How to increase your personal market value [#43]

I just finished reading Netflix’s famous 130 slide culture deck from 2009. There’s plenty of nuggets in there, but one of them got me thinking:​

“Some people will move up in comp very quickly because their value in the marketplace is moving up quickly, driven by increasing skills and/or great demand for their area.” 

This is drastically different from most compensation schemes, where you are being paid “market value” when you start, and receive slight raises over time. 

There’s a gem hidden here: 

Your compensation increases with your market value. 

So if you increase your market value, you make more money. 

Simple, right? 

Not so fast.

Transparent vs. Intransparent Markets

Let’s draw an analogy to soccer. 

For soccer players, there are websites like transfermarkt.de where you can see each player’s market value. 

That market value is determined by results achieved so far, future potential, and a few other factors (like the ability to sell jerseys - this is a big factor in blockbuster transactions like Ronaldo to Torino, Messi to Miami, Neymar to Barcelona). 

This leads to a transparent market: there are outside sources that determine one’s market value. This can be used as a guide to identify what your salary and transfer fee should be. 

In knowledge work, we operate in a highly intransparent market: hell, even as an employer, I don’t really know what to people.

It becomes worse as applicant, especially if you don’t follow the cookie-cutter career trajectory of specialized industries (think: consulting, corporate).

I personally have no idea what my “market value” is. 

But despite not being able to quantify our market value, we have a good idea of what’s valuable and what’s not. By becoming more valuable, you and I will eventually make more money. 

So do you build market value, then? I've asked my friend Hasan Khair, long-time HR leader and executive coach, to chip in for this.

Here are the ways we came up with:

How to increase your market value

[1] Achieving exceptional results in a variety of fields. 

The best indicator of future performance is past performance. By showing that you can generate massive results, your market value increases - because another company would expect you to generate similar results if you worked for them. 

Take the example of working in sales: would you rather hire a salesperson that has a track record of selling hundreds of thousands on a yearly basis, or a salesperson that has no significant results? Depends on your budget - but the person with results will be more expensive. 

[2] Showing a strong trajectory 

If you’ve developed quickly and made strides in short periods of time, chances are this will continue. You have potential that’s worth investing in. Every company wants people that are highly driven and continuously strive to get better. 

Drawing back to the soccer analogy, in the top 10 market values overall, there’s only one player older than 25 (Rodri).

While knowledge workers certainly have a later expiration date than soccer players, having a great trajectory and lots of future potential is inherently valuable. 

I believe that a good way to show trajectory is to switch jobs every 2-3 years. While popular belief is that people who switch often are unfaithful and unreliable, I disagree. The learning curve flattens significantly after two years.

Every additional year you spend in the same position (without being promoted, that is) isn’t another year of experience; it’s simply another year of doing the same thing. Having four years of experience and having experienced the same year four times is a huge difference. 

[3] Developing a reputation for getting shit done

Hasan says:

Build a brand around trust & dependability - everyone loves the person they can come to who they just know will always deliver.

If you do what you say you're going to do 70%, you're gonna be average.

If you do what you say you're going to do 80%, you're gonna be good.

If you do what you say you're going to do 90%, you're gonna be great.

Be the person that gets stuff done on time, and communicates transparently around their progress.

[4] Bringing assets to the company

This could be a strong network or a personal brand. If you have a big following on LinkedIn and a strong network in your industry, you could have a Ronaldo-like effect on the new company. 

(Who singlehandedly sold 520.000 jerseys within the first 24 hours after his transfer to Juventus was announced. He also brought in 1M Twitter followers overnight.) 

If you’re a manager, you might also bring a team with you - which saves the company a ton of money in attracting A+ talent. 

[5] Working hard to continuously improve 

Especially early in your career, the best thing you can do is to spend as much energy as possible to get better: read books, listen to podcasts, spend time around people who have the skill you’re looking to build. 

Later in your career, do the same. The people that constantly get better have a strong trajectory, and good employers can tell within an instant whether you have a growth or fixed mindset.

Hasan adds 2 more things to continuous improvement:

Get out of your comfort zone - if you don’t know how to do something related to your knowledge, get into the fear + learning zone

Volunteer for stretch opportunities - put your hand up for projects that will broaden your skillset and give you essential experience (vs just theory)

The best things happen outside of your comfort zone: leave it, acquire new skills, expand it.

[6] Being known for a niche

A final nugget from Hasan:

Be known for niche(s) - generalists are great, but generalists with deep pockets of specialist knowledge are next level!

This is developing a "t-shaped expertise". First, you build a broad foundation, then go deep on one thing, then another.

As I've written in a previous article:

Instead of trying to become part of the top 1% of one field - which is hard -, try becoming part of the top 5% of 2-3 fields that are only somewhat related. This way, you can build your unique expertise by integrating several skillsets.

[7] Staying healthy and balanced 

Last but not least:

“The best ability is availability.” - Coach Adam

An employee isn’t of much use to a company if they spend most of their time being sick or having low energy.

A healthy, balanced person with high energy will always have a higher market value - their projected availability is strong, and high energy is infectious to others.

I love to hire athletes: they’re healthy, they aren’t afraid of painful, dirty work, they try to improve (and yes, I’m aware that I have a huge personal bias here). 

Ceteris paribus, healthy trumps sick every single time. And it’s better for you, too: “A healthy man has one thousand wishes. A sick man only has one.” 

Market value remains intangible for knowledge workers; but we know it exists. 

Think of your career like a soccer player: increase your market value by taking the appropriate actions. 

Maybe at some point, we’ll find a mechanism to measure it. I have a few ideas, but that’s a topic for a different post. 

Question for you: 

What’s the one thing you can do to increase your market value until the end of the year? Hit reply and let me know. Maybe I can help. 

That's all for today.

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Thanks for reading.

PS: Interesting take from Tim Denning on wearing headphones all day. Just took out my AirPods. Good reminder to question the actions you take daily.