Whew, we found the right guy

What will be the impact of their ownership of your value?

Meaning, once they hire or contract or collaborate or partner with you, how will your unique gifts elevate their standing in the universe? Both on and individual and organizational level?

This is the frame every professional must enter into when starting a new gig. We have to believe that we’re a welcome presence who’s creating value. That way, when we show up and show them what we do, everyone in the room will be thinking to themselves, whew, we found the right guy.

Ask yourself this:

Are your coworkers so blown away that they want other whom they respect to know of your value?

The strange part is, we fear being that guy. Like it’s some sort of workplace sin. Reminds me of my transition from working as a freelancer to operating in the corporate world. Initially, part of me wanted to downplay my fruitful entrepreneurial past. There was constant internal pressure to hesitate sharing stories or insights from my former life. It just didn’t seem appropriate to boast about my history.

Until my bosses began doing it for me. At meetings with clients and partners and investors, they would just start telling my story before I even had a chance to:

Scott is our newest hire, and he’s the world record holder of wearing nametags. How many days is it now? Isn’t that cool?

I’ll never forget the time one of our clients tweeted about me from his taxi on the way home from our kickoff meeting to say just how excited he was to be working with the only agency in the city who had a creative that wore a nametag twenty four seven.

You’re welcome.

Lesson learned, if people are using you as a way for them to enhance the status of their organization, you win. It means you are somebody worth recruiting to the team, and keeping around.

Withers and his classic soul song comes to min:

I want to spread the news that if it feels this good getting used, oh you just keep on using me until you use me up.

Remember, every employer loves to brag about the awesome people they’ve brought on board. When you show up, do so in a way that makes it in their interest to tell people about you.

Because if you’re not bragged about and asked for by name, if you’re not making people think to themselves, whew, we found the right guy, then you might be replaced.

Does your team feel it’s impressive to be partnering with you?