A big chunk of created value is about performing or releasing the next item. For music-makers, the next thing is a new song or album. For writers, the next thing is an article or book. For an engineer, the next thing might be a new invention or new more efficient method of creating a product already in the marketplace. For a doctor, it is about assisting the next patient. Once you already have the abilities or expertise or base of supporters, your goal is mainly to perform or create the next item.
Katie Couric As An Interviewer
Take for example Katie Couric. She is a journalist who has interviewed many well-known individuals. She has build her reputation as an interviewer that stays calm and asks most of the questions people are looking to hear. She has also been a TV anchor and done a fine job at that position. At her current stage, she can create a large amount of “value” by doing the next interview, or reporting on the next event. She has many viewers who are very interested in her interviews, as they may have watched them multiple times on YouTube or elsewhere, and they put her interviews a notch above those done by others. For those folks, and even for the others who just want to see the person she is interviewing, there is a lot of value in her doing another one.
Some know Katie through her reputation, or saw a specific interview that they can’t forget. Katie is just an example here, as there are other fine interviewers out there. Each individual has their abilities and background that they can use to create value. Value is about what you provide, whether it be the presence or care or love someone is looking for, or the expertise to solve a problem someone wants to have solved, or the new creation that someone yearns for to purchase and use for their efforts.
Donald Trump As A Deal-maker
Making deals is a way to create value, as the process of making a deal links up two people or companies that wouldn’t have linked up otherwise, or provides a benefit to two separate parties that would not have occurred by chance. Donald Trump said he loves making deals. When the US was having some issues a while back, he said that people needed to make deals to solve the issue, and that other countries were very interested in being dealt with. For Mr. Trump, making the next deal in his business efforts is how value is best made. He has expertise in dealing with people, being direct in what he wants, not taking no for an answer, not taking a deal that is below his level of desire, and so on. For him, his time is best spent continuing to make these deals.
Others are also hoping he makes deals or offers to make deals with them. As he is the go-to guy for that field of endeavors, people have him in their sights for the process. They know his value and seek to absorb some of it. In the same way, there are people who see the value you provide and want you to produce more so they can enjoy it and also build off of it for themselves. The value you create can be like a foundation for the next person’s value.
Physicist Doing Research
A physicist who is an expert on electron spins adds a large amount of value through targeted research in this field. There are very few people who have expertise in this area, and so by supply and demand principles, the physicist’s time is of very high value. To try some new method of using electron spins to create more efficient solid-state devices, or testing out a different use for electron spin implementation, is what the scientist could later be most known for. Expertise is a great thing, but it also means that most of your focus has to be on that area of expertise in order for it to be of much use.
Summary About Value
Value comes in many different forms, as you can see through these examples, and what you are skilled at, or what you have many folks interested in you for, or what you have the persistence to improve upon is what your value to people consists of. Business says that value is only about where you can profit, and some ethical messages say that value is about where you give back to society, and if you merge these together, the value you create gives you profit and gives back to society.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: calmgrowth
June 14, 2010 at 1:35 am
Interesting topic Armen…
Providing value is important for achieving personal happiness and physical resources. I like that you mention Donald Trump, earlier I studied his (business) life and this man is a business genius. What’s interesting is that you see his value as a “deal-maker” rather than as “a man who has built a particular building.” I like that.
Creating value in my opinion, creating positive change. We take what there is, change its shape and form and create something new, something worthwhile, something valuable.
In the end, I will give one suggestion for this article… It would be interesting that you included historical figures such as Michelangelo or Nikola Tesla… I do not criticize you, the article was excellent, it’s just my thought….
Marko — Calm Growth´s last [type] ..Dominate. Grow. Evolve. Introduction to Self-Confidence
Twitter: Armen
June 14, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Hi Marko.
I hear you there. Some see him more as a real estate dealer and building-builder. I like to focus on what separates people, and one item that separates Mr. Trump from the vast majority of others is that he takes on deals, while most would run away from trying them or even showing up to the meeting. The two most important steps are showing up and standing strong, and the rest is not so difficult.
That is a cool concept about adding those other individuals from our past. Those are certainly valid individuals to add in here.
I agree that everyone offers value. Business may be about profit and it may seem the ‘deal makers’ have the most value but where would they be without their PA, cleaner, the girl in Starbucks who makes their coffee…….I think value can come in all sorts of ways:)
Many thanks,
Kate
Twitter: Armen
June 16, 2010 at 8:03 am
Hi Kate.
We sure can’t forget about all those helpers you mentioned. They make quite a big difference to their day and to our day. Without the folks who allow business to flourish, modern business wouldn’t be there. It would be back to trading potatoes for tomatoes, not that that is so bad.
Armen: I agree that everyone offers different type of value. It is easy to lose sight of that and think that you are supposed to find a certain type of value, but we all have different things and value we bring to the table. I think we have to be comfortable with the type of value we bring and always aim to bring as much of it as we can to any situation. Interesting topic.
Twitter: Armen
June 16, 2010 at 8:11 am
Hi Sibyl.
There are so many forms of value. Someone who is quiet might be the energetic person on the soccer field, or the person who wants to speak in front of the audience, or the one who makes sandwiches for everyone for a beach meet-up. The value someone can bring is not always so obvious at first.
Hi Armen,
I think you make a very good point here, successful people aren’t successful because of their thoughts, they are successful because of what they do.
This is something I often need reminding of, I can easily get caught up in thoughts and fail to make anything of them. Another benefit that comes from doing is learning. School didn’t teach me how to apply knowledge, it was through work that I learned the best education serves a function.
Twitter: Armen
June 17, 2010 at 10:54 am
Hi Martin.
Functionality sure is a big part of the equation. I might provide a managerial quality to a group, and then the next person provides a secretarial quality, and then the third provides an engineering thought-process, and then the process gets done. Everyone fits somewhere on the value spectrum.
There are constant debates about the vocational qualities of school teaching. I think that is a balance issue that schools always keep in mind as to how much provided information should be theoretical and how much should be related to current-world conditions.
What your saying is correct Armen. Just to clear up my point, I wasn’t aiming to criticise education or schools. The point I was trying to make was that its no good just leaving thoughts in your head. It is useful and beneficial to translate thought into action, use what you learn, make it relevant.
Twitter: Armen
June 17, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Hey Martin.
I hear you there. I know you were making a valid statement about that. I just wanted to add about how there is much debate outside and inside schooling institutions about how much current-world material to teach versus theoretical or historical knowledge of sorts. Short-term and long-term interests are always in battle.
Thanks for the clearing up though.