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Article from The Straits Times, 9th June 2000
Look Beyond The Box
Instead of looking around you and your company, look beyond. Who knows what opportunities it may throw up?
I had the privilege of being invited as the key speaker at a recent fellowship gathering of a professional association. It was a fairly well-attended event.
The 50-odd participants broke into groups to brainstorm the avenues where they can survive and retain their jobs in the New Economy. My task was to comment on those findings and provide my professional opinion on each.
Some of the brainstormed suggestions included working the network circuit, upgrading of qualifications and skills and taking on additional responsibilities. One common thread that ran through all these suggestions was that they were all focused inwards: Do something about your skills, volunteer for more work and responsibilities, learn more about the Internet etc.
Rather than responding to each of these suggestions, I challenged the participants to “think outside the box”. Instead of internalizing, externalize and look for unconventional approaches.
For example: Rather than do things that attempt to enhance the chances of your corporate survival, look outside the organization and explore career openings outside your proven area of expertise.
A question was raised: “But we don’t have experience in other areas of work. The human resource manager will not shortlist or even talk to us.”
I responded: “How many times have you tried and how many times were you rejected?” Silence. The person who had asked that question evidently had not tried. She had simply assumed that the likely situation would be as she had described.
If you are seriously looking for a new challenge to avoid facing extinction in your current role, why not try doing something entirely new, like sales, for instance. After all, in the event that an organization is downsizing, the first ones to go are those who are an expense. If this is the case, why not get yourself into a revenue generating role?
“But, I can’t do sales”.
Same question from me: “How many times have you tried to sell something but failed to make it a success?” Zero? Well, if you have not tried, how will you know?
Management guru Mr. Tom Peters wrote recently: “I believe that 90 per cent of white-collar jobs in the United States will be either destroyed or altered beyond recognition in the next 10 to 15 years. That is a catastrophic prediction, given that 90 per cent of us are engaged in white-collar work of one sort or another. Even most manufacturing jobs these days are connected to such white-collar services as finance, human resources and engineering.”
To cite an example, he shared: “I talked to an old London dockhand some time back. He told me how in 1970, it took 108 guys about five days to unload a timber ship. The comparable task today takes eight folks one day. That is, a 98.5 per cent reduction in mandays, from 540 total to just eight.”
Open your eyes. Look around your organization. Do you realize that where receptionist used to sit is now an empty space? The reception counter is still there. But, there is no longer a receptionist. Out of 10 organizations I visit, only one at most has a living and breathing receptionist.
Nowadays, you take the lift to the floor where the company you wish to visit is sited. The lift door opens and you come face to face with two panels of glass doors. At the door to the office, you find a handset. You pick it up, and dial the number for the person you wish to visit. The receptionist’s job has joined the ranks of the dinosaur, it would appear.
When will it be your turn? If you are looking forward to your retirement or collecting that handsome retrenchment benefit cheque, that’s fine. Otherwise, you should do something about it. And instead of looking at how you can have a better chance of keeping your job, why not look outside the box and explore new challenges instead.
A perception is that dot.com start-ups are only for the young. But that’s not always the case. I know of one 50-year old who recently signed on as the chief sales director of an Internet portal, marketing medical sales equipment over the Net.
Paul Heng
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