If you are of my vintage, you would probably remember the sleeper hit movie Babe (1995) starring James Cromwell and Babe The Pig. (It was even nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars that year!)
In this endearing tale, Babe, the lovable star of the movie, is brought to the farm and innocently roams freely until one day, he realises what pigs on a farm end up as… Bacon!
Terrified, he realises that if he continues ‘just being a pig’, his fate would be no different from the hundreds of his piggy porcine pals and presumably be placed on people’s platter.
So, he starts looking around and decides to take on the job of a Sheep Dog (or ‘Sheep Pig’, as he insists on being called).
He got so good that Farmer Hoggett enrols him in a sheepdog competition where he wins the Grand Prize… and is spared from becoming smoked ham.
Why am I bringing this classic movie up?
Because in today’s fast-moving and volatile world, we need to learn from Babe and Stop Being ‘Just A Pig’!
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The biggest lesson I gained from watching this show is that in today’s unforgiving world, you have to move up the value chain or you will be eaten
As a farm animal bred and raised for meat, a pig has only one purpose, which is to be processed for food.
The farmer will always value the pig at the price he can fetch for it as pork in the market.
Unless the pig can demonstrate more value than just being meat, the farmer probably won’t change his mind about this inevitable outcome.
Likewise, in our jobs, we often wonder why we don’t get promoted, or why someone else always lands the coveted jobs that we apply for.
That’s because that ‘someone else’ is often better skilled and better prepared than us!
We need to keep growing in our roles, acquiring new skills and be able to create more value for our company than what we were originally hired for.
But how do we upgrade ourselves?
In our new book The Great Career Paradox to be launched by Penguin RandomHouse this September, we talk about how you can go about upgrading yourself.
It’s not just the oversimplified suggestion to “go sign up for courses”; There must be a strategic thinking around it and as a sneak preview, here are 3 ways you can move up your value chain.
1. Up-Skill
We may be experts in most of what we do, but there are always new things to be learnt, especially from your bosses and the Senior Leadership Team.
Observe what these experienced Executives can do that you aren’t ready to handle and learn how to perform these tasks.
For instance, maybe they handle the Board of Directors very well, or are able to engage C-suite clients easily. Learn how they do it by asking them for advice or just through plain observation. Identify these senior-management skills and learn from them.
2. Cross-Skill
Ask yourself, “What can my colleagues do that I can’t?”
If you are in Supply-chain, how about learning how Finance calculates and monitors the cost of inventory, or how IT uses their Enterprise Software to manage the optimisation of stock levels.
Learn and master new skills from other functions as this will make you more valuable to the organisation. During times of downsizing, being ‘cross-skilled’ makes you less likely to be retrenched as you bring a lot more value than your single-skilled colleagues.
3. Deep-Skill
Be a master at whatever you are doing.
Nurture your skills in your chosen profession to be the Subject Matter Expert.
Be the ‘Go-To Person’ whom everyone thinks of consulting whenever they face a problem.
You can pick up new skills through investing in formal training, or even signing up for free online courses .
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So, whenever we speak to a client who is in a role that will soon be obsolete, we often advise them to be like Babe and figure out ways on how to move up the value-chain, otherwise, they might have their careers eaten up by a younger, sharper and hungrier person.
Wherever you are, don’t just stop at being what you are. Evolve to something bigger and better to enjoy better Career Longevity.