Why The 'Make Yourself Indispensable' Job Advice Is A Trap

“Make yourself indispensable.”

Work long enough, and at some point, you’ll hear this pithy advice from well-meaning colleagues about how you can advance your career. It remains a top-searched topic on TikTok and a piece of so-called wisdom that executives will share in interviews.

Former CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi, for example, said in a 2019 interview that it’s a mantra that helped her succeed at getting PepsiCo to accommodate her parenting needs.

“If you establish a niche for yourself, and make yourself indispensable based on competence, what can they do without you?” Nooyi said at the 2019 Women in the World Summit. In the interview, Nooyi said it was her indispensability that OK’d the corporate decision for her children to hang out with her in her office after 5 p.m.

The underlying message is that if you work hard and make your skillset unique, the company will reward your efforts, encourage your development and meet your needs.

Maybe it’s comforting to hear this because it gives you a sense of empowerment and control over your career. And if you’re a senior leader like Nooyi, maybe this advice works.

But there are glaring problems with this supposed wisdom. For one, the idea that you should make yourself indispensable rings especially hollow after mass layoffs of talented individuals that feel completely arbitrary.

“I think that this advice makes us feel like we have some control over what companies decide to do when we absolutely do not [have control] if a company decides to eliminate a product or shut down a division or scale down a department,” said career and leadership coach Phoebe Gavin. “They’re just going to do that.“

Similar to the advice that you should not job-hop too soon after taking a new job,