Do you get sad when Sunday comes around, and you realise that the weekend is over? If you’re the kind of person who hates Monday, then this conversation is for you.
Today, we’re going to talk about something that could make a fundamental difference to your professional future. It’s the difference between being an eagle or a chicken when it comes to following your career.
But what’s the difference between an eagle and a chicken? I’ve already mentioned this in previous Arata Academy materials: both are birds, and therefore look more or less the same: they have beaks, they have wings, they have feathers …
But the difference between them is enormous. First, note that there is a huge amount of chickens. You’ve probably seen a chicken up close, maybe even picked one up.
Now, have you ever seen a live eagle? Probably not. Chickens are everywhere, but eagles are rare.
Eagles fly high to hunt at the top of the mountains, while chickens eat scraps of food in the yard.
Eagles are strong and powerful, while chickens have been domesticated and are weaker and more fearful.
We could make thousands of comparisons, but I think you’ve probably already understood the moral of the story.
What I find interesting about this analogy is that each of us can choose which of the two birds best symbolises our choices in the professional environment: every day, with each choice, we choose to be either an eagle or or a chicken.
Sometimes, we find ourselves forced into acting like a chicken. We feel as though we have to behave just like our co-workers. To not stand out from the crowd. That is, we feel as though we must conform to mediocrity. In this analogy, the act of conforming to social pressure is symbolised by the chicken.
But maybe, deep down inside, you feel some nonconformity. Maybe you have the spirit of an eagle that wants to finally free itself and soar high above everyone else.
The main message that I’m trying to put across is that we always have the power to choose our behaviour. You can be an eagle, fly higher and become a rare, admired and valued professional.
You can choose between behaving like an eagle, or like a chicken
You can and should develop your career faster than others. Whenever the culture of mediocrity tries to hold you back, you can choose to fly higher.
It’s very common for people to strive to grow within a company, but not coming across the results that they want. If they’re lucky, they might get a small bonus at the end of the year. Symbolically, this is the crumb that is thrown at the chicken to keep it in the yard.
This isn’t what you really want, because your potential is greater that this, and you can fly higher. In order to do that, you have to understand that the current economic model is very different to how it was a decade or two ago.
It’s important to understand this change in the economic model because there’s still a handful of companies that haven’t adapted yet. Because of this, these companies still treat their employees like a factory worker in the days of the Industrial Revolution.
What was the factory like at the time? It was just spinning bolts, pushing buttons, moving cranks. You didn’t even have to think.
Oh, did you brake your arm? Off you go, I’m going to hire another employee who will push the button just like you, because everyone is replaceable. And, if you’re easily replaceable, you don’t have a chance of getting a salary increase.
Chickens don’t get a salary increase
Take a minute to put yourself in the shoes of an employer. You have a lot of workers and everyone behaves like chickens, no one stands out from the crowd. There are more employees than you can imagine, just like them, waiting around in the job market.
What would you do if any of your employees came to ask you for a raise? If they’re no different to everyone else that works for you, there’s no reason for you to give them a significant salary increase. Even if they threaten to resign if you don’t give them a raise, you don’t have to worry because you know there are dozens of other equal workers available in the market.
So, if it’s too easy to replace you, you have little chance of being well paid. Since there’s a huge number of chickens, they’re replaceable.
Now, think about factories nowadays. Almost everything is done either by robots or by cheap labour. Only those who manage to become competitive survive. This holds true for both companies and employees.
How do companies become competitive? They need to adopt a model in which the individual’s performance makes a big difference. That’s why today, successful professionals behave like true entrepreneurs.
Even if you are an employee, act as an entrepreneur
If your goal is fly higher, you need to go beyond what’s expected of you. To be a pro contender and earn higher salaries, you need to behave like an entrepreneur within the organisation in which you work.
Try to put yourself in the place of an employer again. Imagine that you have an employee who who thinks as if he owns the company.. They manage to implement improvements that ultimately increase the company’s profits by 1 million a year. What would you do to keep that employee working for your company? How would you react if they asked you for a raise?
This entrepreneurial employee is much more valuable to a company. They’re rarer to find. Therefore, they have a better chance of thriving inside the company. After all, the company understands that they’re contributing huge value to it.
In order to achieve this entrepreneurial behaviour, to become a rare eagle that can fly high, we have to seek continuous improvement.
