Danielle Dardashti - The Big Deal

 

 

It's January 2013. I'm in a job I love, working for a boss I love at a major media company. On Tuesday, January 15th, I close the largest deal of my career. After months of strategizing and negotiating, I reel in a multimillion-dollar deal that is all new business for the company. And I feel amazing. It's like in a movie where I'm walking down the halls, and everyone's high fiving me, and telling me congratulations in the elevator and I feel like a rockstar. 

 

Two days later, my daughter, Raquel, who's nine years old at the time, comes down with a stomach bug, and I have to call in sick to work to stay home with her. I'm up all night with her on Thursday night on the bathroom floor. And now, it's Friday morning at 09:00 AM and we're still on the bathroom floor together. There's a lull between vomiting episodes. I check my phone, and I see that I have three missed calls from my boss. So, I call her back. 

 

The moment she gets on the phone I can hear that she doesn't sound exactly like herself. Maybe she's on speakerphone and she says, “Hi, Danielle. Sorry to bother you at a bad time. I'm in Dina's office.” Dina is the head of HR. “She says we had to make some tough decisions today and eliminate several jobs, including yours.” The rest of the conversation is a complete blur. Something about numbers on a spreadsheet, mass layoffs across the company. 

 

My email has already been shut off and they're overnighting me a package outlining my severance agreement. My daughter, Raquel, starts throwing up again. I'm holding a wet washcloth on her head, and I'm leaning over the toilet with her, and I'm crying and she's saying, “Mommy, what's the matter?” And I'm saying, “No, I'm okay. I am okay” But I'm not okay. I'm a wreck. I feel rejected and unappreciated. I cry for three full days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday is Martin Luther King Day, and it's the day that Obama is inaugurated to a second term in office. 

 

I'm sitting in my living room in my pajamas still. I've been wearing the same pajamas for three days now, and I'm watching the inauguration on TV. At some point, in the middle of the inauguration, suddenly I feel a sense of hope reemerging in me like, “Yes, I can take a shower. [audience laughter] Yes, I can put on a bra. Yes, I can open that severance package and see what's inside and what they offered me.” 

 

So, I tear it open and I am taken aback such a generous offer. They're offering me six months full pay severance, and I've only been at the company for less than two years. Suddenly, I'm feeling extremely grateful and elated, and I feel like I need to thank my boss for this. So, I sit down at my computer-- 

 

I realize I have a lot of people I need to thank. I need to thank the Chief Revenue Officer, and the CEO and the Chief Marketing Officer. So, I just copy all of them on the email. And it goes something like this. “Dear, everyone, thank you for this awesome opportunity to work with all of you. Thank you for recognizing my abilities and promoting me into this amazing role. I've learned so much over the last two years and we've all accomplished so much together. This massive deal I just closed the other day, I know you're going to do amazing things with this client and make me very proud. Gratefully yours, Danielle Dardashti.” 

 

I didn't want to overthink it, so I just hit send. [audience laughter] Two hours later, my phone rings. It's someone in HR and she says, “Hi, Danielle. I'm calling from Dina's office and we have decided to grant your request for an enhanced severance package. [audience laughter] Instead of six month’s severance, we're offering you 12 month’s severance and your entire backend bonus. We're overnighting you a new package outlining this new offer.” 

 

I'm thinking, what the fuck just happened? [audience laughter] It wasn't until two years later that I found out they misinterpreted my enthusiastic email as a threat to sue them. [audience laughter] [audience cheers and applause]

 

So, what's my takeaway? Well, it certainly never hurts in business to be thankful, [audience laughter] but sometimes being grateful pays off big time.