Skill and Expertise

One of the requirements of being indispensable is acquiring skills. Skills don’t come naturally…they’re achieved. They are the product of curiosity, the desire to make change and an abundance of practice…try, fail, adjust, retry. 

Hard skills like making espresso, piloting an airplane and woodworking will get you noticed. But increasingly (mainly because hard skills are easier to come by) it’s the soft skills, the art, the emotional part of the work that’s seen. Songwriting is a skill. But without the emotional labor of putting it into the world it’s not likely to make much of an impact. The daring work of performing for someone is scarce…yet the stage is available for all of us, everyday.

Everyone should be an expert in something…is more true now than ever before. The opportunity to level up and be remarkable has never been better. It’s a matter of choice…first to lean in…then to pick where to go. Choose wisely…but please just choose to go somewhere.

Low Wages

…are caused by people, not companies.

Dispensable people (who do just enough) are in higher supply than indispensable ones. And they can be had for less. If you fall into the dispensable category it is very likely you can and will be replaced by another…for less. This happens at all job levels. Most companies are willing to trade higher turnover for a lower price…because they can…lot’s of mediocre people to choose from.

On the other hand, indispensable disrupts the status quo. It creates a different paradigm by being remarkable. This type of work commands a premium because it is in shorter supply and thankfully some companies care enough to seek it out. Over time, as it infiltrates the work category it pushes the production to a higher level (experience, care, quality, quantity, etc.). And this translates into higher compensation on a broader scale and a better experience for the consumer…along with a higher price. And then the cycle begins again.

The choice then (and it is a choice) is to either be in the business of pushing the bar higher…or not. Choose wisely.