More than a Cob on a Stalk

I'd arrived at the local school parking lot at 5:00am with a pair of old work boots and the promise of $2.75 an hour. A small huddle of fellow thirteen year olds had already gathered and were in a heated debate on whether it was better to stand in the drizzle or sit in the dew soaked lawn under the stand of oak trees. A bus driven by the high school basketball coach pulled up at 5:30am and we boarded. For the next ten hours each day across three weeks we moved from field to field detasseling corn.

None of us kids really knew why the fronds needed to be pulled. No one was sure if there was a machine that could do just as good a job. The salary was enough to buy a mountain of toys and candy. That was all that was necessary to coax several dozen small town kids onto an early bus ride and into a dew soaked field.

Being just another detasseler, a cog in a wheel, was safe. It was easy. It required neither thought nor strategy. I was part of a brute force solution being applied to a simple problem. Merely one small sinew of muscle used to pound in the next nail. As my world expanded and my experience broadened I kept that memory close. 

I was part of a brute force solution being applied to a simple problem. Merely one small sinew of muscle used to pound in the next nail.

Detasseling was tiring. It was wet. It was depressing. But, it was also a great control case - a baseline - against which I've compared every job I've had since.Is this role something which could be filled by anyone? Is the job teaching me something other than "hard work" (though certainly a good lesson, I'd hope this would be driven into the DNA by age eighteen). Indeed, is the job something which a machine could be doing ten years from now? Given the technological innovations already in the pipeline, it isn't strange to imagine many jobs being performed by capable artificial intelligence.

Even if you find yourself in a "cog" role, realize no company today pays you to be just that. HR teams don't go through the convoluted hiring process to simply fill a hole or replace a broken cog. Granted, there's a job description you must fulfill. However, companies want you to perform above and beyond the role. Even in a menial role, there's a unique style or perspective you can bring to your work. Something which only you can provide to the team. Bring it. Give it away for free.

Your boss wants you to be exceptional. Your boss wants you to perform so well, they promote you to their role. This will allow your boss to be promoted more easily. It's a pretty good system in that regard.