So I woke up today with a thought in my head. A paradox.
Let me rewind a bit. A few years ago, I remember a work meeting that my upper management held. During the meeting, a senior staff member spoke about how you get yourself promoted. His two pieces of advice were, ‘Be Positive’ and ‘Be Indispensable’. I like to think I lived these two bits of advice when I received my promotion, so the words especially rang true for me.
After I received my promotion, I was speaking to an old colleague. She told me of a conversation she had with another former colleague. In this conversation, they both speculated that I would not receive my new position because I was too valuable in my old position. While the joke was on them, it was something that I considered and thought more about and began to recognize in myself and with others.
Since that conversation, I have noticed times that other colleagues seeking promotions made themselves too valuable in their positions. They were far more valuable than I was when I was in their shoes. In many ways, I understood why they were stuck there because I still thought similarly to them. We were told to be indispensable and by doing so we became too valuable in the position that we were in. If they got rid of these people, the business would actually suffer.
Fast forward now to the present time.
Last week, I read a book that was geared towards managers. In the book, it said that being indispensable was not only bad but also something that managers could get fired for. The concept is that businesses cannot afford a manager that holds all of the knowledge. If they cannot appropriately manage their team to disperse the knowledge then it becomes inefficient management.
In the book, it said that the managers that get promoted are the ones that are able to effectively disperse their indispensability features to the rest of the team. That shows that this manager can lead a team and hold more responsibilities.
So I woke up today with a thought in my head. A paradox.
Do I think my upper management is wrong? No, they are absolutely correct and so is the book I read. On the path to becoming dispensable, one can become truly indispensable. Now obviously, this has a specific connotation. If you go around acting like a jerk you are still going to be dispensable. However, we can rise to a different level if we can find how to take what made us indispensable and give it to others so they could do exactly what we could just as effectively. It is bonus points if they can do it better! That leaves a feeling of discomfort in my previous mindset. If I give up all of my tricks, then what would I do to separate myself from the pack? It is clear to me now, that the ability to get people to pick up what I know and do what I can do shows that I can be a true leader.
Maybe this carries over to life too. I look to Chadwick Boseman as an example. He played Black Panther in the Marvel Movies while fighting cancer. Based on the shock that occurred when he died, you could tell that he didn’t tell many people about his diagnosis. It is likely that he knew that he might not live long. Even with a good prognosis, I suspect this is a thought that shrouds all cancer patients. However, with the time he did have, he would visit kids that were facing cancer to bring them pure joy for the time they currently had. This is a man that knew death might be a probability and showed others how to live with the time he had. That is so powerful.
Everyone has something that makes them special, beautiful, and powerful beings. If we take what makes who we are proud to be and share it with the world, then we will be those special people that others want to rally behind. It is important to note that sharing does not mean forcing. Chadwick didn’t force people to live life to the fullest. He lived in it by example. That is who we should strive to be. While sharing what makes us special might make us ‘dispensable’ to the world, it means that we will be indispensable leaders in the hearts of all of those that have been taught.
This type of indispensability is truly eternal.
