two weeks at Microsoft I have been trying to say goodbye to my enormous second family the right way. I spent the next two weeks in Chelan, half the time with family and half the time in solo reflection,” Bogdan wrote in his post.
Mr. Bogdan said his entire career at Microsoft has been an “incredible ride.” But he said the biggest reward for him over the past two years came when he took on an L&D role within Windows.
“My premise was that after I had successfully spread a learn-it-all mentality throughout the organization, it was time to spread a learn-it-all mentality to guide this. “I focused on organizing the learning investments for a 2,000-person organization, and then worked to align that with the learning and development offerings of our parent organizations and central HR,” he wrote.
Furthermore, Mr. Bogdan revealed that his job loss was a result of HR adopting the hub and spoke model for L&D that he was pitching. “Unfortunately, when my division already had an L&D team, there wasn't a seat at the table for me,” he continued.
“After much reflection, I have come to the conclusion that I am nowhere near the 'R-word' yet. There is still so much I want to contribute. So now the journey to finding my second career begins,” added he added.
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Mr. Bogdan shared the post a few days ago. It has since attracted more than 2,800 reactions and various comments.
“Microsoft definitely did something wrong by letting someone as great as you go. You have been an inspiration and a great mentor. You will be a great addition to any place that is lucky enough to have you, and I can't wait to look what tricks you're going to do next!” wrote one user.
“Good luck in your next set of endeavors. My position at Microsoft was eliminated after twenty years and seven months; I miss being there and will always consider it my professional home,” said another.
“I imagine this has been a bittersweet experience. I'm sure you're feeling a little lost and overwhelmed after so long at a company. I'm sending you many good thoughts and I know your next adventure will be great. Being open to Seeing what is happening and what is there is the best attitude you can have. Sometimes we end up in the right place just by not being too stuck on anything specific and just going by our gut to go off and try something new and perhaps uncomfortable,” said another.