“What do you do?”
It’s telling how quickly the conversation drifts towards what people do ‘for a living’. And the first thing we connect it with when we get the answer is salary brackets. “Oh I work on Wall Street”, “I’m a surgeon”, “I’m a CEO”, “I’m a social worker”, “I’m an entrepreneur”, “I’m a retail assistant”. Each of those answers illicited a judgement in your brain. How much did each of those roles earn? How much value did you ascribe to the person providing the answer?
We’ve created a society where net worth has become shorthand for human worth. Where the size of someone’s investment portfolio somehow determines the weight of their voice in crucial conversations about our collective future.
But some of our most essential contributors, teachers shaping young minds, nurses holding hands through dark nights, artists who help us see beauty in chaos, community organizers weaving the social fabric that holds us together, often earn the lowest salaries. Meanwhile, those who excel at accumulating wealth aren’t necessarily those who excel at understanding human needs, building communities, or envisioning a better future.
What if we evaluated leadership and influence through different lenses?
The depth of someone’s empathy and their ability to understand diverse perspectives
Their track record of nurturing others’ growth and potential
The strength of the communities they help build
Their capacity to think beyond immediate profit to long-term societal benefit
Their demonstrated wisdom in navigating complex human challenges
History shows us that transformative leaders often emerged not from positions of wealth, but from deep understanding of human struggle and aspiration. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t change society through financial might, but through moral clarity and community connection. Jane Addams revolutionized social work not because of personal wealth, but because she understood human dignity.
Perhaps it’s time to reimagine how we allocate trust and authority in our society. To look beyond the superficial metrics of bank balances and toward the deeper measures of human value – wisdom, empathy, integrity, and the capacity to uplift others.
What qualities do you look for in those you trust to guide and lead? How might our institutions and communities change if we valued these qualities above financial success?
