20190421.0430

Another article that LinkedIN recommended for me is Shradha Sharma's 14 April 2019 "In the Business World, Can Nice People Finish First?" In the article, Sharma frames the question of the title in terms of general observations of reported business attitudes before moving to address the question through two embedded video interviews and comments about them. The interviewees are used as case studies to assert that putative "nice people" can succeed in business; Sharma ends up asserting that a focus on what is good in a businessperson by that businessperson, rather than looking at what others do who succeed, results in not only business success, but also more authentic existence.
I do not know that my experience accords with what Sharma proposes. Too often, those who will take the time to aid others end up screwed over; yes, they may develop and enjoy a reputation for reliable honesty, but they also end up giving more of themselves than they end up taking in. And when they do say "no" in the interest of self-care, their reputations erode, leaving them without so much of a good name and not much of the money they had hoped to earn or otherwise acquire.
When the principle is to bring in money, that having money and increasing the amount of money had is good, that doing so faster is better, being nice does not suggest itself as a viable option. And two anecdotal attestations that another way is desirable do little to offset my own anecdote--or the ample attestation that those who act from greed succeed when the goal is bringing in more money.
This is not to say that I like to see it be that way. I have generally been one who gives, who helps, hence the lines of work I have been and am in now. And I appreciate the things I have and the people I have in my life because I have acted as I have. But that does not blind me to the fact that I spent a lot of money and lost out on bringing in more as I trained to do the work I had wanted to do to help others, and I am not blind to the fact that I will never make a lot of money doing the kind of non-profit work that I currently do. That I believe I have made the right decisions for the games I have been playing does not mean I am unaware that they are the wrong decisions for the games others play, nor yet that the other games attract far more prestige than those I do.
It is the case, to be sure, that I am not doing what I'm doing in the interest of fame. But that does not mean I'd be averse to being a bit better known--or a bit better remunerated. There are a number of things it would make easier, and I do not think the difficulties that might arise offset that greater ease.