Three steps to becoming indispensable Captain Awesome

Illustration: Ehsanur Raza Ronny

Captain Awesome is that person in an organisation who finds ways to improve and become valuable to everyone. He or she finds ways to be the first name to come to mind when bosses think of things to get done. Captain Awesome is like a modern smartphone which is not just for making calls. No one wants just that. Most of us are looking for a phone that can take pictures, set up appointments, play music, track our finances, hide multiple romantic relationships with multiple unwary partners, and ensure the cat doesn't poop under the shoe rack. 

You want a raise? Become indispensable with your ever developing skill set.

First, ask

Opportunity doesn't always knock. Sometimes it is like the lazy courier delivery guy that presses the bell during a power outage and then walks away with the parcel while picking his teeth. You need to be on the lookout because most courier services here prefer not to wait. More relevant to this: you need to be on the lookout for ways to improve your skill set. Ask what else needs doing.

Identify bottlenecks

Evaluate your work flow. Somewhere, something is not moving as fast as it should. Can you contribute? You may need to learn new skills or find new ways to work with existing colleagues.

While interning at Grey Advertising, I noticed all the ideas for TV spots went ahead in the initial pitch as written material. It was all very descriptive material. But a picture could do so much more. So instead of doodling funny pictures of my team mates, I offered to draw some story boards in a comic book style minus the heavy text. Eventually it got one of the bosses thinking, "You got me in a bit of a spot. I have to figure out whether to pay you for writing or for drawing." It's cool. He figured out how to merge both.

Learn new tricks

When I started Next Step a few years ago, my team mate and I would run out of time and patience waiting for other people to tweak the graphics. I learned how to change layout on Corel, our strangely chosen yet complicated graphics programme. But the tale isn't about my awesomeness.

My current page in-charge Amiya Halder, picked up on the same trick: if you want something to look good, do it yourself. Same goes for the guys running my other pages. Can I fire them? I can't, no matter how terrible their jokes may be at times. Do I owe them a raise? Yes. They do what others cannot. They added to their skill sets so they are worth two more people.

When all of it fails to move you ahead or noticed, either try something new, or try someplace new.

The writer is Editor of the career, tech and automobile publications of The Daily Star. He is also an entrepreneur of a baby clothing business and previously worked in advertising as a Senior Copywriter.