When you become the most valuable member of your team, you can get a higher salary.
If your boss refuses to increase your pay, more job opportunities will be available to you, allowing you to switch easily.
And imagine right now how much more fulfilled you will be when you are truly confident in your abilities.
This article will break down exactly what an A-player is and how you can become one, so that you get all of these things.
Most people believe the "A" in A-player stands for the rank A, the best. Instead, think of "A" as an acronym for "agency." Specifically high-agency.
The word "agency" comes from the Latin word "agere," which means "to do" or "to act."
"Doing" here means applying specific knowledge, leverage, and accountability, so that you solve problems intelligently. You anticipate issues and resolve them alone or collaboratively with your team without needing constant guidance.
“My #1 repeated learning in life: "There Are No Adults." Everyone's making it up as they go along. Figure it out yourself, and do it.” - NavalNaval
In the teams that I work with, we always filter developers to make sure that every single team member is high-agency.
The degree to which you can have agency lies on a spectrum. High-agency might still be an abstract concept for you, so let me illustrate it.
So how do you go about finding a good solution for a problem? You start with empathy.
Ask yourself: "What does the company / the situation / my team need right now?"
Empathy is the ultimate soft skill because it allows you to understand your environment and the people you work with and for.
You want to understand your manager. Most managers are scarce on time. So ask yourself, how much of your manager's time are you taking up?
“Hire people who just solve problems without even being asked to solve the problem - they identify the problem, they go solve it, they don't even necessarily have to update you every step of the way, they're not asking silly questions, and they're just coming up with solutions. Because building a startup is an infinite set of problems that are being thrown at you.” - NavalNaval
If you're taking up 20% of your manager's time, they can only have 5 direct reports. If you're taking up 5%, they can have 20.
You have two ways to take up less of your manager's time:
1.) Solve problems on your own. You saw a breakdown above and you will learn even more about this further below.
2.) Make your work visible. Make it easy for your manager to know what you accomplished.
You don't necessarily have to update your manager every step of the way. Intelligently pick what is relevant to them.
Make your updates easily digestible. No wall of text.
Understand how humans evaluate experiences. Usually, there are three key impressions: the first, the peak, and the last. Make sure all three are good. This applies to your overall tenure at the company, as well as every day at work and every task.
To understand what your business wants, you need to understand what your clients want. If you have empathy for your customers or users, you give the care and attention to quality required to solve any problem.
Be flexible and willing to take on tasks outside of your job description. You can even go the extra mile and do the role in your free time and show your boss you can do it.
This approach can easily lead to a promotion because sometimes the role the company needs most is still open. By taking on tasks from this role, you create massive opportunities for yourself. Before you know it, this might become your new official role.
You might be asking yourself right now, why should you give so much? What does your company give you back?
There is an expression in the Kabbalah that says:
“In order to prepare the vessel to receive, you have to give.”
Which means, unless you've given, you can't properly receive something.
And this article is about your part in what you need to give if you want to become the most valuable member of your team.
A future article will break down exactly what you need to do to negotiate a raise or a promotion.
And if you help to grow your company and you have a good boss, that boss will share the results with everyone involved.
In business, there is always a competitive and a collaborative aspect. Businesses collaborate by working together, but also compete for resources in the market.
When you improve at your job, your team will like you more, and working with you will be more pleasant. This is the collaborative frame.
On the other hand, sometimes people compete for the same promotion.
Understand these dynamics and see that when you become more valuable you improve your situation in both frames.
But besides getting paid more money, you should also pick a job that you love.
When you love what you do, you are able to outwork others because what feels like play to you looks like work to others.
And as you get better you will become more fulfilled.
... but every job or passion has things that you hate. You need to train yourself to push through them.
Avoid complaining - bring good vibes & gratefulness.
What if you lack the skills or knowledge to solve the problem?
You can't know everything. What makes you valuable is figuring things out and solving novel problems.
“Hiring coders? Look for learning trajectory. How long have they been coding? What have they accomplished in that time? Hire hungry learners.” - Eric ElliottEric Elliott
Look things up (using a search engine or an LLM of your choice).
But you also ask for help when you're stuck and avoid wasting time.
Be optimistic, but don't blindly say yes. Avoid getting yourself, your team, or your company into a situation in which you can only fail.
Mistakes happen. Learn from them. Take accountability.
Your brain tries to save energy. It tries to reduce cognitive load. It tries to put you on autopilot.
Willenskraft aufbauen.
Anspruchsdenken und Opfermentalität ablegen. Niemals um Almosen bitten. Sich niemals als Opfer sehen. Selbstständigkeit fördern.
Seien Sie lösungsorientiert.
Haben Sie eine „zum Abschluss bringen“-Mentalität. Sie sind die Person, die immer alles erledigt.
Sie sind NICHT jemand, der sagt: „Ich stemple ein, und wenn ich ausgestempelt habe, gehe ich nach Hause.“
Das können Sie tun. Rechtlich haben Sie jedes Recht dazu.
Aber wenn Sie jemand sein wollen, dem man zutraut, die Sache zum Abschluss zu bringen, denken Sie lateral, bis Sie eine Lösung finden.
Wenn Sie zu einer Person werden, auf die man sich verlassen kann, egal was passiert, und Sie eine „schlüsselfertige“ Lösung für sie sind, dann können Sie zu ihnen gehen und mehr Gehalt fordern.
Schaffen Sie so viel Wert, dass Ihr Chef oder Manager Albträume bekommt, wenn Sie gehen.
Seien Sie die Art von Person, die sich steigert und besser wird, wenn Sie die Lösung nicht auf Anhieb finden.
Wenn Sie keine Lösung finden, zeigen Sie, dass Sie härter arbeiten, eskalieren Sie intelligent und arbeiten Sie intelligent zusammen.
Laterales Denken stellt die wichtigste Frage: „Was noch?“
„Die Werkzeuge zum Lernen sind reichlich vorhanden. Es ist der Wunsch zu lernen, der knapp ist.“ - NavalNaval
Manche Leute ignorieren ihre Fehler entweder und kehren sie unter den Teppich. „Ich habe meine Stunden geleistet, na und? Ich habe getan, was du oder mein Manager mir gesagt hat!“ oder „Ich kann nicht!“
Oder sie verfallen in massive Selbstkritik, was nur eine Ausrede ist, um in einem negativen Zustand zu verharren. Das ist überhaupt NICHT produktiv, weil es NICHT lösungsorientiert ist.
Es ist in Ordnung, sich mit seinem Problem auseinanderzusetzen und im Kopf durchzuspielen, wie schlimm die Dinge werden können. Nutze das dann als Treibstoff für Kreativität, um das Problem zu beheben, bevor es auftritt.
Sei einerseits bescheiden genug, um von anderen zu lernen und deine Grenzen zu kennen.
Andererseits sei selbstbewusst. Glaube daran, dass du Dinge lösen kannst.
„Es gibt unendliches Kapital, es gibt unendliche Arbeit, es gibt unendliche Rechenleistung.
Die Knappheit ist die Wahrheit.“ - Naval
Jedes Problem lässt sich beheben. Das Einzige, was fehlt, ist Wissen, und du kannst herausfinden, was zu tun ist.
Wende das, was du hier lernst, intelligent an. Dies enthält viele Aphorismen, also wende sie im richtigen Kontext an. Wenn du einen Fehler machst, lerne daraus.
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