The world remembers the useful, not the merely successful.

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When I said that I would be moving to the public sector after working more than 5 years in the private sector, the first question that people asked was if the pay is competitive.

I’m not going to lie, but pay was definitely one criteria that I myself wasn’t ready to downscale. I was happy as long as I got paid whatever I earned in the private sector at that time.

The relatively lower pay in the public sector is often justified that it is a service to the community. In India, job stability and post-retirement benefits are often the main attraction to public service jobs.

This isn’t just about the public sector but a mirror of a larger pattern in our economy.

Consider how much a nurse who saves thousands of lives each year or a teacher who shapes hundreds of future professionals gets paid.

Now compare that to the salary of a category manager in a tobacco company or an advertiser for an unhealthy chips brand.

A nurse can save a life, but a cigarette can generate more revenue.

A teacher can change a generation, but a misleading advertisement can change quarterly numbers faster.

We naturally begin to chase jobs that pay well instead of what it means to us. We stop testing our ideas because they might not provide instant returns.

My point is not to say that you have to be purely idealistic and sacrifice any financial incentive.

An Auto-driver can either look at every ride as a transaction trying to maximize his profits, or obsess over how he can make every ride a memory that the customer would never forget.

The former might earn anywhere between 20,000 to 50,000 rupees each month which is still respectable from a financial perspective. But the latter will go on to become “Auto Annadurai”, the auto-driver who has been invited by prestigious institutions like the IIT, IIM and ISB to teach business lessons to their students.

His auto has a dozen magazines and newspapers, wi-fi, a mini TV set playing recently recorded news bulletins, a brand new tablet to browse and send emails, a fridge with ice-cold water and juices, snacks to munch on and many more such facilities all without any additional cost.

The services cost almost 20,000 rupees each month. His relatives mocked that eventually he will have to sell his auto to provide these add-ons.

But his obsession to look at his work beyond just a transaction has made him earn almost 10 times an average auto-driver.

Focus on the intrinsic signal. Obsess over doing it well and money will naturally follow.

Your contribution to society isn’t measured by your Bank Balance. It’s measured by how different the world looks because you were in it.

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I hope you enjoyed this week's version. See you next week.

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Best wishes,

Nimalan.