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I have never liked bugs, spiders, or other creepy crawly things. So when the group of financial services professionals with whom I recently shared a banquet table told me that their hometown had built a marble statue honoring a vermin, I was shocked. Why, I thought, would anyone want to honor the boll weevil? After all, in many sections of the country, especially in those areas where cotton is a major source of income, the boll weevil larvae has destroyed fortunes year after year.

 

A LADY WITH A WEEVIL ON HER HEAD

 

In Enterprise, Alabama, however, they look at things differently. You see, prior to 1915, Enterprise was a town that cotton built. Each year, families throughout the community borrowed money, bought seed, tilled the ground, prayed for rain and hoped for a good healthy harvest at the end of their efforts. But the summer of 1915 was not a good one for Enterprise. Infected seed and a resurgence of the boll weevil devastated the tiny community. Everyone was touched in some way. The next year, the close knit town began to rebuild. But instead of simply wondering, "How will we keep next year's cotton crop from being eaten by the weevils?", or "How will we afford the new pesticides?", or "What about my farm equipment loan?", the townspeople and farmers were proactive. They asked instead, "What else could we grow besides cotton?" Their research helped them see that indeed, soybeans, corn, and especially peanuts were likely to thrive in the humid climate. So in the years following, the area farmers diversified. They took all of their eggs out of a single basket (cotton) and hedged their bets with other crops not subject to boll weevil evil. And they prospered!

 

Members of the city council wanted to remember the lesson they had learned about risk. So they commemorated the town's agricultural revolution by erecting a monument to the boll weevil, a "statue of liberty" type lady with a larger-than-life weevil on her head. What a lesson and what a sight!

 

When it comes to managing your career in this volatile economy, we do well to watch out for weevils. For us, weevils come in the form of new technological breakthroughs that make our old skill set obsolete. Has anyone worked with keypunched cards or WordStar lately? Maybe a new competitor moves into your area and threatens your organization's comfort zone. In the healthcare industry, this is happening all over the United States. The mergers and acquisitions weevil might also strike, and the requisite consolidation and downsizing sequence inevitably follows.

 

WHAT TO DO ABOUT WEEVILS

 

When weevils come, we have two choices. One choice is status quo. We can keep trying to grow the same career crop (stay in a similar job function) but invest in career pesticides designed to combat future weevils.( I am not sure what "pesticide" can keep technology from changing, can stop your competitors, or can eliminate mergers and acquisitions!)

 

THE ENTERPRISE APPROACH

 

The other choice is to take the Enterprise, Alabama, approach. Here are some things you can do right now if you want to follow their lead:

 

• - Proactively research what other "career crops" might grow in the soil of your skills, talents, and experiences.
• - Talk to others who have made successful career changes and find out their secrets, long before you are faced with weevils of your own.
• - Make a list of your "transferable skill blocks." These are building block skills and experiences that can be used outside your current industry.
• - Network. Network. Network. The successful person is the one who knows where to find the answers to their questions.
• - Put your resume together then switch roles and critically assess whether you would hire you!
• - Make a list of the technologies you believe will most affect your industry in the future. Then, honestly rate your own competence on each technology.
• - Learn how to recognize career weevils. Don't let yourself be taken by surprise.
• - Invest time in yourself and your career monthly (at least). Don't forget - you are your product! Make sure you stay marketable.
• - Adopt a positive attitude about change. Let your sense of adventure conquer your sense of fear.
 

If you put these ideas in place and continue to monitor the health of your career crop, you will have implemented an effective weevil management program. With a little luck and some help from your friends, you will find that when the weevils come you may wobble but you won't fall down!