According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker stays at a job for 3.7 years. Research from the Center for American Progress shows that replacing an employee typically costs between 20 percent and 200 percent of their annual salary, depending on the role. Every time a company has to train someone new, it incurs a significant expense. If a company can retain an employee for even a few additional years, it can save a substantial amount of money. Many employees leave simply because they can earn more elsewhere or because they do not feel appreciated.
Training time also varies widely from person to person, depending on their aptitudes and interests, and that must be taken into account. The human brain itself varies dramatically. One individual can hear a song once and play it back note for note, while another needs sheet music in front of them to perform the same piece.
IQ
Many scientists believe that IQ is difficult to change. It can be compared to modern computers, laptops, and smartphones with fixed RAM. Older systems allowed you to upgrade the RAM to improve performance, but today most devices have memory that cannot be removed or expanded. According to this view, IQ works the same way, meaning you cannot simply increase it.
Another way to think about IQ is as a worktable. The table can only hold so much at once. You can organize it more efficiently, rearrange the tools, and clear clutter, but no matter how well you optimize it, the table itself does not get any bigger.
However, there are ways to improve the brain’s ability to learn and remember. These techniques are known as mnemonics. One method involves “hacking” the visual system. We know our homes intimately, and we can picture every room. So if we want to remember a concept, we place it somewhere inside our imagined home. Later, we mentally walk back through the house to retrieve it.
According to many academics, even these techniques do not increase the table’s size. They simply help you use it more efficiently. Yet the human brain can also be viewed as a muscle, something that can grow stronger with training. Tools can genuinely enhance people’s abilities.
With new tools emerging, such as artificial intelligence and whatever comes next, employees and training managers cannot rest on their laurels. They must stay dynamic, always learning and always improving.
They need to understand what is on the horizon and guide the organization in that direction. It is not enough to focus only on day-to-day tasks. They must keep their eyes on the future and steer the ship toward where it needs to go, whether at an individual or organizational level. People and organizations must chart their path and navigate around the obstacles that will inevitably appear.
This requires developing new skills for the future and learning how to acquire them efficiently and quickly. Tools make us more effective. It is great if someone is excellent at using a shovel and can dig faster than anyone else, but if they never learn to use a backhoe, they miss out on hours of saved labor. The same principle applies to both individuals and organizations.
There are countless tools available today. Knowing how and when to use them is one of the most important skills a person can develop to maintain productivity.
Everyone in the company should be improving, and Doug McMillon is a great example. Doug McMillon, one of Walmart’s most recent CEOs, began his career with the company in 1984 as an hourly worker unloading trucks in a Walmart distribution center. He is one of the rare CEOs who truly rose through the ranks, moving from entry-level roles to the very top of the organization. He ultimately served as CEO for 12 years, nearly double the typical CEO tenure of five to seven years.
During his tenure, Walmart faced the powerful stallion that was Amazon. Instead of standing still and risking the fate of many other brick-and-mortar retailers, Walmart reinvented its model. It leaned into what customers actually wanted: the ability to shop online, skip the aisles, and simply pick up their order or have it delivered the same day. This shift turned Walmart into a true omnichannel one-stop shop, meeting people’s needs without forcing them to navigate a massive store, all under his tenure.
The Role of Employers
Individuals and organizations should help employees improve their skills so they become more valuable to the company. As employees grow, companies should promote them rather than wait until they receive a better offer elsewhere. Leaders should actively understand how much an employee is worth and reward them accordingly.
Employees also need to understand time-tested principles. One of the clearest examples comes from John D. Rockefeller, the often misunderstood founder of Standard Oil. He discovered that his company was wasting resources when sealing kerosene cans. They were using 38 drops of solder per can. Rockefeller had his team experiment with 36 drops, which failed, and then with 37 drops, which worked perfectly. That small adjustment saved the company a tremendous amount of money.
It is great when an employee knows every detail of a device and can perform a task faster than anyone else. But what matters even more is whether that employee knows how to deploy the right tool to make the work truly productive. A person might be the slowest worker on the team, yet if they think creatively, their productivity can skyrocket. The focus should not be on making someone do the same task faster in the same old way. It should be on helping them use better tools and smarter methods to increase their output. Rockefeller understood that principle: do not waste resources and always improve little by little.
These kinds of incremental improvements, small changes applied consistently, are what make a business truly profitable.