Continuous improvement means discovering our strengths and weaknesses. Once we have this knowledge, we can use it to our advantage by adjusting and improving our performance. We can then focus on strengthening our worth as an employee. We will acquire experiences, strengthen our relationships and make all the improvements to increase our market value.
But how do you know if you’re an entrepreneur? To find out, we’re going to take a look at the concept of the four types of employee.
The four types of employees
The concept of the four types of employees divides workers into four different categories: the workplace warriors, the management mavericks, the intrapreneur, and the entrepreneur. Try to see if you can fit yourself into one of these four types.
1. The pawn
The pawn is the stereotypical perfect employee. The person that’s always punctual, who values stability and security. All they think about is, “Is the boss going to get mad? Are they going to like my work?”
With all due respect, the workplace warrior doesn’t add much value to the company. If you can be easily replaced, you’re essentially just a pawn.
If your boss can hire someone, give them some simple training and that person can do the job, then you’re easily replaceable.
Some people argue that no employee is irreplaceable, but that’s a whole other conversation. The problem here is being easily replaceable, as this presents a big risk of you being fired at any time, or never getting a higher salary.
If you do an analysis of your professional profile and realise that you can be replaced at any time, then what do you have to do?
The first step is to identify what motivates you. If you want to do well, stand out, become an eagle, you really have to like what you do.
If you’re the type of person who feels sad on a Sunday because the weekend is over, then please see the lessons 01 and 02 of our Double Your Salary course, where you can carry out activities that will help you find a true interest in being a professional in the right environment.
If you are a workplace warrior, you need to make sure that you don’t end up being stuck in this role for the rest of your life. If not you don’t progress in your career, you can’t increase your salary, you end up living in constant fear of being fired… This is one of the worst feelings in the world: going to work every day just so that you don’t lose your job, just so that you have a way to pay your bills, just to provide for your family.
Now, we’re going to move onto the second of the four types of employees. Let’s talk about the management mavericks.
2. The rebel
This profile is a complicated one. It’s one of a professional who tries to contribute with different ideas, but the rebel isn’t heard. Even if their colleagues don’t think that their idea is a good one, a rebel goes ahead and does it anyway. They think that everything has to be their way.
This personality profile is a certain development of the profile of the pawn, who’s basically just a ‘yes-man’, who just shuts up and gets on with their work, doing the bare minimum necessary not to be fired.
However, a rebel often ends up being misunderstood for not knowing how to communicate with their team.
The result of the imposition of ideas and bad communication is usually tension, friction and even a fight between the team. That’s why rebels tend to end up feeling isolated by their co-workers.
On the one hand, the pawn has no future because they’re apathetic and replaceable at any time. On the other hand, the rebel also doesn’t have a good future because they’re clueless.
What do we do in this case? If you identify with the profile of the rebel, you need to do the following. Invest in strategy to change the way you create value for the company, without wanting to impose your ideas at all costs. Invest in communication to change your personal brand, that way, people around you will realise who you are.
Sometimes you might not even have the profile of a rebel. Maybe you’re just in the wrong company. There’s a phrase I like very much that is: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
If your colleagues are all slow, apathetic, reactive; or if your boss knows less than you; or if nobody wants to hear your ideas; it might be time to switch businesses.
Otherwise, you will also start to get slow and reactive. These people will slow you down. You need to be within the appropriate environment to allow yourself to develop a more valued professional behaviour, such as that of the intrapreneur.
3. The intrapreneur
The intrapreneur is already a step above the pawn and the rebel. The intrapreneur knows that the key to career advancement is delivering more value.
What is the difference between the intrapreneur and the entrepreneur? Literally, the ‘intra’. That is, the intrapreneur prefers to work WITHIN a company.
While the entrepreneur opens a company of their own, the intrapreneur prefers to find the right company that allows them to practice entrepreneurship internally. They know that the right company knows how to value their entrepreneurial behaviour.
The most important point is this: finding the right company.
If you’re in the wrong company, the way you will be RECOGNISED within the company can hurt you more than it will help you. You know the famous saying, “Who does this guy think he is?”
In a company with corporate culture that encourages chicken-like behaviour, you can pose a threat. If you stand out, the people around you will try to discourage you. Some companies, unfortunately, have a culture that leads to conformism and mediocrity.
