The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

by Reid Hoffman

When it comes to productivity, perseverance, and even happiness, decades of scientific research demonstrate that inner meaning beats tangible rewards. The person who is emotionally driven by what they are doing will outwork and outlast the person motivated solely by making money. In Silicon Valley, we refer to this distinction as missionaries on the one hand and mercenaries on the other.

A study on negotiation found that a key difference between skilled negotiators and average negotiators was the time they spent searching for shared interests, asking questions of the other person, and forging common ground. The effective negotiators spent more time doing these things—thinking about ways the other person would truly benefit as opposed to just trying to drive a hard bargain out of pure self-interest.[6] Do the same. Start with a friendly gesture toward the other person—and genuinely mean it.

The truth is that what limits mid-level achievers from developing a top-level offline or online network is rarely their lack of tactical networking skills. Rather, it’s that they haven’t accomplished enough in the real world to be able to offer something of value to their increasingly successful network of peers. Soft assets are the limiter.