Episode-86; Falling Up

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Welcome to The Outliers Inn: Where Failure Is a Launchpad and Redundancy Is a “Plot Twist!”

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Greetings, fellow misfits and spreadsheet-scarred consultants! Welcome to another delightfully dysfunctional episode of The Outliers Inn, the podcast where career detours are not only expected—they’re celebrated.

This episode’s theme? “Falling Up”—because sometimes, getting fired, downsized, or reorganized out of existence is just what the career doctor ordered. Around here, we call that “promotion by ejection.”

Host JP kicks things off by revealing that nearly everyone who’s ever left his business has ended up in a better job—with one unfortunate exception who found a career in “advanced bottle studies.” The rest? Gainfully employed, often far away from JP’s watchful eye. Coincidence? Hmm.

Co-host Mule joins in with tales of career exits both glorious and absurd, usually triggered by someone with fewer qualifications and more PowerPoint slides. Together, they reflect on their podcast’s redundant recording setup—because once you lose a great episode to the digital void, you get paranoid. (Yes, they hit “record” this time. Probably.)

Naturally, things veer wildly into failure analysis, and Boeing takes center stage. JP points to the company’s shift from engineers to “spreadsheet heads” as the beginning of the end. If you wear a tie and carry Excel but not a wrench, you might be the problem. Mule highlights Boeing’s outsourcing of 80% of the 777 project to Japan, likening it to an IKEA plane kit: “Some assembly required.”

Then the conversation shifts from corporate crashes to personal pivots.

Andy from the UK has turned redundancy into a career strategy, popping out of companies and back into employment with enviable ease. His superpower? Optimism and a short memory. Pete, whose resume reads like a consultant-themed game of Mad Libs, has “fallen up” so often it’s practically his brand.

Stephane, meanwhile, pivoted 180 degrees from managing people to influencing them—less stress, fewer spreadsheets, more sanity. When asked if he’s ever helped someone else fall up (say, by firing them so hard they landed in a better job), he pleads the fifth, politely.

Talk turns to salary compression. JP’s laments about “Why is the newbie making the same as the ten-year vet who hasn’t cried in six months?” Mule warns this is how companies hemorrhage talent. Pete adds that self-worth can’t be printed on a paycheck alone, especially when HR still treats you like you need a hall pass to be valuable.

Then comes the elephant in the room: education. Back in the ’80s, guidance counselors only had one suggestion: college. Trade schools? Actual job skills? Not a whisper. Andy discusses the fallout from the UK’s push to send half the country to university, resulting in massive debt and degrees in “Unicorn Philosophy.”

Pete talks about mentoring youth in the health service, helping them believe in themselves despite HR’s paper-based skepticism. Mule shares his own parenting split: one child in college, another thriving in a trade. His takeaway? Success isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s whatever fits you.

As the pub doors begin to creak closed (though let’s be honest, The Outliers Inn rarely ends so much as wanders off), JP reflects on his father’s final “falling up”—into retirement, where golf clubs and afternoon naps await. Not bad, really.

Mule, ever the realist, closes with sage advice: Leadership matters, failure teaches, and decisions—like Band-Aids—are best ripped off quickly.

JP wraps with a thank-you, a wink, and the empty promise that next time they’ll stay on topic (as if). So pour a pint, pull up a virtual stool, and remember: getting let go might just be life’s way of letting you level up.

And yes, they hit record. Probably.

Give a listen!