Bring Value

Why are people at the top of their careers make more money than those at the bottom? Because they add a lot more value.

I had an argument a little while ago with my father. He was telling me how stupid it was for professional athletes to be making so much money compared to those working in the medical field. What my dad failed to understand is that the reason why the athletes make so much money is because they are adding a little bit of value to a lot of people.
While doctors offer a better service to society, the reality is that they are limited in the amount of people they can help during a given day. A professional athlete, on the other hand, entertains millions of people and his salary is a reflection of that.

If you think of Sydney Crosby, Michael Jordan or John Cena ... everyone of those people are at the top of their game and help the company/brand they work for make billions of dollars. If those companies want to keep making billions of dollars then they have to take care of their top assets. If Sydney Crosby was to switch team, for example, that could have a huge negative impact on the brand.

"Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you make in payment."
-Bob Burg

How can we add more value?
The short answer is by being more valuable. In the words of Ortega:

“... we distinguished the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter the one who makes no demands on himself, but contents himself with what he is and is delighted with himself. Contrary to what is usually thought, it is the man of excellence, and not the common man who lives in essential servitude. Life has no savor for him unless he makes it consist in service to something transcendental. Hence he does not look upon the necessity as serving as an oppression. Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights. Noblesse oblige. “To live as one likes is plebian; the noble man aspires to order and law” (Goathe).”

The reason why there are so little people at the top of any field is because not a lot of people are willing to put forth the effort necessary to be at their most valuable. Some find comfort along their journey and never really improve beyond that point.

I have this to say to those of you who have found comfort: We are all students in the school of life. Learning doesn't end when school does - it ends when the student is dead. Learn until the day you die.