The Sting of Being Undervalued

In our initial conversation about the position, the one with global responsibility for our corporate-wide behavior-based safety initiative supporting around 80 facilities, Tim shared that the salary range was initially listed as $63K to $75k. He followed that statement by immediately saying he felt like that was too low; I agreed. I had a close friend doing similar work for another organization at the time and he was being paid over $100k to cover just North and South America. Tim was able to get an increase approved, moving the range to $72k to $85k. That was still well below what my friend suggested as a reasonable consideration for the work involved, but also significantly more than I had ever earned. With the increased range approved, I decided it was worth pursuing.

The formal offer came in at just over $50k, leading to my question about the typo. I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I was able to develop reasonable arithmetic skills in grade school. That number was nearly 25% below the bottom end of the initial range Tim and I agreed was too low - and the range that was no longer in place. The $40k annual salary I was making at the time was based on a standard forty-hour work week (where I slept in my own bed each night) with very limited domestic travel. Make no mistake, I was in no way chasing a significant payday. This role would have required me to travel internationally two to three weeks each month and 80+ hours per week including travel time. While I (almost) understood the corporate policy limiting increases to 25%, we were not comparing apples and apples.

The sting of being undervalued was real. If I’m being completely honest, it pissed me off. I mentioned being completely convinced that this was God’s plan; had the offer been even in the initial range (that Tim and I both agree was too low), I likely would have accepted. The title and responsibility may have fed my ego but it probably would have wreaked havoc on my family. Even through the sting, Tim and I maintained a great relationship in the years that followed. In fact, he took me to a Chicago Cubs game in Wrigley Field’s 100th anniversary season during my final trip to the corporate office years later. He wasn’t responsible for the stupid policy…

In complete transparency, the true pain wasn’t the low offer. It was realizing how much I had been undervalued (intentional or not) while still carrying the scars of scarcity. Earlier, I referenced the tenth leadership attribute Napoleon Hill outlined in Think and Grow Rich, “Willingness to Assume Full Responsibility”; I did just that and took a hard look at all my options moving forward. I stayed in my role and continued working as hard as I ever had, but I also started actively seeking opportunities outside the organization for the first time in more than a decade. 

Looking back, that scenario provided the seeds I’d soon need for developing what Hill shared as the third leadership attribute: A Keen Sense of Justice. He defined that by saying “without a sense of fairness and justice, no leader can command and retain the respect of followers.” As self-centered as my desire for that position may have been, accepting it would not only have placed a heavy burden on Cindy while I traveled, it wouldn’t have provided our family with anything resembling fairness or justice - regardless of which salary range the offer came in at.

As much as it hurt my ego in that moment, declining the offer provided a foundation I could draw from later when I’d truly need to stand on that keen sense of justice. More on that soon. It also showed me that negotiating from principle is far more effective than attempting to negotiate out of desperation. Before we look at that in more detail, think about a situation where you’ve been undervalued. Consider how the role you played in that personally and the lesson you learned from it - or the lesson you can draw from it now.