Your value to any organization is as a potential asset that is worth more than your cost to the organization. For most business organizations, their simple goal is to make money by providing a service or product. For political organizations, it is to raise money to gain power (and oftentimes to use their power to raise money—which is why most members of Congress spend over half of each day fund-raising: “dialing for dollars”). For social service organizations, their goal is to have the financial resources to do “good.”
So, getting money is at the heart of most organizations, careers, and jobs. It may not be at the heart of all of them, but if not, it is awfully close. Yes, that sounds harsh and impersonal. But the sooner you learn the role you play in your employer’s money-making efforts, the better job and career decisions you will make.
Few of us stop to consider how the company makes its money and how we fit into that overall scheme. Like Corinne, we turn ourselves over to someone else and let them try to make money off of us. We’re so focused on how much we’re getting paid that we do not see whether our talents are being re-sold at an enormous profit or loss. If it is the former, then the company keeps that premium. If it is the latter, we shouldn’t be surprised if the company lays us off.
As we learned in the first four parts of this book, each person needs to ask her- or him-self a series of money-making questions relative to the organization:
How does this organization make its money?
What is the organization’s critical path?
Can I draw or explain that critical path?
How can that path be improved?
Where do I fit into this money-making critical path?
How can I add more money to it by generating more revenue, reducing costs, or improving a process or organizational capability?
Do I contribute more money to that critical path than it costs to keep me? employed, i.e., to what extent is the company leveraging me to make money for itself?
How can I capture a greater share of the money that comes from my contribution to the critical path?
You may be thinking that you want your work to be about more than just making money. What about your passion? What about your happiness? What about finding meaning in your work and job satisfaction?
Critical Path Action Items
How do I make money for my organization?
How can I capture more of the excess money that I make for the organization?