Recently, I shared my thoughts with a fellow businessman and avid reader. He opposed my idea of "Developing Skin in the Game" in employees, calling it "abstract idealism." He pointed to the State Pedagogical University and other 20th-century infrastructures, questioning:
"Were the leaders who built these motivated by money? No. Back then, no one did things for monetary incentives. Times do not change. Responsibility comes from ownership or genuine interest in improvement. Your father, for example, didn't earn much from his books he's been writing for all his life. Skin in the game is something you are born with, not develop with time".
Well, if he is right, then we are all doomed, I thought. Every problem must have a solution. In my business of recruitment, for example, I tried to resolve this issue by drawing a table:
(Whatever happens fight for the spot on the right). How do you incentivize people to develop skin and soul in the game of recruitment?
Are monetary incentives all people care about these days, or is there more to it? I always thought that every action and communication we encounter turns into seeds of the reputation we create for ourselves. The better our reputation=karma, the better our lifetime achievements become in the long term.
Would you agree?