The 21st century workplace is becoming more and more competitive. The solution to yesterday’s problem may not be able to solve today’s challenges. New technologies are been discovered at the speed of light that can render people inefficient in the workplace in as little as a year. A simple machine, software, or application can cut the job of 500 people to 100 people within a twinkle of an eye. The rate at which the world is developing today is faster than what me and you can comprehend.
You need to realise that you are in a race with development and it can sideline you if you don’t keep abreast of the changes that lies ahead.
There is a story from East Africa that drives this point. Every morning on the Serengeti plains of Africa, a gazelle awakens. The gazelle knows that in the day ahead, he must run faster than the fastest lion if he wants to survive. And every morning on the Serengeti plains, a lion awakens. The lion knows that he must run faster than the slowest gazelle if he wants to eat that day.
Whether you see yourself as a gazelle or a lion, when the morning comes, you’d better be on your toes.
To retain your position and qualify for subsequent promotion in this competitive world, you’ve got to develop your brain power to beat that of your organization. The workplace is no longer built on muscle power but its now more about skills, knowledge, negotiation, innovation, creativity, generating ideas, and the value you can bring to the table. For the greater part of your work life, your ability to stay relevant, earn more money, offer value, improve the quality of your life and accelerate ahead now depends on YOU. In other words, your success in business and the workplace is up to you to decide.
It has never been the job of your boss to make you rich or keep you at the job. The knowledge you have within your ears is what determines whether you will progress or be fired. If many people understand this simple truth, they will not be angry with their again for the rest of their life but face their business. Knowledge has now become the primary source of determining value. One advantage you have over others is that most people don’t know. This is the best time to tap into that opportunity and run as fast as you can because you are not the only one in the race of life.
What places a limit on your performance in any endeavour is ignorance. It is the greatest undoing of any man or nation. It is one of the worst problems of our time. I have come to understand that every man’s problem is his ignorance. What you don’t know you don’t know and what you don’t know may be killing you or hindering your progress. My definition of ignorance is anything you don’t know that you pay for. In other words, if I take my car to the auto workshop for repairs, I’m paying for my ignorance because I don’t know how the car engine works. The advantage the auto engineer have over me is the knowledge he has acquired in that field of specialization to be able to solve car related problems. If I’m a medical doctor and the auto engineer comes to me for medical check-up, he will have to pay for my expertise too.
The moment you tackle your problem (ignorance) by acquiring relevant skills, knowledge, and expertise, your life moves in a geometric progression. You’ve got to put a high premium on knowledge and hate ignorance with everything you have.
To retain the staying power in your field or industry requires you to know just a little above your competitor. You really don’t have to know much or go study the whole Wikipedia to beat the competition. All you need is to get hold of the information or skill that your competitors lack and apply it to your game to remain the leader in that area. It might be as simple as saying a thank you, going the extra mile in customer service, improving your packaging, staying true to your values, or refunding a client when you don’t exceed their expectation that will win the customer over to your side and increase your market share. I once read in a book that, “Our ability to learn and apply new ideas faster than our competition is our only real source of sustainable competitive advantage.”
Don’t forget to join me as i continue the series later in the week.