In the midst of a jobless recession, many companies are having a hard time finding talented employees, according to this story by Matthew Bishop in the Economist. How can this possibly be so?
Once upon a time, big companies were more interested in hiring employees who were pretty much interchangeable in their work and their appearance, and then aggregating their efforts in a fairly predictable manner in order to gain economies of scale. This was very profitable during the 20th century. And the systems that were set up didn’t allow for much variation, the most workers generated the same amount of value for the business, and the difference between the “best” workers, and the middle of the pack wasn’t that big. To illustrate this, imagine we are talking about digging a hole. The best diggers can dig maybe two or three times as much as the average. Nice, but not that big a difference.
The world is different now. Simply aggregating effort via bureaucracy isn’t enough anymore. New technologies and expectations make smaller, nimbler, more ENGAGED companies dangerous to sleepy behemoths. instead of digging holes, think about writing. The best writers aren’t two or three times more productive than average, they are hundreds of times more productive, and they write better stuff, too, whereas digging a hole…is still just digging a hole. Mark Zuckerberg of FaceBook has asserted that the exceptional employee “is not just a little better than someone who is pretty good, they are 100 times better.”
What does this mean? Well, companies are no longer interested in hiring large numbers of mediocre employees anymore. They want people that can make a big difference to the bottom line. So there is no longer safety in being part of the herd. You need to be Extraordinary, and if you are, not only will you survive, you will thrive. Those who hide in mediocrity will be suffering.
This may seem like a bit much to ask, but remember that small improvements matter. As minor-league catcher Crash Davis noted in the movie “Bull Durham,” the difference between staying in the minors where you carry your own luggage, and playing in Yankee Stadium, is one hit per week. Where can you pull out on more hit per week? Maybe make one more sales call before you go home every day. Maybe put in a few more minutes a day to push for your new product. Maybe take one more chance a week. Do that consistently, and you won’t be worrying about your job, you’ll be fending off multiple competing offers from companies that want to recruit you….
