Learning any new language, let alone a new way of thinking, is difficult. But the era of finding safety and security behind the mysterious wall of technology is over. The world has changed. Anyone in the business who can't define and communicate his contributions to the creation of business value should feel insecure about his job.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to measure how much currency of acceptance is in your own business-value "account":

• When was the last time I made a recommendation or participated in a project that brought the organization a significant cost savings? How much money was saved over a year?
• What projects have I worked on that created new products or services to sell, made the company's wares available to a new market or helped the company sell more of an existing product?
• If asked, could I describe the work I do in terms of how it positively affects the profit margin of the business?
• What have I done in the past year that has created business value for the organization?

If your answers to the above questions filled up a sheet of paper (especially if there were lots of numbers), make sure the decision-makers in your company read it and know that you are responsible for the results. If, on the other hand, you ended up with a blank sheet of paper, start talking to people and asking questions; learn the larger context of your work and how to describe what you do in terms of business value. Or maybe in your search, you'll find out that your position is "dead weight" and not creating any business value at all. If that's the case, quickly find yourself a different project - or a different employer. You wouldn't want to be stranded without any currency of acceptance the next time there's a run on the bank!

Joe Gentry is chief technology officer for Software AG's Enterprise Transaction Systems business line and has more than 20 years of experience in strategic marketing, product management and software development. He can be reached at Joseph.Gentry@softwareagusa.com.