When is it time to quit? Was Sarah Palin smart or clueless?

By on August 19th, 2009 In Hype!

A new national poll finds that 61% of Americans feel that Sarah Palin’s resignation was a bad move.    It caught a lot of people by surprise, including myself, and it made me wonder — how do you know when it is time to quit? 

Or as Seth Godin’s book, “The Dip,” muses, “Maybe you’re in a dip – a temporary setback for you that you will overcome if you keep pushing. But maybe it’s really a cul-de-sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.”

In public relations, it’s very easy to get into challenging situations because you’re representing someone else or some other company. I know what is like to be so stressed out over a boss or client that you don’t sleep at night, you don’t enjoy your weekends because you’re dreading Monday morning, and you’re so grouchy and short-tempered that your spouse or significant other gets irritated as well.

When I think of the corporations and clients that I voluntarily left over the years, there is only one that I really regret. I had been moved into a department that I had no affinity for (supposedly they were saving me from a layoff), and if I had just gone to my boss and asked her to help me transition to another department, I might’ve had some options. But I got in a huff and relocated myself back to Boston.  I unnecessarily turned my life upside down twice in two years by moving first to Denver and then moving back to Boston.

But if I’ve learned anything, there are three factors that are a warning bell to me that it’s time to move on. As I read somewhere, you just tell yourself benevolently, “I have my path, and they have theirs, and good luck to them.”

1) When your ethical boundaries are being crossed.   If your client or boss is asking you to push the envelope and transgress on the PRSA code of ethics, it’s time to walk away. No need to be the martyr about it – just time to walk away.

2) When you are so stressed from the work situation that your spouse/partner/family comments on it regularly, and urges you to take the weekend off. If you are working truly 24×7, particularly if you are working for someone else, you’re making a bunch of executives rich but you’re making yourself and your life quality-poor.

3) When your sleep patterns are a complete mess. I’ve been in toxic environments where I was so tense over something a client or executive had said that my body was completely rigid and I wouldn’t relax until four or five in the morning. Then I would stagger into work completely tired. The only respite was sitting down behind a closed stall door in the ladies’ room.  Seriously.

So I’m willing to give Sarah the benefit of the doubt when it comes to quitting.  While I’ve never been a public figure like she is, I’ve been in situations that I needed to leave. Only she will be able to know, with the perspective of hindsight, if it was the right move.

Comments

Allison Thomas Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 8:36 am

Good question, but these days (sadly) it’s not about whether it was a good or bad decision, really; it’s about what the majority of Americans THINK about the decision. From a PR perspective, the rules seem to be changing for public/political figures. You have to do something pretty horrific to damage your reputation beyond repair, at least with your base.

While liberals roundly celebrated Palin’s departure, her base celebrated it as well, for different reasons: She was going off to “effect change beyond government.” Whether she’ll truly work on that, or whether she quit to collect on her lucrative book deal remains to be seen. My money’s on the latter but one thing is certain: she’s not going away. Why? Because one side finds her reckless yet car-wreck fascinating and the other thinks she’s the second coming of Mother Teresa. And she wins either way.

Linda VandeVrede Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 8:49 am

I’m glad you brought that up, Allison. And that could be a whole ‘nother post as well – the PR effects of a big bold move like quitting. And even committing a horrific crime doesn’t really tarnish some people’s reputations.
And maybe Sarah’s own perspective of the brilliance or foolishness of her act will be muted if she gains additional, adoring fans. I hadn’t thought of that.

Thom Brodeur Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 9:04 am

I’ve met Ms. Palin, on several occasions, and at the risk of MY friends thinking I’ve lost it; I’m going to say this. She may ‘seem’ folksy. She may ‘seem’ dumb. She may ‘seem’ ill-informed, uneducated, or just plain ignorant. But I can assure this much. She’s NONE of the things she ‘seems’ that ‘seem’ to be the popular opinion of her. Replace all of my ‘seems’ with: shrewd, calculating, very smart (about a lot of things, actually), and an impeccable sense of timing.

Just like us PR folk. Sometimes you have to get past the packaging to get to the meat of a good story, a good pitch, a good angle…even a good client. Judging, books, covers, all of it. Out the window.

My two cents.

