Compromise and Money

From this point on, would you do something just for the money?

Say you’re now doing your best work, and someone gave you an opportunity to do something that pays well, but you’re not sure where it’s going to go from there.

There is, your gut tells you, a likelihood that you’ll need to compromise. Compromise on your values maybe, compromise on using skills you don’t need to develop, to enter into a sort of fuzzy agreement. Just for the money.

Since we’re talking money, it might pay to do something else instead.

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There are three types of risks, and two types of proposals.

The Risk of Ruin. Where you gamble on something that has a likelihood, even if remote, to end your ability to continue. This includes risks to your health, finances, and reputation. High potential of negative impact. High fragility.

The Risk of it Working. Where whatever you gamble, the cost is predictable, and the benefits are potentially good, but you don’t know if and when those benefits will turn up. A weekly deposit on a financial instrument. Learning a skill or a business domain, bit by bit. High potential for positive impact.

The Risk that’s in the Middle. All other risks. You gamble with a project. It might not work out. You invest on a short timeline. You time the market. You bet your career on a move. You overpromise, hoping you’ll make it up somehow. You enter a competitive arena. You triple down on a bet.

Those were the types of risk you can play with. And now, the two types of proposals you can make, where you enter into an agreement.

The Win-Win of No-Deal Proposal. You state options that you know will benefit you both, or you don’t enter the agreement at all. A strong offer, a way out. And then the money part laid out clearly, maybe a revenue share if a goal is met, or maybe just a fixed price, or some other arrangement you both like.

The Compromise. Any other agreement that tries to make the deal work by any means, without an option for you to not enter it at all.

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It pays to do the work to avoid the messy middle. It pays in money.

Wherever you are on the spectrum of compromise, it pays to start investing in “risks of it working”, where you don’t depend on the outcome, and you’re playing a longer game. It always pays to do that. It always pays to avoid ruin at all costs, to keep your word, to make sure you only enter into an agreement where you can keep your word. It always pays.

It always pays to listen to the other party, to listen so much that you don’t need to create a long-winded proposal to impress. You’ll understand the other party so much, and understand yourself so much, that you’ll know when it’s time to shake hands and get to work, because you never depended on the engagement. You were free.

Because the opposite of compromise, it turns out, is to be free enough that you can make a promise, or none at all.

Promise over compromise. Avoid risks of ruin. You’ll be fine.