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Not being an asshole will make you more money

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Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#31

Post by asjw »

BigBubbleButt wrote: post #18
fenwick67 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 out of the top 15 American billionaires inherited their wealth, that is the secret to wealth, have rich parents.

And 9 out of the top 10 American billionaires are self-made. It's amazing how you can use the same data to argue the opposite point, just on how you frame it.

I don't think that is true

Warren Buffet' father was a congressman

Larry Page's father was a professor of computer science at University

Sergey Brin's father was professor of mathematics at University and his mother worked at NASA

these are the first three I looked up and they don't look like low or middle class

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#32

Post by meritt »

seanhunter wrote: post #5

I have an example. In a previous role was in a position where we were negotiating a large-ish (>1M USD) multi-year contract when our client asked us to also do a proof of concept about some topic. It was just 1 week or 2 weeks so I said it would be free but because of various regulatory stuff we needed a contract in place. I was dealing with the same purchasing lawyer on both contracts. The process was super-standard…

> by backing out all of our changes and only putting in his changes

That so feels like a mistake because that's the sort of tactic that would completely and utterly remove their capability of ever working as a corporate lawyer ever again for any company.

If that genuinely happened, that lawyer needs to be disbarred, but that's a pretty damn egregious accusation.

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#33

Post by tlb »

Don't respond to emails from random people trying to buy your business. They're all scammy.

If you respond to these, or offers to re-fi your house, or help someone move their royal fortune out of Nigeria, you're indeed going to be dealing with assholes.

If you want to sell your business, take charge and run a competitive bidding process. But ignore unsolicited offers.

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#34

Post by amelius »

meritt wrote: post #32
seanhunter wrote: post #5

I have an example. In a previous role was in a position where we were negotiating a large-ish (>1M USD) multi-year contract when our client asked us to also do a proof of concept about some topic. It was just 1 week or 2 weeks so I said it would be free but because of various regulatory stuff we needed a contract in place. I was dealing with the same purchasing lawyer on both contracts. The process was super-standard…

> by backing out all of our changes and only putting in his changes That so feels like a mistake because that's the sort of tactic that would completely and utterly remove their capability of ever working as a corporate lawyer ever again for any company. If that genuinely happened, that lawyer needs to be disbarred, but that's a pretty damn egregious accusation.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity."

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#35

Post by tunesmith »

papito wrote: post #19

The most common difference between us peasants and the people of means is that those other people ASK more often. Ask for more money, ask for a bonus, ask for lower rent. And then it adds up. The one thing that holds most of us back is shame. But shame is a good thing in general. It's the glue that keeps societies together, preventing them from spiraling down to the lowest common denominator. Questionable if this sti…

You can also ask creatively. I've had a few occasions where I told friends about how I've done things like... if their final offer salary range isn't as high as I would have liked but still acceptable, ask for a signing bonus to help make up a difference. The response I've gotten (from a couple of friends) has approached the level of shock, or (from a female friend) almost anger at the realization that they would have never even thought of that. Unsure whether to conclude it's privilege on my part, or conditioning on their part that they wouldn't have thought of it, probably a mix of both.

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#36

Post by eanzenberg »

asjw wrote: post #31
BigBubbleButt wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And 9 out of the top 10 American billionaires are self-made. It's amazing how you can use the same data to argue the opposite point, just on how you frame it.

I don't think that is true Warren Buffet' father was a congressman Larry Page's father was a professor of computer science at University Sergey Brin's father was professor of mathematics at University and his mother worked at NASA these are the first three I looked up and they don't look like low or middle class

Your model breaks down. 99.9999999...% of children of congresspeople, professors and NASA workers are not billionaires.

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#37

Post by gameswithgo »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #26
seanhunter wrote: post #5

I have an example. In a previous role was in a position where we were negotiating a large-ish (>1M USD) multi-year contract when our client asked us to also do a proof of concept about some topic. It was just 1 week or 2 weeks so I said it would be free but because of various regulatory stuff we needed a contract in place. I was dealing with the same purchasing lawyer on both contracts. The process was super-standard…

It’s a common negotiation strategy to be a complete ass and wearing people down. A lot of people will give in just to keep the peace. It also works to ask for more concessions right before closing the deal. You just have to be shameless. I think that’s why sociopaths tend to do well in business.

Once word gets around though, it starts to harm you in the long run. I worked for a company where one of the owners seemed to have a world view that everyone is trying to screw you over, so you better screw them over first.

After I left I had a friend ask about the company, because they were about to a deal with them. I gave my honest opinion and suggested they be sure to get any money up front and be very careful to reduce their risk.

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#39

Post by AnimalMuppet »

fenwick67 wrote: post #15
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can anything actually realiably get you to that top though? Even though a lot of asshole are there, I would doubt that being an asshole is a pre-req, and that in fact it's extreme luck - these people are > 6 sigma outliers when it comes to a lot of things. And it could very well be a learned behaviour of being that rich. Either way, it's pointless to aim to be one of those people - you just can't without the stars al…

6 out of the top 15 American billionaires inherited their wealth, that is the secret to wealth, have rich parents.

That means that 9 out of 15 didn't inherit their wealth. So, maybe that's not so much the secret after all.

Re: Not being an asshole will make you more money

#40

Post by praptak »

jacquesm wrote: post #6

Most of the billionaires are assholes and/or criminals with a couple of noteworthy exceptions. So maybe not being an asshole will get you ahead in the middle but it won't get you all the way to the top of the foodchain. So this is solid advice, but unfortunately the role models are exactly those people that didn't follow this sort of advice. Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Apple, Google and Facebook all would not have bee…

I think most people would agree that Google founders were nice guys before (and even for some time after) they became ultra rich.
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