Being a commodity can be very rewarding under the right circumstances. If you are a commodity that commands high wages, you show up, do your job and rake in the money. <\/p>\n
Some past examples of this type of commodity were design engineers, system analysts, database administrators, and MBAs from recognized universities.<\/p>\n
I was a commodity for the first eleven years of my working life and never knew it. As a computer design engineer I was always getting job offers at higher salaries and as a result, I changed jobs every two and a half years. The fact that I was difficult to manage and didn’t understand office politics made little difference during those golden years. I was a scarce commodity at the time and benefitted greatly from being in that category.<\/p>\n
I didn’t realize there was a downside… <\/p>\n
The downside was that I never developed an understanding of the
\nimportance of company culture and working on goals that were meaningful
\nto management. I was never very good at meeting expectations because I
\nwould tackle anything, even projects that were virtually impossible.<\/p>\n
When I became a middle manager in due time, I started running into
\ntrouble because I didn’t understand that setting expectations properly
\nwas more important than getting the work done well. I was also no
\nlonger a commodity that was in demand. There were millions of middle
\nmanagers around and most of them were better at politics than I was.<\/p>\n
It didn’t take long to learn that being a commodity is great if you
\nare a scarce commodity and dismal if you are no longer in demand. Large
\ncompanies are good at hiring commodities because they can easily use a
\nchecklist to see if you are qualified. There is no judgement call
\nrequired to hire you.<\/p>\n
What took a very long time was learning that re-creating myself as
\nan internal consultant with a unique set of skills gave me enough
\nvisibility that I could be perceived as a valuable contributor and this
\ngot me through the next twenty years of corporate life until almost
\neveryone in my salary bracket was playing the same game.<\/p>\n
Continual reinvention is necessary in a world where employees are
\nincreasingly considered as dispensable parts of a larger whole. When
\nthe company has a couple of bad quarters, they rarely hesitate to lay
\noff employees.<\/p>\n
If you want to survive in today’s working world or if you are
\nworking for yourself, you need to understand what is unique about your
\nabilities and promote that to potential customers, clients and
\nemployers. That way, you stay in control of your career. If you offer a
\nunique benefit or service, that lessens the possibility of your client
\nor employer of finding an alternative solution elsewhere.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of hungry and well-trained people in other countries
\nwho can do many jobs as well as Americans for far less money. The only
\nway to ensure that your job can’t be exported is to acquire the skills
\nthat make you more valuable than the guy down the street or around the
\nglobe.<\/p>\n
If you are a commodity because of your training or education,
\nprepare yourself for the time when employers or clients are getting
\nthat commodity elsewhere. Find your niche and excel at servicing it.<\/p>\n
More to come…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being a commodity can be very rewarding under the right circumstances. If you are a commodity that commands high wages, you show up, do your job and rake in the money. <\/p>\n
Some past examples of this type of commodity were design engineers, system analysts, database administrators, and MBAs from recognized universities.<\/p>\n
I was a commodity for the first eleven years of my working life and never knew it. As a computer design engineer I was always getting job offers at higher salaries and as a result, I changed jobs every two and a half years. The fact that I was difficult to manage and didn’t understand office politics made little difference during those golden years. I was a scarce commodity at the time and benefitted greatly from being in that category.<\/p>\n
I didn’t realize there was a downside… <\/p>\n