Thought it would be time for me to add my story.
I've been in technology my whole career focusing on the digital transformation of manufacturing and distribution organizations. Not maintenance, but the full out change of modernization. Scary stuff if not done right. I realized very early that to be effective you have to be able to speak your mind to the powers that be OR you could easily get caught up in something disasterous. Many of the leaders you work with are successful individuals, but very few have been through a digital transformation as they occur only every couple of decades in an organization. Seriously - organizations die if not led properly through these transformations by the WHOLE management team.
FU money enables you to walk away if it ends up going in the wrong direction. Not a "take my ball and go home if not following my way" type stuff, but as a last card if enough red flags go up and you are attempting to course correct. Why last card, because if it has gotten this far and your course correction fails - you do not want to be there. #1 - as IT Leadership, you are usually the first to be fired if there is a disaster. #2 - when looking for your next job, you don't want a disaster on your resume (trust me - disasters get into the marketplace). Walking is better.
First time I participated in leveraging this was when I was in consulting. Client was implementing an ERP system and the project was not going well. Name the red flag and this project had it. We told the CIO then the CEO where improvements needed to be made. As the project continued to go south with our recommendations not heeded, we said of our recommedations here are the couple that were non-negotiable or we walk. At this point our client was the highest grossing client of the whole organization (tier B CPA firm in the 90s), so major dollars for the firm. Result - we walked. The partner on the project was not upset, just practical when he told me "rather walk away now with our reputations intact than after the project implodes". Best lesson I ever learned as that project blew up six months later and the company cleaned house of everyone involved. Lawsuits ensued. Reputations were tarnished. Other companies knew we walked away and it made our repuation stronger....
I left consulting but kept up 2 things - #1 - my love of a full digital transformation, and #2 - my realization that I may need to walk at any moment. I needed FU money.
Years later I'm at a company in trouble - severe technology debt and continuing to lose market share for a variety of reasons. I was brought in the lead them out of their technology debt. Did many great things, but the continued loss of market share meant we changed our CEO every couple of years. I was successful in getting buy-in on the long term plan with each successive CEO...until the last one. Two challenges - #1 It was his first CEO gig - former CFO - and he had never been through a digital transformation, and #2 he liked to bring in his own people. Both fine and while his lack of understanding of the challenge before us was concerning I was stunned when the person who he brought in above me was even worse. I'd reported to the CEO since my arrival and having a person put between us put me on alert than I was being targeted. Whatever. But when this person did not have the knowledge to be in the position.....not good. He had never been IT Leadership, just IT Sales.
I honestly tried to get both to see the light, but it was just never going to happen. My days were numbered, but hey I've got FU money for this!
But to leave I had a challenge - I would have to move in order to find another position and I had kids in middle school. I didn't want to be the one to leave so I could tell my kids it was not my decision to leave this city they had lived in for the past 6 years. So I waited. Turns out the company was making it more and more miserable for me hoping I would leave, so after awhile they realized I was holding out for a golden parachute just like many of the other Executives who had been shown the door before me.
Finally HR came to me with a meager offer (CEO and my boss were not involved whatsoever), so I said I would leave on 2 conditions:
#1 - they would never degrade my work and/or actions ever OR our deal was off.
#2 - the meager offer needed to be improved.
Rejected.
I asked the HR representative to reconsider and started listing off all of the projects I was aware/involved in both executed and considered. He had no clue what they were, but he wrote them down as I instructed and he took them with him. I was an Exec so knew of various plans accumulated over my 6 years - ranging from competitive advantages (I had no non-compete) to an attempt to weaken the union representation at two of their largest plants. I was offering my silence.
Within an hour HR got back to me with a real offer which was more than enough to cover the period I was out of work AND buy into a PE opportunity at my next position. It was glorious.
Without FU money, I would have played it very differently. Safer. With FU money, I had the ability to tolerate risk to get a better resolution. Some may say I was lucky it worked out for me, but I view it as the inevitable and my ability to push back is how I received a reasonable offer.
For those who are wondering - company never said why I left and it must have been painful because I know as their situation got worse many asked if Goose could be persuaded to come back and take their IT forward. If only they knew...