Don't Be The Sucker: Add Value!

They say that every card game has one sucker at the table, and if you can’t tell who the sucker is, it is you. This line of thinking should apply to you in the workplace as well, albeit perhaps a bit less overtly caustic. Are you adding value? Are you a net positive or net negative? And as importantly, do your co-workers view you as a net positive or net negative?

This is especially true with the rise of automation, as more and more tasks and responsibilities can be shifted away from people to enhance performance and productivity. Many are scared in some way by the emergence of technology (including robotics, AI, or other smart automation), perceiving a threat to their careers and livelihood. But people often have an incredible competitive advantage over even the most advanced AI and robotics, and that is through the still uniquely human traits of vision, creativity, common sense, critical judgement, and, dare I say it, empathy.

Automation is employed by companies to improve efficiency, consistency, and quality while reducing costs (and workplace drama). But added value is the human multiplier, your personal X-Factor. The challenge is to continually find ways to add value so that any equation measuring your performance against a machine will favor you.

Circling back, if you can’t say that you are net positive, you probably aren’t. But you can be. There are very few jobs that don’t offer opportunities to be net positive. The key is to find them, embrace them, and then excel at them.  And when you are a net positive, you – and everyone with whom you work – will know it.