The Truth About Managing People, Third Edition

Truth 19. It’s All Relative!

A quarterback in the National Football League tells his team’s management that he won’t be reporting to training camp. Although he’s under contract and scheduled to make $9.5 million this season, he says he’s not motivated to play this year. He wants his team to either renegotiate his contract or trade him so he can get more money. Neither this player nor his agent ever suggests that $9.5 million is inadequate to live on. The argument is almost always couched in terms of relative rewards: “Other players who aren’t as good as I am [haven’t played as long; haven’t won as many awards; don’t have as impressive statistics] are earning more.”

There is an impressive body of evidence that tells us that employees don’t look ...