October 14, 2009

• Are You a Liability, or an Asset?

   

     In setting up what I am about to say, it is important to take into consideration the fact that I am 20 years old.  While this age is not often considered terribly young, it is difficult to mount a case in support of any degree of experience or wisdom unless it be in the sacred art of booger-picking.  Especially in the business world, somebody of the age 20 isn’t just considered young, they are rarely even considered.  Also, this age is very commonly considered a young age (not to mention a foolish age) to be getting married, something that I will soon be undertaking.  I cannot say that this is entirely untrue for most circumstances, but I feel confidant in saying that I consider this to be an advantage in my part because (and seriously with no intentions of exuding boastfulness) I consider myself above an average 20 year old’s maturity level, and foresee my marriage at a young age to be beneficial in that my spouse and I will have more time to grow with each other, accompanied by more memories to share.   What it is very safe to say that I did not expect then, was for any adults around me to take much of my bravado seriously due to my “limiting” age.
  
     So you can imagine my surprise when I came back from a four day “vacation” filled with filling in gaps in the wedding preparation to the news that I would be asked to accept a promotion at my job.  Now, this is not just any promotion.  I am currently the Lead Assistant Manager at the Rack Room Shoes where I have been happily or otherwise employed for a grand total of 11 months.  In fact, I have only been Lead Assistant for about 2 weeks (having just moved up from 2nd assistant).  This all means that in order to get promoted, I would be becoming a Store Manager.  I, Walter Eadie, 20 years old and with less than 1 year experience in the company would be receiving my very own store to be completely in control of.  The catch is, I will have to move to Bryan Texas, where the store is located.  For those of you poor unfortunate souls who are not Texans, Bryan Texas is directly abut to College Station which is the city in which Texas A&M University is situated.  Not only are these small twin cities located at least 150 miles in any direction from decent civilization, but my store would be the ONLY Rack Room Shoes in the area.  If something went bad, I would be completely on my own.
  
      The reason, according to the Regional Manager, that I am considered such a strong candidate for the job is a direct reference to my youth.  Apparently this store has been hit in the face by a shit-storm of problems, starting with bad management and trickling its way down (like reverse Reaganomics).  Now, he threw in all sorts of technical mumbo-jumbo in a courageous attempt to boost my ego and sell me the job.  But after some clever reading between the lines on my behalf, I basically figured out that what he really meant was “I think you would be the only one who would actually want to take it on”.  Apparently, this job requires somebody who has got something to prove, to take on this level of a challenge.  I can’t say that I find it complimentary that I “have something to prove” but if it nets me a HUGE salary boost, I’ll take what-may. 
  
      I have said before and I’ll caution to say it again that I feel that the only reason managers get paid so much is because they are basically signing on to be the fall guys.  In a perfect world, once an employee is properly trained, they should know exactly what to do and really don’t need a slave driver right there behind their back.  However, if a store is not meeting it’s sales standards, they can’t fire the whole store, because they would have nobody to turn around and run it for at least a few days and a much more direct loss of profit would be sustained.  Instead, they can take an employee and pay them just a little bit more to have somebody to throw a big fat finger at when the going gets tough.  While I will continue to stand by the validity of this statement, I have learned something over the last year that I think also must be thrown into the entire mix.  You have to ask yourself, “are you a liability or an asset”.  This is where that “something to prove” stuff really starts to come into play.  Since I have never felt that my actions stand poised to avenge some unknown vendetta, I was initially confused when I was told that I met that age-old adage.  I never felt that I was underpraised or undervalued (although who can really deny that they don’t feel they are underpaid?).  Yet the picture is starting to focus now.  In the eyes of the business world, everything is an investment.  In theory, the more money you pour into an investment, the greater the intended yield.  Since I am the investment in this case, by all means I would like to have some serious money poured into me, but I have to present myself as being capable of generating a return.  Therefor, I need to assert myself to the company as an asset to give them further reason to expand on me, their investment.  Apparently, I have been doing just that.
  
      If I have bored you, I am truly sorry.  I know that almost none of my posts have ever been in this sort of tone before and I do not doubt that you weren’t expecting this.  However, if you have made it this far, I must impart an appeal to my audience.  If you are truly one of only two things: a liability or an asset, how do you think you fit in.  Believe me when I say that I am in this case expanding this to far beyond the realm of business.  This truly has a global reach.  Think about it, there really are no shades of grey, because if you are not moving, you are simply in the way.  Are your environment, your surroundings, and people you interact with better off with, or without you being there.  This question is slightly rhetorical simply because I know what answer everybody would want to say, I mean that’s a no-brainer.  But really, think, and if you are not, what do you think you could do to flip the ball in your direction.

   

      I promise I won’t be so serious next time.

      Until then, good luck with life.

   

   

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