Just because your severance check is over 30 million, doesn’t mean getting fired is any less painful.

Everyone is talking about Conan and grappling to understand what the big deal is. He has millions, got paid tens of millions to leave AND within months he can basically sign a new contract with a competitor. How bad can life possibly be for him? That’s a problem I would love to have, wouldn’t you?

I’m Dr. Doug Hirschhorn, the premier coach to the Wall Street elite. My clients make tens of millions each year, every year. Unbelievable, I know. No, they don’t break laws. No, they are not shady characters. And as I clearly explain in my new book, 8 Ways to Great (Penguin/G.P. Puntam’s Sons), they are not the ones responsible for the economy falling apart. They are just regular guys who are highly skilled entrepreneurs, faced with great opportunities, just like Conan on TV or like Steve Jobs in the technology world. The mentality of these titans, as I have discovered in my decade of leadership coaching, is remarkably similar, and it does not seem to matter whether they are an athlete, business mogul or media star. Their path to finding that place called great, is identical and can be condensed to six words in a single sentence. And here it is, “IT IS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.”

For Conan, Leno, Steve Jobs, Hedge Fund Titans or even Oprah Winfrey, what motivates them to tap into and unlock their inner greatness are things like ego, passion, inspiration, fear of being mediocre, desire to improve the lives of others, or even low self-esteem that got engrained in them somewhere in their childhood and it has served to push them to prove those doubters from way back when that they were wrong. The bottom line is it is lots of things, just not money.

What does this have to do with you and your career building? Well, instead of being just another person who writes this Conan thing off as a ridiculous example of rich people crying over how big their pile of gold coins is or isn’t; think for a second about how much work and sacrifice Conan had to endure in order to reach his dream of being the top dog in the late night media. Have you ever made tremendous personal and professional sacrifices to have a shot to reach your goals? If you haven’t, then that is a shame; but if you have and my bet is most of you have, then you know exactly how Conan must feel right now.

He worked his entire life to get his shot – and he got it. And then it was taken away from him seven months later. The reason why is less important than the reality that it was. What I mean is, it doesn’t matter if he was fired because his ratings were down or because of politics; all that matters is Conan, just like many of us, had a dream and for decades worked towards achieving it. Then he goes into work one day and is told it’s over, here’s a check, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Is Conan pissed? Of course, he has to be, he is human. Is his ego bruised or maybe shattered? Probably. Does he feel like he was wronged, cheated by people he trusted? Yep. Has he stayed awake at night these past couple of weeks asking pointless questions like, “Why is this happening to me?” I sure bet he has - just like you or I would.

One thing I have learned from my elite clients on Wall Street is that these inflection points create huge potential opportunities for them to create a greater life if they are willing to remove the emotion and take smart risk. And for Conan, it is no different.

Conan has a CHOICE. He can choose to stay bitter, focus on the past, the empty promises, the mud slinging, the anger, emotion and remain stuck in time or he can choose to compartmentalize all of the anger, animosity, fear and doubting and create a new, career building plan for the Conan brand. He is still the same guy. He has the same unique quirky edge and comedic skills. The situation has just changed. Now it is up to him to choose to reinvent himself or not.

For this reason, I believe Conan is no different than any of us out there who thrive on finding our greatness. Stuff that is out of our control happens to all of us at some point in lives. Sometimes it has to do with our employment and other times it may have to do with our relationships. Yes, I know, plans are destroyed, effort is wasted and resources are exhausted but in the end, all that is going to matter for Conan, me, you or any other human being on this planet dealing with this type of situation is what choice we make after unexpected, uncontrollable events occur in our lives.

Conan, feel free to email me if you need a wake up call because I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what choice you make in the face of adversity.

Dr Doug