Cast of Characters
Steve
Are you only bringing one thing to the table?
This picture is the cast of characters from my 8 year old son's latest creation, a comic book based on the Lego 'Power Miners'. What I found amusing about the page was the specific roles he has assigned to all the characters, and the descriptions he chose for each one.
For example on the good guy side we have 'Ace the Engineer', 'Brains the Scientist', and 'Tom the Reporter'. The villains have the expected sinister sounding names like 'Boulderax', 'Sulfurix', and 'Glaciator'.
Each character fits neatly into their assigned role, you know what to expect from them as the story progresses. Granted, 8 year olds (and most TV sitcom writers) usually haven't mastered the concept of complex character development. In this story, Glaciator will be evil throughout, and there is no way he will ever change.
What does this have to do with HR Technology? Well, nothing really.
But it does raise a question that almost all of us who are lucky enough to still be employed need to ask ourselves. That is, are we as one-dimensional and predictable as the characters in my son's comic? Are we only bringing one thing to the table? Even if that one thing that we do, we do fantastically well, it is still only one thing. When it comes time for the organization to decide who will be in the next group to be shown the door, if you can be so easily defined by your 'one thing', you are bound to be at more risk than a more fully developed character.
To use another analogy, when Kirk, Spock, Bones, and a random crewman beamed down to the hostile planet, it was pretty much a given that 'Crewman XYZ' was the one not coming back.;)
Do whatever you have to do to not be branded as a one-dimensional character like 'Glaciator' or 'Crewman XYZ'. Learn a new skill, badger some colleagues to let you in on a new project, connect with peers in your industry and start sharing knowledge and insight.
Don't be so easily defined.
Reader Comments (6)
Bo-Esse -
Well said, good things to ruminate. On top of that, since I have an 8 year old boy who draws comics, I can clearly identify.
Your post is very timely. I've been watching Star Trek re-runs again recently and really love the analogy. More importantly, I've been thinking of the same thing. In today's economy and countless layoffs, those of us fortunate enough to still be employed must find ways to be more well rounded. Hopefully the additional project work will demonstrate our ability to be a "more fully developed character". Worse case scenario, the additional project work will aid in the next job search.
Love the comic page, definitely a keeper as is your last comment, "don't be so easily defined." I interviewed 8 candidates for 2 positions on Friday - all could do the job. I went into each interview looking to see how they distinguished themselves from the others. Those that did so well, will rise to the top for me.
Richard, Kaye and Lisa - I am glad you appreciated the comic and Star Trek angle, thanks for reading and comments. I feel kind of depressed lately at all the job losses, I can't really do much but offer some kind of advice that hopefully may help. Thanks for reading and commenting, I appreciate it.
Crewman XYZ, aka the Red shirt. :) Cool post.
Thanks Minion, I always felt a little sorry for the guy in the red shirt who you knew was not coming back from the planet of green aliens.