Harvard Prof’s Advice on Being Fired: Be Positive, Tell Your Side of Story Quickly

For those working in a layoff-laden economy, learning how to take a "death with dignity" approach to being fired can be an important skill.

Strive to be positive and avoid airing complaints about unfair treatment, urges Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter in a Bloomberg column today.

"Try to leave on good terms, even if it is means swallowing hard," she writes.

And, if you must tell your side of the story, do so quickly: Waiting to respond makes a controversy last longer, she says, and allows it to spread further unchallenged in today's Internet-focused world. For those who don't have a good defense to offer, speedily admitting a mistake can be another good alternative.