If you're amazing at what you do, and good at selling it, you can get a high-paying job without a lot of the extra bullshit. In short: earn your pay. People wh

If you're amazing at what you do, and good at selling it, you can get a high-paying job without a lot of the extra bullshit. In short: earn your pay. People who truly earn their pay are rare. For some reason, almost everyone is concerned with what they're "worth" (what they can get) but never stop to think where that worth comes from. It's not just about how much people will pay, but about how much value you create. If you don't actually create enough value, then things like being the guy who stays late and blah de blah will matter. If you create the value, but nobody knows, it's your own fault. And if you create tremendous value, and people know it, and you are still expected to sit up and be a good little doggy, you're working for the wrong people, because a good business leader should be able to do the math where Your Value Y is Your Salary X * Some Good Multiplier -- and behave accordingly. Because if you create that kind of value, they will have to hold on to you instead of vice versa. Yet again, the balance of power is paradoxical: if you create great value, you hold the power, even if everyone else walks around thinking the employer is the one with the power.