Saving Your Job by Doing Something New...

My brother is in the newspaper business. That's right, the business that is slowly losing readership and paid subscribers because of the rise of the internet and free online news sources. He's seen the closure of newspapers across the country, the many layoffs that have happened in the industry, and understands that this is not a great time to be in the business... Or is it?

By trade he is a writer and page designer - two positions that are being cut quite often as the newspaper business shifts online. But while those are his main roles, he's also carved out a nice niche where he is a blogger about the business of sports, and is the host of their newly created podcast detailing their biggest stories of the week.

In other words, he is not being hamstrung by the title that he has, but rather is utilizing his skills to build himself a role as the landscape of print shifts online. He has been able to understand that the newspaper business is about content, and while the content might not be delivered in print for much longer, it is still valuable in some form.

I guess the whole point of this post is that even in associations, some things that we currently do might not continue to work the same way they have in the past. As staffers and executives, we need to think ahead as to how the landscape might shift, and then as individuals figure out how we can have a hand in making the shift seamless to ensure long-term job security.