Politics aside, we are faced with the real question about who will keep a job and who will be hired out of the pool of employees that will be on the job hunt over the next several months. There are only three reasons why a person would be hired in a labor surplus (more people than jobs):

1- Skills (What can you do to bring value to the company?)

2- Ideas (What do you know that will bring value to the company?)

3- Some combination of the first two (Can you put into practice what you know?)

1- Skills

These people have practiced a trade or craft and are able to make something or do something better than others. By its very nature, this is easily replaceable whether through automation, outsourcing, or cheaper/faster workers that are more skilled. You can be trained for these types of jobs and there is a low barrier to entry. This type of person is most negatively affected by a global economy and the ability to find someone else (or something else) that can do your job better or cheaper than you. Given the time and the repetition, nearly anyone can become a factory worker assembling widgets. Anyone can pass out worksheets and follow CSCOPE.

2- Ideas

These people have some knowledge about their field of expertise and can hold conversations about the vision or leadership principles needed to run an organization or department. Many in this area are book-smart or have a degree in a particular field. A main skill in this area is that of observation. By looking around and beginning to take notice of what it is that you see, you develop ideas about what to do moving forward. Most people fit into this category, by the way.

3- Combination

Easily the most valuable type of person. This person has the skills and knowledge necessary to change their environment. This person is not only willing to look around and see what needs changing, but is willing to make it happen. They are the difference-makers. They are the ones who are not content with complacency or the status quo. For them, change is not to be feared, but embraced, since it is only through change that we can progress. (Incidentally, this is the easiest way to move from 2 to 3: embrace change.) Many in the upper echelon of this category might even be described as the embodiment of change and progress, never settling for “good enough.”

In an idea economy, where information is instant and free, it isn’t enough to have a degree anymore. It isn’t enough to be able to do or make something. It isn’t enough, even, to be able to recognize what changes need to be made.

You need to be someone who changes things. Recognize change, then make it happen.

—Greg Garner