Want to have leverage? Be irreplaceable.

“You are paid by how hard you are to replace, not by how hard you work.” read a quote on LinkedIn as I scrolled through the endless list of motivational quotes and I am happy to announce I have joined dream company XYZ posts. This quote was however different from all others, it reflected something fundamentally true for anyone, this quote is objective and not subjective. And so, I let it sink in for a few seconds, and realized I had a brilliant idea of what I was going to write about next.

We often find ourselves at the disadvantageous end of the negotiating game, may it be because of our negotiating skills, or because we don’t have enough leverage. The best way to have leverage in any exchange is to be irreplaceable.

It is because of irreplaceability that the early-stage employees of a successful startup are never fired or laid off, and why seniority in a specific field attracts more honour and recognition.

Hard-To-Replace Things are all around you!

In Life, the most common example of irreplaceable is undoubtedly our family, no matter who comes up in life, a close friend, a partner, family is usually irreplaceable, for a simple reason, you have been with them from the start and you have shared more emotional connections with your family members than anyone else in life. Again, families and relationships don’t have a leverage scenario, they are supposed to be a mutual effort to improve, not an exchange.

In terms of other things, certain feelings and emotions are irreplaceable. The joy of your first paycheck is irreplaceable.

But where irreplaceability shines is in employment and products, companies are not willing to replace staff that has been with them from the beginning, even though they might not be as productive anymore, companies are willing to pay the premium to have their knowledge base and expertise around that they have built all the years working with them, if suppose, they were to lay them off they would probably lose out on critical insights of internal processes that only the senior employees might have, moreover, to replace the employee they have to train another employee at a breakneck pace, which isn’t very practical for the company.

A person who has architected a product from the ground up, that is used by thousands of people can never truly be replaced, because anyone building on top of that system would need their guidance and knowledge of how the system works. By the time the product is used by so many people, it has already gotten complicated enough internally that only a few people can truly create abstractions to be built on top of the product. This is why people who built successful product-based companies tend to stick around even after their company is acquired by another company, most of the times, the founders and architects are the only people that are kept around by the larger company. In some cases, the acquisition is made just for getting the talents of the architects and founders on board.

Being hard to replace is an extremely useful thing for product companies as well, consider WhatsApp for example, even when everyone was rushing to Signal and other messengers over misinterpretations of its new privacy policy, they are still using it today. WhatsApp is irreplaceable because all your network is already on it, Instagram is too difficult to replace or even get rid of since everyone in your network is posting updates on it.

Once a product has passed the “Habit-Building” stage where it deliberately goes through losses or inconveniences to inculcate a habit of using the product in its users, the money printers turn on, and people find it extremely difficult to replace or switch to competitors and much easier to just pay a higher price to keep using the product. Having these kinds of habit-forming products is a significant advantage for the companies that make such products.

Tips to become irreplaceable

Be associated from the start

Being associated from the beginning with any company is the best way to build your credibility and leverage, early-stage startups are your best bet as they offer perks no other company will. Which is: The flexibility to influence decisions, the freedom to work on anything useful and interesting as long as it is useful to the company, building your skill set and knowledge base.

Work 3x as smart or hard as everyone else around

There is no substitute for good old hard work. If you are someone that works thrice as hard and smart as everyone else, and it’s evident to people overseeing you, you will be irreplaceable to them.

Take initiative

Companies and organizations love individuals who take charge and initiative, this habit leaves an imprint on managers who can now easily differentiate between people who are ready to take on responsibility and those who are not. People get cold feet whenever they have to adapt, but take it from me, change is a good thing, so be ready to take charge.

Tackle complicated problems and be ready.

If you have in the past tackled complicated problems, you are the best one to go to if any problem arises in the future for your solution, so organizations tend to keep such people around. Moreover, if you have followed the aforementioned tip and made a habit of taking charge even in circumstances where you might get cold feet, you probably would have tackled multiple complicated problems and would be technically irreplaceable no matter what!

Bonus: Bring positive change

If you can consistently bring positive change to a company, by whichever way you want to, you are going to get the team and people around you more productive, companies recognize people that bring out the best in other people as well, and hence, they like to keep them around. This trait does not exactly make you irreplaceable, but it does make you worth having around, even in, and specifically in, tougher times.

Just because you have leverage, doesn’t mean you can be unfair.

If you are at a negotiating table, you are also required to view things from the other end’s perspective. Just because you have been hard to replace for the other end, does not mean you have infinite leverage.

For example, if you are negotiating a salary raise or compensation for a new job, you must not ask for something unfair to you, but you should also not ask for anything that’s not practical for the potential employer.

This rule applies especially for early-stage startups that might not have the capacity to pay you at market-wage but might be able to cover up in non-money terms, such as additional stock options and a much better experience than a big corporate firm that can pay you, say fifty per cent higher. There is a reason the discussion is called a “negotiation”, it should not be unfair to either end.

The same goes for life, if you are irreplaceable emotionally, it is your responsibility to respect that and not take the other person for granted. If you do, it will lead to a lot of problems down the line, and you might ultimately end up losing a person who valued you very highly. Remember, relationships with people are different, it takes efforts and respect from both sides to keep them going.