Here is the solution you need if you’re an intrapreneur. Keep that fire inside of you burning, that will to make it happen, because you’ve already developed a feature of great value. Now we’re going to teach you to benefit from this behaviour. There are two important modules on the Double Your Salary course that I will ask you to pay attention to after you enroll.
The first module is about Environment, which will help you adjust the most ideal environment for you to continue being this excellent professional … besides the changes in your behaviour, what you will tell your supervisors and so on. Knowing how to optimise your environment is key. If you’re in the wrong environment, you’re basically fighting a losing battle.
I’d also like you to carefully go through Module 4, which is a sequence of four classes on Communication. With proper communication, you will be able to cultivate networks of contact, your supporters within the company, your informers, your advisors.
In some cases, those who are intrapreneurs look with a certain disdain towards others, thinking of themselves as being superior and assuming that everyone else is simply mediocre.
You must be humble. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have, how much grit you have, how good your ideas are. If you’re labeled as arrogant, you can be sure that you’ll end up being frowned upon and isolated.
You can’t succeed on your own. This becomes even clearer when we analyse the last of the four professional profiles: the entrepreneur.
4. The entrepreneur
The fourth type of professional is the entrepreneur. Those who are focused on creating value for customers.
Entrepreneurs also have this inner fire to do everything to stand out and rise in their careers.
Professionals who exhibit entrepreneurial behaviour are excellent at knowing how to execute and implement actions. They use passion, inspiration and creativity. They criticise what is outdated, bring innovations and are in the process of continuous improvement.
To be able to do all this, an entrepreneur must be at peace with their own personality.
Imagine an employee filled with insecurities and fear, that decides that they want to move up the career ladder. This kind of person would probably be paralysed with fear before the journey has even begun. They’ll think things like, “Will it work?”; “What will people think of me?”; “Am I good enough?”
A real entrepreneur can’t let doubts such as these impair their ability to carry out quality work.
The entrepreneur understands what the risks are and still goes on. There is a famous phrase that says, “Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s the ability to act in the presence of fear.” This is the courage that characterises the entrepreneur.
The entrepreneur looks at things and asks “why does it have to be like this?” Think of some entrepreneurs you admire. See how they have improved the market for the companies in which they operate.
Take responsibility for your own professional growth
If you really want to stand out in the market, fly higher than everyone else, and get better a wage, you need to be at least an intrapreneur.
Otherwise, you end up being just another chicken that goes to work every day grumbling, doing as their told, and getting crumbs in return.
Regardless of your current situation, change is possible. But for this, you need to take responsibility for your own professional growth.
There is no one, no one in the world, who will be able to help you if you don’t change your attitude first.
I believe that you’ve already taken the first step by participating in our reflection.
I know this was an important first step, and that it was also probably a very difficult one to take. Usually ,when we talk about these professional career issues, the following happens: people who haven’t taken responsibility for their own results have all kinds of objections and justifications. They say things like, “No, Seiiti, in my company, it’s different, in my city, there’s no opportunity for me, in my case it’s more complicated, I would like to, but I can’t … whatever… “
This is a state of denial. It’s a way of avoiding responsibility. If I say that in my company, it’s different, that my boss is complicated, that there’s no way to change, all that I’m doing is refusing to take responsibility.
But if I recognise that there IS the possibility of change, to climb the career ladder, to stop behaving like a chicken and become an eagle, then whose responsibility is it?
In this case, it is my responsibility and no one else’s. This is a logical and indisputable conclusion. If there’s a possibility of growing faster, rejecting the crumbs thrown at you and flying high, there’s no one in the world to blame. You can’t blame your boss, the economic crisis, your neighbour, or your luck. All responsibility is in your hands.
So this was the first key. It was to take responsibility and change your attitude, getting close to those who only know how to complain, roll up your sleeves and start acting. It creates the habit of asking yourself things like “What can I do to improve today? How can I generate more value in my work?”
By doing this, each day you are progressing, taking a small step in the direction of what you truly desire and deserve. And so, when you least realise it, you can look back and see how far you’ve come. Congratulations.
Going from being a common and replaceable employee to becoming a rare and valuable professional in the market is a choice. This choice depends on your actions.
In the Double Your Salary course, we study together and in detail various strategies to help you to make better choices for your professional career. You will discover how to identify opportunities, how to think like an entrepreneur and how to get into a continuous improvement process to stand out in your market.