There is widespread anxiety these days about technology taking away our jobs. There are several dire and comforting scenarios ahead points out Derek Thompson in a fascinating, in-depth article in The Atlantic: “A World Without Work.”
Yet in his compelling book Humans Are Underrated, Geoff Colvin found that individuals with certain traits will always manage to stay sought-after – and have more work options from which to choose.
Colvin wrote that, “the evidence is clear that the most effective groups are those whose members most strongly possess the most essentially, deeply human abilities—empathy above all, social sensitivity, storytelling, collaborating, solving problems together, building relationships. We developed these abilities of interaction with other people, not machines, not even emotion-sensing, emotion-expressing machines.”
Hint: Become The Glue That Bonds The Best Team Together
To tackle problems or seize opportunities sooner and better than others hone your capacity to recruit and lead the best team.
To stay relevant and sought-after, your most vital trait is your capacity to recruit the right team for a task, and enable them to use best talents together. To become an Opportunity Maker requires a mutuality mindset:
1. Turn more situations into opportunities to discover sweet spots of mutual interest with others.
2. Be a helpful giver. Modeling a mutuality mindset doesn’t mean you cultivate relationships by quid pro quo (thus acting as a “taker” according to Give and Take author Adam Grant), yet encourage an ebb and flow of mutual support over time. That makes for the healthiest, most enduring relationships.
3. Keep an eye out for those with complementary talents and a strong sweet spot of mutual interest. That doesn’t mean you have to agree on everything. In fact some of your most valuable partners may have very different views on some topics — thus your collective action can generate more interest and credibility around your joint action.
Live A More Meaningful And Productive Life With Others
The greatest joy and achievement you experience is usually not from the first successful project on which you collaborate together but rather the future ones you could not have imagined until after you experienced working well with each other.
In so doing, you can enjoy a more adventuresome, satisfying life with others. See the rest of this column over at Forbes.