The short-sightedness of money-obsession [#9]
Some things are vastly more valuable than their money equivalent
Dear Reader,
Is money the only form of value acceptable in an exchange? Money is a relatively new concept, being “only” 5,000 years old (our species, homo sapiens, is at least 20x older). Yet, it is the most established concept of value there is, and it permeates everything we do, from what we buy, to how we get rewarded for our labours, to whether something is “worth” our time or not.
Today’s letter was sparked by an exchange on the back of a post by
on LinkedIn. If you don’t know Ethan yet, he is behind Level Up, the single best career newsletter I have ever come across, and I have been obsessed with this topic for over a decade.You see, Ethan is currently looking for someone to support him with illustrations to accompany his writings on LinkedIn. After outlining what he is looking for, he shares what he is offering in exchange for the service.
And as is to be expected, a few people took issue with item 3 “if you need that”, as in, making it optional.
But this is incredibly shortsighted of them, not least because Ethan openly admits he has no problem if someone wants to be paid purely in monetary terms if that’s their currency of choice.
Here’s why this is shortsighted
Ethan has had a career many people dream of: he reached the VP level at Amazon. Being successful in Big Tech takes special skills
Ethan is now a highly sought-after executive coach, so much so, that he no longer coaches individuals - the only way to get direct access to him is through the corporate route
The math. Simply the math.
Imagine a random client can pay you £500 a month for the illustrations Ethan is requesting of you. That’s £500 in your pocket, consistently. But the only thing you get out of it is a transaction, you get the money and that’s it.
How much would it cost to have access to Ethan and learn firsthand from him?
How much value would there be for a bright and ambitious professional keen to climb the career ladder to get access to Ethan in the way he proposes?
That, ultimately, is the key question. How much his time costs doesn’t matter, what matters is to realise that value is relative and deeply personal. If you are on an ascending trajectory and getting his support can accelerate your next promotion by just a few months, is that worth more than £500 to you?
We need to acknowledge and accept that money isn’t the only form of remuneration out there, and for many, access to expertise is worth more than cold hard cash (typically because their monetary needs are taken care of already, obviously). Cash is good, sure, but that’s not the only thing.
Here’s another example you may be more familiar with: startup compensation packages, especially in earlier stages, rarely focus purely on your base salary, they often come with an opportunity to earn a slice of the business. This opportunity isn’t cash. It’s an asset that is extremely illiquid and the ability to cash in on it does not depend on you, but it has the potential to be extremely valuable, as does access to certain people. And it is perfectly okay to realise that those things are valuable, despite not being a monetary number.
Let’s put this into practice. Imagine you have a short assignment you’ve been asked to do, and you have the choice of being remunerated either with £150 or with the ability to have an in-depth conversation with one of the biggest names in your industry. Which one is most valuable to you? The reality is that there is no objective answer.
Money is nice, absolutely, but realise that what some people can offer you is more valuable than money, if you know how to leverage it properly. For many people, if they are presented with the opportunity to get £1,000 for a project or get the ability to sit with Elon Musk / Tim Cook / Satya Nadella or any other person a the top of their game for an hour, maybe, just maybe, that hour could be a lot more valuable than ““just”” £1,000 - it all depends on how you make the most of it.
I for one, would value speaking to them a lot more than I’d value the £1,000. But that’s relative. And that’s precisely the whole point: being too focused on money may lose you opportunities money doesn’t grant.