On March 7, in a much-talked about move, the Indianapolis Colts released their future Hall-of-Fame, four-time MVP quarterback Peyton Manning to go look for work with another NFL team. Moving quickly to avoid paying Manning a $28 million bonus due this week, the Colts owner Jim Irsay is now looking to the future and drafting a top college QB (most likely Andrew Luck from Stanford) to lead his team.  

While one might think regular folks in the business world have little in common with NFL superstars, there are four things we can take away from Manning's situation.

1) Understand that everyone is replaceable: When Peyton Manning joined the Colts in the late 1990s, they were a middling team. With Manning's leadership and skills they became perennial Super Bowl contenders, as Manning set record after record and blew opponents away. No one worked harder than Manning or gave more to the team than he did. Unfortunately, he suffered a neck injury and had to undergo surgery last year. Without him, the Colts finished 2-14, a signal to how important Manning was to the team. Yet the Colt's leadership, looking at Manning's injury and age (and, no doubt, the looming bonus), decided to let him go so they could move forward with a new quarterback.

What's the lesson for us? If someone with Peyton Manning's impact, leadership, and work ethic can be let go, anyone is replaceable. Which leads us to the next three points.

2) Be prepared. Despite all the talk over the past season that this move might occur, it appears Manning was genuinely surprised and unprepared when it actually happened. When asked at his "exit interview" about what team he wanted to play for now he said, "I have no idea who wants me, what team wants me, how this process works, I don't know if it's like college recruiting where you go take visits. I mean, this is all so new to me."

The takeaway for each of us is that we always need to be ready if the ax falls. Each of us needs to be constantly upgrading our skills and learning new ones. Our LinkedIn contact list needs to be full and expanded weekly. Our resumes must be up-to-date. Don't be caught by surprise.

Stay Tuned:  Lessons #3 and #4 coming Monday.

Source:  Written by Mark McNeilly for  FastCompany 2012     

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