What is your value in a system? That is secret to lasting relevance

The 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso featuring his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter was sold in 2010 for $106 million (Sh10bn).

Another Picasso painting Garcon a la Pipe was sold for $104 million.

I once projected each of these paintings on a wall to a group of people I was training and I asked them how much they would pay for the paintings.

Someone offered to pay five dollars, another offered to pay 10 dollars and the highest bid of the day was 20 dollars.

Now, why would they offer to pay so little for something that was so valuable? Because they did not know the value.

VALUE

In essence, it is not enough to be valuable. Your value must be appreciated for it to be relevant.

There are different genres of music and each one has a following.

The classical musicians, opera singers, jazz musicians, hip hop musicians and many more.

Each has a following but the disaster happens when a rock musician parades his gift in front of classical music enthusiasts or when the opera singer parades his gift in front of electronic dance musicians.

People who do not appreciate what you have will never see you as relevant even if you are gifted or intelligent.

Salt has no value on its own. Its value is not intrinsic. That is why you never hear of a meal of boiled salt or roasted salt.

RELEVANCE

The value of salt comes out relative to what it is added to.

Jesus taught that we are the salt of the earth thus implying that our value as people will come out as we give ourselves to making our world better.

As we established last week, intelligence does not guarantee relevance.

The very definition of the word relevance tells us that it has to be connected to something. You cannot be a standalone relevant person.

Your relevance is measured by the value you add and is NEVER measured by your opinion of yourself.

There is what I have called the circle of value. This is a two way flow of value comprising of an inward and outward flow.

The inward flow is the value that is added to you.

CIRCLE OF VALUE

This comes through reading, through associations that stimulate thought and through exposure.

The outward flow is made up of the value that you bring to the table — the table being a time in history, your family, your community, your place of work, your nation or whatever it is that you are a part of.

You need to be constantly alert to evaluate if your circle of value is shrinking or expanding.

If shrinking it means the people who value your intelligence or skill are diminishing.

If expanding, it means the people who value what you have are increasing. Donald Trump in the book, How to Get Rich, talks about his encounter with a man called William Levitt — a real estate developer who is credited as pioneer of the modern home development model of building estates and homes for the middle class.

WILLIAM LEVITT

Levitt, according to Time magazine, was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.

At the peak of his success, he sold his company for 100 million dollars (which in today’s money would run into billions) and then married a new wife and retired into the French Riviera.

Twenty years later he tried to get back into the game but the magic was gone.

He eventually went bankrupt and in the meeting with Trump two weeks before he died he said: “I lost my momentum. I came back and I wasn’t the same.”

His circle of value had shrunk. The one time master of real estate who everyone wanted to hear from was now all alone.

PRESENCE

When your circle of value shrinks, your ideas no longer matter and your voice is no longer sought after.

I believe one of the things that drove Levitt to his death just two weeks after this encounter with Trump was the fact that he discovered his voice and his ideas had run their full course.

He had been away and life had simply gone on without him. What is the net impact of your absence?

If your absence doesn’t make a difference was your presence necessary? Your life will be measured by impact and not by presence.

What is the point in being present if your presence is not making a difference?

FUTURE

The difference you make is the yardstick for measuring your relevance.

Never forget the fact you are the salt of the earth.

Your relevance comes from the value you bring and the value you bring will come from the quality of your ideas.

When the inward flow of your circle of value increases then you will be strategically positioned to expand the outward flow.

As long as your circle of value is expanding you can never become irrelevant. To be continued…

Dr Akinyemi is the Chief Transformation Officer, PowerTalks. [email protected]