Linda Capcara Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 9:23 am

Is she crazy or crazy like a fox? She quit so she could make millions on her book deals and become a media mogul. I’m sure Rush Limbaugh is feeling very threatened right about now. He’s probably tempted to hit the painkillers again. It was very entertaining to see Sarah and Rush try to one up each other with their sensational rehetoric in the health care debate. Sarah claimed “Death panels” so Rush had to resort to the old stand-by- Hitler and Nazis to get the headlines. Move over Rush!

Pat Elliott Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 9:28 am

Linda – Without commenting on the specifics in your post, I know many people who wrestle with serious issues and would love to quit but are tied to their current jobs due to the economy. When the market picks up you can be sure there will be mass musical chairs in PR and many other professions. Stress usually brings out the worst in people, and many of those who are still employed are in miserable situations.

Linda VandeVrede Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 9:57 am

Yeah, I think we had all better get out of the way of the musical chairs when the economy picks up!
Sarah definitely had the luxury of being able to quit, knowing that lucrative book and speaking deals were in the wings….

Linda VandeVrede Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am

Thom – your comment makes me think of the old, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck….” etc. You should offer Ms. Palin some media training services, because her public appearances on both the left- and right-wing broadcast channels are not doing her any favors. I’ll defend her right to quit, but not her current presentation or debate skills…

Jim Veihdeffer Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 11:27 am

It is a very good question indeed, Linda, but I think the rules of engagement are different for hired or contracted employees and elected officials.

In the former, there’s a contract between employer and employee that is often “at will” — that is, they can fire you or you can quit. You can say, “This isn’t the job I signed up for” or “management changed.” Or management can say “Our needs have changed.”

But with a voted-in, elected official, quitting is essentially a betrayal of public trust. Unless you’re a first-timer running for alderman, you undoubtedly know the political situation you’re getting into, the ways of media and the perils of being a public figure. You can’t say “Oh, the electorate changed.”

As for Palin “seeming” folksy, dumb, ill-informed, and so on — yet somehow NOT being so — all I can say is: her behavior and statements are a matter of public record. If she really is the opposite of those things, she is either the greatest actress ever conceived or her behaviors have simply come to be what she mimics.

It’s like the guy who fakes mental illness to avoid going to prison. If he’s good enough to carry it off, maybe he really belongs there.

For a closer look at the reasons Ms. Palin chose to be Quitter-In-Chief, see
http://jveeds.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/the-political-comedy-gift-that-just-keeps-on-giving/

Linda VandeVrede Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 11:50 am

Jim, good differentiation between contracted employee and elected official.
I like this excerpt from your blog post: “The very idea of a governor — or any high elected official — abandoning an elected office absent pending criminal charges or health problems is highly unusual, possibly unprecedented . . . and seems an awful lot like the kid who takes his baseball home when the game isn’t going his way.”

Marketing Sociologist Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

Sarah Palin aside, you asked how many have quit over violating the PRSA code of ethics. Since most employers (and those hiring PR firms) prefer what Jack O’Dwyer calls “young females,” those who have done six internships for some reason (I did one – covering the first mayoral election in 34 years for the Albuquerque Journal); I bet if you went to 10 government PR practitioners and asked for just one PRSA ethics standard, you’d get no right answers. Same with the Canons of Journalism. So why quit over something you don’t know anything about? Get my drift? As Godin said, push through it and learn about your field – including the PRSA Code of Ethics; or who Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays were.

I picked on government PR because the State is the state’s largest employer. When you add in county, municipal, special government agencies like SRP and Native American tribes, colleges and school districts (and some I’m probably forgetting) – think of all the PR people they employ. Where are the people with regular jobs supporting this massive employment base via taxes? Almost forgot all the local PR firms with government contracts. (Yes, I believe government is bloated and nepotistic. Henry David Thoreau: “That Government is best which governs least,” or in Arizona’s case, doesn’t have more people working for it than the state has taxpayers.)

Pat Elliott Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

Given that none of us entered the PR field with all of the answers and we have all benefited from advice and mentoring from older practitioners,I suggest helping newcomers understand the Code of Ethics is more beneficial than slamming others. Now, more than ever, we can all learn from each other and help each other succeed in the “chaos” described elsewhere in this blog.

Stephanie Haack Says:
August 19th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

Her decision like all such decisions carries a cost. But the price of staying may have been far higher for her personally.

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