Think Like an Economist

You want and you need the "A" team. You deserve the best!

But so does everyone else.

You also want discounted rates. And I mean SERIOUSLY discounted rates.

Luckily for you, so does everyone else.

So what about the A team? The problem, of course, is that there are only a certain number of A players to go around. In other words, A players are a scarce resource.

Question: What can you do?

Answer: Think like an economist

That's a big differentiator for you when you're competing for scarce resources in the marketplace.

And here's why.

I'd like to introduce you to my friend, John, pictured in the photo below.

My Friend John (a short-winged meadow katydid)

John is a short-winged meadow katydid and has special skills. John can communicate underwater by sending vibrations through plant stems. And there he was, hanging out on my front door.

An hour later, he was gone.

If you need John to stay, and if you want to attract other good quality short-winged meadow katydids, you need to create the right environment. It doesn't matter how much you pay John, what his SLA is, whether you have a warranty in a contract requiring that you get John, John is going to go find some water with plant stems!!

Think of John and his friends as the A players. If you don't have the right environment for your A players, they will leave. If you're not matching their skills to your needs, they will leave. If you constantly threaten to step on them, they will leave.

It's almost impossible to successfully compete for A players with money. It's not that money doesn't matter. But often the significance of compensation is as a surrogate for respect more than about an absolute number.

Economists very rarely think in terms of money -- they think in terms of utility (the pleasure one gets from doing something -- if you're hungry, that first Big Mac has high utility. If you're not hungry, not so much. Same cost, different utility).

So, you complete for these players with non-monetary incentives -- job satisfaction, a sense of team, interesting work, and respect.

These are all factors that drive up the "utility" of working with you.

So when you're competing for the A team, don't think you can just "buy" it with money, or get them because they're a contractual requirement.

Think like an economist.

Securing well-qualified talent might cost something in money. But attracting the right team, retaining them, and getting their best work, is a function of high utility.