In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell poses the question:
If I offered you a choice between being an architect for $75,000 a year and working in a tollbooth every day for the rest of your life for $100,000 a year, which would you take? I’m guessing the former, because there is complexity, autonomy, and a relationship between effort and reward in doing creative work, and that’s worth more to most of us than money.
I think he jumps to that conclusion a bit too easily. I would opt for the money and security of the tollbooth. To see if I am off my rocker, I consulted my best advisor (the wifey) and she also chose the latter. So, are we both odd, is it a cultural thing, an age thing? Is it because I have a big family? Why does Gladwell’s assumption leave me feeling like something is wrong with me?
