Do You Still Matter?
By leadership author and keynote speaker Ross Shafer
Do you still matter? I’m sure you matter to your family – but do you matter to your employer or to your market? If you’re starting to feel vulnerable then I’ll break the news to you. It’s possible you just aren’t relevant anymore…and none of you friends have the courage to tell you. So how did you become irrelevant? You don’t know, do you? You used to be the go-to person…and now you’re not.
Here’s what I know about you. Relevance is a moving target – and if you haven’t been actively curating your own career or business…somebody or some competitor has invaded your territory and pretty soon you will be replaceable. Let me tell you a story about my friend Bernie. Bernie is 45 years old. He has a great paying job. He’s got a nice home and a wonderful family who loves him…but he complains all the time that’s he’s peaked. Ted’s at the top end of the pay scale for what he does and he doesn’t see a growth path for himself. I really feel for Bernie because he’s an honest, hard working guy who doesn’t know if he should look for another job or just stick it out. If that sounds like you, let me say that you cannot wait another day. You have to GET RELEVANT today or at least have a plan. I got bold with Bernie. I made him sit with me for four hours and tell me what made him unique? I asked him how and when does he feel useful? What makes him valuable to his coworkers…what makes him worth more money to his company? It was painful because he didn’t know what made him special…he didn’t even know why they kept him on the payroll. I’ll tell you why Bernie didn’t know…because he was inside of himself 24/7. He took himself for granted. He had over 20 years of knowledge and expertise that he assumed everybody knew. So He never spoke up…I found out later that his boss and coworkers didn’t think Bernie cared anymore. I knew we had to turn Bernie into somebody special…somebody worth paying attention to…someone more relevant.
Bernie’s expertise was in plumbing, heating, and AC – so I suggested we create a YouTube channel and start shooting HOW TO videos on his phone. I wanted him to give tips and tricks about what’s NEW in the heating world. I told him “You have to become an expert on YouTube…we are going to transform you into a supreme authority. People listen to experts. And Authorities are always relevant. He hated that idea, “I don’t want to toot my own horn” I got in his face and said…”Then go in the corner and hide until your boss comes in to fire you.” Bernie! This isn’t about YOU bragging. This is about you teaching other people what you know.” He’d never done anything like this before…so he didn’t know where to start…but his daughter Lily did…she shot short two-minute videos on her iPad. LILY posted the videos. LILY sent the links to his friends and she even posted his videos on her Facebook page. Within three months, Bernie had over 20,000 views with just 6 videos – and guess what…his boss called him into the office. Bernie just knew he had violated some kind of company policy…but instead, his boss asked him to do an interview with a big heating and air conditioning magazine. After the article broke, Bernie was back in the loop at work…and he got two new job offers. Our goal is to make Bernie relevant again. Now he has options. What’s special about YOU? What do you need to do to become relevant again…and don’t wait. Make a list. Hatch a plan. Start today.
If you liked what you’ve heard here…tell your friends…subscribe to my free YouTube channel www.YouTube.com/User/RossShafer We have a lot of other videos for you to see. Before I go, I must tell you I got a comment yesterday that I love. “Ross Shafer’s videos…Binge baby…Binge.”
Ross Shafer is the author of (9) popular business books and (14) human resource training films. In a former career Ross won (6) Television Emmy awards for his work as a TV host, writer, and producer. Today, Ross is a sought after keynote speaker and consultant for Fortune 500 companies worldwide.