She couldn't imagine a better situation for a business development person with a love of deal-making. The company's niche was hot right now, and everyone wanted a shot at licensing their delivery technology for other applications. Sadly, though, she felt as though she were at the end of her potential at the company. Her boss, the COO and Executive VP, had played politics with the board and was now out of a job. The CEO had scheduled a meeting with her to question her loyalties.
Every company has some degree of politics being played out.
Despite the fact that many people are indeed fired for being on the losing side of a political battle, recruiters believe that more are terminated for not playing politics. In this example, although Jane wasn't a willing participant in her boss's gamesmanship with the board of directors, she was close enough to it to have been left with an image that she doesn't think will suit her well for future growth. It's time for her to get into a new company and start again with a fresh reputation. They think that there's something wrong with it. The merger was only in the rumor stage, and already the project meeting had turned to talk of possible layoffs and job duplication.