When one god discards, another picks up: Essential value persists as evaluators change | Thoughts on layoff news
Have you seen the news about layoffs at major US e-commerce sites?
I have experienced being in the middle of that a few times at foreign-affiliated companies, so I can confidently say I know the raw sense of crisis as someone who has been there (lol).
・Won't my annual income drop sharply if I get laid off?
・How will I pay my mortgage?
・I have no choice but to die!
The risk manager in my head screams these things loudly.
But when I suddenly calmed down and thought, "Do the results of my efforts and the skills I've acquired really disappear that easily?", I realized the essence of the article title.
The saying 'when one god discards, another picks up' is not about luck or mercy, but rather expresses an extremely structural fact: that essential value continues to exist while changing evaluators. That is what I mean.
Essential value cannot be 'accumulated rapidly' in the first place
What we call track record and ability cannot be easily built up in a short period of time.
・A history of consistently delivering results
・Decision-making in difficult situations
・Reproducible output
・Accumulation of trust from those around you
These are irreversible investments that assume time and trial and error. That is precisely why,
while they cannot be gained rapidly, they are not lost rapidly either. Understanding this nature of value changes how you view the phenomenon of layoffs.
Layoffs are not a 'denial of individual value'
In most cases, layoffs are the result of management decisions such as:
・Restructuring the business portfolio
・Concentrating resources on growth areas
・Optimizing organizational structure
In other words, what is being cut is not:
・Individual effort
・Past achievements
・Ability itself
but rather, "
the role within that business and that context".The reason why many people who have steadily increased their annual income based on their track record land at almost the same level, or even a slight increase, after a layoff is because
the value did not disappear, but the evaluating entity simply changed
.
The difference between those who are 'picked up' and those who are not
What is important here is that not everyone is guaranteed to be picked up.
People who are easily picked up have common traits:
・Can verbalize their achievements
・Can explain their reproducibility
・Can talk about their role rather than their title
・Can separate environmental factors from their own contributions
Conversely, those who are harder to pick up have:
・Achievements dependent on temporary trends
・Success experiences heavily influenced by luck or environment
・A state of mistaking 'having been enrolled' for value itself
These
are accumulated quickly, but are also lost quickly.
The 'god who picks up' mentioned in the proverb is not a merciful being, but merely another evaluator who can see through to the value.
Redefining 'when one god discards, another picks up'
To summarize again, this phrase can be read as follows:
Essential value, even if denied by one evaluation axis, will be repositioned by another evaluation axis.
In other words, this is both a theory of career and a matter of market principles.Just because you were discarded by a company does not mean you have been discarded by the market.
However, that is limited to cases where you possess value that can be explained across markets.
Finally: One question
If your current evaluation were to disappear, where would your value remain?
・Can you explain it outside of your current company?
・Can you talk about it without a title?
・Can you present your track record as reproducibility?
Whether you are 'picked up' is not a matter of luck, but a matter of preparation.
Perhaps it is only when a god who discards appears that the essence of your own value is truly tested.