American marketing entrepreneur and author Seth Godin told George Stroumboulopoulos that average workers are most vulnerable in the modern workplace.
Godin, the founder of Squidoo.com, told Stroumboulopoulos that employees who have an “industrial age” attitude—to come in and do what they’re told until retiring—need to change their attitude.
“The Industrial Age has gone away,” he said, adding that people aren’t prepared for the change ahead. “Our schools, our systems, our retirement things, our taxes are all built around this notion of doing what we’re told. And now we don’t know what to do because it’s a revolution.”
Godin said unique skills and abilities are the most valuable commodity to staying relevant in our new society.
“If you’re going to say, ‘I’m an average guy doing average work,’ we’ll find someone cheaper,” he told Stroumboulopoulos. “If you can figure out how to do something interesting, or unique or noteworthy, people will find you and pay you extra because you’re not ‘like everyone else but cheaper’, you’re different than everyone and more expensive.”
