“You have to have tough skin”: how does it feel to lose top job status?

On the evening of May 7, 2015, Vince Cable watched general election coverage at his home. For more than two decades he had been the Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham; since 2010 also a member of the cabinet. In the coalition government, he served for a long time as business secretary, president of the chamber of commerce and privy councillor. Cable ran a constituency office, one in parliament and a large department in Whitehall. He was responsible for thousands of staff, as well as a host of junior ministers.

Then suddenly he wasn't.

In the early hours of May 8, each of these roles and responsibilities had been quickly removed from the former Right Honorable Member. The general election results shrewdly demolished the coalition, leaving huge losses for the Liberal Democrats in their wake. Cable's 12,000-member majority seat was won by a Conservative Party candidate. who hold high-level public office. In a matter of moments, one can go from wielding the highest levels of political power and influence to almost none. A fateful few weeks ago, Liz Truss' decade-long rise through the cabinet ranks culminated in her appointment as Prime Minister. Now, after 45 days, it's all over. Maybe Cable knows how she feels. His long career also came to an abrupt and unwelcome end. "That night was incredibly difficult on a personal and political level," says Cable, now firmly removed from frontline politics. "We had assumed the Lib Dems would hurt, but Twickenham were seen as one we would cling to."

Anyone who quits a job - whether on their own terms or otherwise - can find themselves in a similar situation. For many, work doesn't just dictate how we spend our time, it's a defining characteristic of our personalities; an essential facet of our identity. This is certainly true for those at the top of institutions or organizations where their names are so closely tied to where they work. So when the titles we've held are suddenly stripped away and relegated to the past, it can feel a little disorienting; expose, even. How can we start to deal with this?

According to psychologist Linda Papadopoulos, whether it's dealing with retirement, layoff or resignation, it can be difficult to s 'adapt. “These shifts are difficult for humans,” Papadopoulos says, “especially when we're in jobs where it's tied to our identity, and those on a treadmill of positions of power. There is a change in the way we see ourselves, but also in the way others see us. It was hard walking around Twickenham to get people to feel sorry for you. It was a constant reminder of my loss. “What made it easier was that we all went down with the ship,” he says. “Were we 56 Liberal Democrat MPs and only three lost? I would have felt it personally. But almost all of us were defeated - the few survivors were in some pretty unique situations.

Finding comfort in these comparisons, Papadopoulos suggests, is human nature. “Basic evolutionary psychology tells us that we are status-oriented creatures,” she says, “programmed to check how happy we are relative to others. That's why sometimes it's so hard to feel good about yourself without looking at whether you're running faster or jumping higher than someone else."