Almost every product manager I’ve mentored is chasing titles or money. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when it’s done without purpose, without an approach, you’re going to come out frustrated. The approach is simple — consider the tradeoffs between three key assets: title, money, and knowledge.

Titles feel good. They are brand signals for positions of authority, something all human beings crave. In fact, titles were a reliable proxy for wealth, knowledge, and authority. The correlation was stronger when employees got rewarded for tenure and loyalty. However, loyalty is a rare find nowadays with employers treating employees as fungible resources and employees being careful not to push themselves too hard because they might get laid off without notice.1 In such an environment, titles are an opportunistic handout. Any correlation to knowledge or authority might just be the effect of authority bias.

Titles are a game, if you want to play the odds, you might forego knowledge, and authority could be fleeting. Learn the game, play it, understand the tradeoffs.

Or don’t play the game and focus on building wealth.

If you’re not chasing titles, it’s easier to dedicate that energy to building wealth. Wealth feels good too — after all, it’s the strongest proxy for success, and who doesn’t want to be successful? Most career aspirants I’ve known rarely think about wealth objectively, instead focusing on “formulas” for success — from trading hot stocks to joining startups, hoping to strike it big. Thinking about wealth objectively involves thinking about your overall life, setting goals accordingly and working towards those goals with a plan and a guide (like a fee-only financial planner). That’s a much better basis for negotiating compensation vs. what your social media influencers might say.

So, should you not join startups? Well, if your goal is a get-rich-quick scheme, you’re better off playing the lotto. Research shows how much randomness and luck play into success. As I wrote previously, a lot of successful people forget this in hindsight, instead dispensing useless advice about how their success might in fact be replicable. If you want to join a startup, do it to build your most critical asset — knowledge.

Knowledge

Knowledge feels good. It’s cool to learn new things, even cooler to be able to teach someone else — something you can’t do with titles and wealth. Plus, the formula for knowledge is out in the open: some grit, lots of curiosity, an open mind, and a dedication to learning. Angela Duckworth talks about how grit and perseverance are much stronger indicators of success than raw talent. Dr. Richard Wiseman talks about how an open mind can boost luck in his fascinating book, The Luck Factor. Dr. Jud Brewer explains how a specific type of curiosity can be nurturing and even anxiety reducing. Why aren’t more career paths centered around building knowledge?

Knowledge is just not very sexy, there are no soundbites for knowledge, even though it is the most stable stepping stone for success.

Knowledge is a transferable asset. Used properly, it helps with long term growth. Yet most people would rather play the odds with titles and get-rich-quick schemes. Think about what’s important to you at the point you are in your life — knowledge, wealth, or a title. These aren’t mutually exclusive and I’m not one to judge what someone wants to chase, but if you’re not thinking about what it is you really want and what the tradeoffs are, you’re just like the hot-headed youth batter who wants to swing for the fences every single at bat. If you’re lucky, you might hit one out of the park, but you’re probably never getting on base otherwise.

Rabbit Holes

My approach is born largely out of various talent reviews and career conversations I’ve had with junior product managers. The idea is not to dogmatically chase an asset, at least not without understanding what you might be trading off. I found the interplay between titles, money, and knowledge most relevant and what came up most at work. I continue to chase knowledge, got lucky with wealth, traded off titles but avoid trying to dispense knowledge about how my success might be replicable. The research into randomness and luck is fascinating because it mathematically compares the normal distribution of talent to a pareto distribution of wealth. Unfortunately, most people don’t take time to create a holistic financial plan early on in their careers and link that to their career path. Angela Duckworth’s seminal TED talk on grit and perseverance is always worth a second watch. I picked up Richard Wiseman’s book on luck many years ago and found that it exposed some of the same anti-anxiety behaviors that Dr. Jud talks about in his book “Unwinding Anxiety”. Climbing career ladders mindlessly can be depressing, as published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

Footnotes

  1. The end of workplace loyalty by Aki Ito. ↩