Income

As a working professional with a family, a career that brings in a great income, and a life built around church, school and work here in sunny Central California, the thought of packing it in and heading across country to spend half a decade developing research skills is a little scary.  We've discussed with the kids and, while they are apprehensive about a new life somewhere else, and are, admittedly, not excited about a new school and a new church with new friends, they understand the reasons and are committed to the move.

And Shawna carries her own set of fears into this whole proposition; she's a little change adverse (whereas I probably enjoy change a little too much; she balances me perfectly), and I'd be lying if I said there weren't some reservations on her part.  She has a pretty enormous network of friends, and a life that's built around being "here", and restructuring that life around being "there", wherever "there" is, is a little scary.

The most pressing concern, though, for me (and perhaps Shawna as well) is the income thing.  At the end of the day, I am the provider for my family, and we have a great life; I make a really good income and we have a lot of freedom--freedom that is, without question, going to be restricted while in the PhD program.  There's going to be a challenge there, I know, but it's surmountable.

One of the things, though, that I have a great deal of peace about is income as a practicing academic.  I've read a lot of comments about academic salaries being lower than salaries in industry (particularly if you have an MBA, like I do), and on the whole, I think there's a lot of truth to that.  With my skill set and abilities, I know that there are opportunities out there where I could make, on the average, quite a bit more than the average business academic makes, and I've had people use this argument when trying to dissuade me from taking the academic path. 

But I'm old enough (and have enough experience) to know that income isn't always liberating; that is, sometimes higher income is like being in prison--it's very difficult to just walk away, regardless how miserable you are.  And as I think about those opportunities that exist in the world for me to make more money (than the average academic), most of them depress me.  Not that they aren't interesting, but they invariably bring a lot of baggage that fills me with dread.  Because the truth is, the thing that gets me going is research--exploring the uncharted territories and applying what I uncover to advance the field.

And here's the thing: not only is it what I love, it's my strength.  When I sit down and try to put my finger on that "thing" that, when it's all said and done, is going to allow me to make the greatest impact on the world, it's studying and advancing my chosen field.  Which brings this whole post around to my central point: income can't be a factor in making life decisions.  Here's why: income is simply an indicator of relative value that an individual provides to others.  Sure there are some anomalies in the data (I don't really see how Tiger Woods provides ~$100 mm in value, or how Justin Bieber provides $23 mm in value, to the world), but in general, the greater your contribution to society, the better your financial reward. 

And so my job as a functioning member of society is to determine where, and how, I can maximize my value contribution to society as a whole.  I'm sure I'd provide some value as an executive somewhere, but I'm convinced that affecting how businesses are organized toward some positive end will be far more valuable in the long-run.  And, frankly, studying and advancing knowledge vis-a-vis the academic literature is far more enjoyable to me than being a professional manager.  Hence, I'm sure I'll devote substantially more energy and time to the endeavor which translates into additional value to the world. 

My point, I guess, is that if I pick that thing that translates into me maximizing my value contribution, it will yield the highest level of income possible for me--and will, undoubtedly, bring me greater joy than any other conceivable career.