There used to be a time when if jobs were lost during a recession, there was the expectation that many of these same jobs would eventually return after the economy came back. These days, though, there’s a whole different feel about jobs returning.

In a recent article, “5 Myths About How to Create Jobs” (link), McKinsey notes that even if the economy were to add 200,000 jobs per month, it would take the next 7 years to return to a “normal” unemployment rate of 5%. And according to a recent WSJ article, “Economists Expect Shifting Work Force” (link), 1 in 4 jobs won’t be coming back, but instead will be replaced by other types of work in growing industries, which for many is a much longer road to re-employment and to previous salary levels.

Personally, when I hear about jobs not coming back, I’m not thinking just about the jobs. I’m thinking about the skill sets of the people who were performing those jobs.

The crisis that I see many people facing these days is not a lack of jobs, but a lack of relevant skills. When jobs are lost or go overseas, people aren’t losing their jobs. They’re losing the domestic demand for their skill sets. It’s their capabilities that are being lost, some for good.

People are being left with skills that don’t have a marketplace. And that’s a much more frightening reality than being without a job.

As we have seen recently, even well established enduring companies and industries can falter. Therefore to provide yourself with real unemployment insurance, you need to ensure that the skills and capabilities you possess remain relevant and attractive to many companies in and beyond your industry.

To remain gainfully employed with a viable future, you need to remain relevant. And for that to be the case, your skill set needs to be relevant to both your company and to the marketplace in general.

So that being said, when did you last take inventory of the skills and capabilities you bring to the table?


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Today more than ever, companies are looking for leaders. Not the kind to fill management or leadership vacancies. They’re looking for employees, whether or not they have people under their direction, to step up and demonstrate a greater ability to contribute. They’re looking for people to lead in terms of what they bring to the table each and every day.

In a different time, one might have argued that this stemmed from a short-term focus on corporate profits, from a desire to extend corporate profitability at the expense of the employee. Today, however, the increased expectations flow from an intensely competitive marketplace. If you feel the pressure of your boss’s hand at your back, it’s likely being placed there by your customers.

And so what’s an employee-cum-leader to do?
Answer: Give people one hand to shake, and one throat to squeeze.

First, make it easy and efficient for people, both customers and colleagues, to work with you. Particularly given the inter-dependencies at work these days, no one has the patience for being delayed or frustrated. That’s the “one hand to shake”.

Second, be a leader and take full responsibility for the work you need to get done. Commit fully to getting it done exceptionally well, and similarly, commit to fixing it immediately and completely when it’s broken. That’s the “one throat to squeeze”.

Consider the following:
Both my electric company and my cable company make it relatively easy to do business with them, which when things go well, means it’s easy to pay my bill (”one hand to shake”). Now should I lose power at my home, with one phone call, I can found out from the electric company what went wrong and when service should be restored (”one throat to squeeze”). But if I lose cable service, the cable company can tell me only what went wrong; they can’t tell me when service should be back. Isn’t that kind of important for the customer to know? Don’t they have cell phones in the field? Aren’t they a communications company? Why is it impossible to get a simple answer? Personally, that’s too many throats to squeeze.

If your company is still in business, at this point it’s likely made most, if not all, of the requisite structural changes in response to the economic decline. If it’s like most companies, payroll has been trimmed, and there are few expectations of ratcheting up hiring plans anytime soon. Employees are expected to deliver exceptionally well to customers, both internal and external. And are expected to do so for some time to come.

No one needs the runaround, and no one has the patience for “not my job” or “I only work here.” Bottom-line, if your people can’t give your customers one hand to shake and one throat to squeeze, you’d better forget it. Because sooner or later, your customers will.

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In the last post, I cited the work of Lombardo and Eichinger in discussing the type of experiences that lead to significant personal development.  These experiences have four qualities in common:

1)  You know very little about the experience as you go into it.
2)  You have to make a difference.
3)  You feel a chance of significant failure.
4)  You feel a tremendous amount of pressure.

I realized, however, that I omitted one other piece of the development puzzle, and I also remembered a related story:

I was driving from Montreal, Canada to Portland, Maine to visit a good friend.  It was a late Friday autumn night, and I was driving through the twisting, turning, mountainous, two-lane Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  As I approached the summit, instantly I was entombed in fog.  Visibility was less than nil.  All I saw was the hood of my car.  Nothing more.  Everything was gray.  I had no color vision, and no sense of depth.  It was unnerving.

And here was the question: Do I stop in order to avoid hitting the potential car or truck in front of me (and still get hit by a car or truck behind me) or do I pull over onto the soft shoulder (and still hit a vehicle that’s also on the shoulder and/or get hit by a vehicle behind and/or accidentally roll down the side of the mountain)?  I chose the latter.

With the car on the shoulder, I literally inched the car forward, always bracing myself for impact should I suddenly strike the car or truck in front.  It was like waiting for the shark in “Jaws” to suddenly leap out of the mist, onto my hood, and into my car.

Eventually the fog dissipated, I could see the pavement, and slowly I resumed my speed and my trip.

I thought of this incident, because it seemed to fit Lombado and Eichenger’s criteria:
1)  I knew very little about this experience as I got into it.  (I had experienced fog before, but not this type of total loss of visual cues.)
2)  I had to make a difference.  (I had to get out safely.)
3)  I felt a chance of significant failure.  (Indeed.)
4)  I felt a tremendous amount of pressure.  (An understatement.)

But I didn’t learn from it because of those criteria.  They just made it stressful.  The two things that ultimately made it a “developmental” experience for me were:
1)  I survived it (not an inconsequential factor).
2)  I learned from it.  I created a rule of thumb from it.  (After that experience, I never traveled the “Kanc” when conditions were conducive for fog.  Listening to weather reports tended to be just a bit helpful in that regard.)  This is the missing piece of the development puzzle.  For stressful, challenging events to be meaningful, and not just stressful, effective leaders and managers deliberately learn from them.  They ask themselves:  “What did I learn here?”

From the conversations and emails I’ve had with colleagues, friends, and clients, it feels like during these “foggy” economic times, many of us are going through experiences that easily fit the 4 criteria:
- Few of us have had experience with these types of economic challenges.
- We need to make a difference (in our jobs and with our families).
- Fear of failure is high.
- And so are stress and pressure levels.

One of the keys to “surviving” these times emotionally, psychologically, and professionally is challenging oneself to learn from them.  What rules of them about your business, your job, your relationship, or yourself are you discovering based on the journey you’ve experienced during the past year and a half?  What have you learned from the turmoil?  Surely you have at least one rule of thumb based on your experiences to-date.  What is it?

At some point, the economic fog will lift, and a more normal journey will resume.  Will you really benefit when it does?  Remember the Buddhist proverb:  “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

And if experience is the best teacher, during these economic times I think we can say class is in full session.

So what are you learning today?