I’ve worked both good and bad contracts. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. I’ve seen great successes and bad failures. Sometimes really bad failures. That no matter what you say or do you can’t prevent the inevitable. So you watch, you observe, you learn.
There are case studies on failed businesses that you can study. There are even books, like Boo Hoo. People like to read about the success stories, not the failures. Read both. A balanced education is good. It’s far cheaper to learn from other people’s mistakes.
Living through the fall of a business can be interesting. Especially if you have no skin in the game, and you are financially secure, and confident in your skill-set’s marketability. You learn to spot the signs. Customers going quiet on you, senior management updating their LinkedIn profiles, less orders coming in, shareholder changes, whispering in corridors, linchpins leaving, less work coming your way.
As the topple starts you begin to see moves to stop the fall. Redundancies, reduced budgets, delayed payments, and shelved projects. Once everyone was asked to take a pay cut. Temporary of course. Just to help keep the company going.
Then the fall happens. Sadness follows. Why oh why? After all you put in. You weren’t steering. You were merely a cog. Hopefully a well paid one. One that will fit nicely into another company. One that hopefully won’t fail.