Transferable Value

Financial assets, customer relationships, and brand equity. These are things we usually think about when it comes to the concept of transferable value. Tangible assets that can be passed from one owner to another.

But when we talk in the context of the YPT, I believe the real transferable value, the kind that impacts human flourishing, is found in the personal growth we experience through our work.

Whether it's in the lessons from a tough client conversation, the mentorship of a colleague, or the patience we learn from leading a team, these moments stretch us. They change us. And over time, this growth can enable us to transfer tangible value to our friends, families, and communities.

⁉️ So why don’t we hear more stories about this type of value ⁉️ 

Unfortunately, we’ve put up such a barrier between our work and our lives that it seems these stories are few and far between.

Allow me to share a personal example of how this very recently played out for me.

You may have noticed that I’ve failed to publish an article over the last few weeks.

• I didn’t stall out because I had too much going on at my job

• I didn’t stall out because I had too much going on at home

👉️ I failed to publish any content for the last four weeks because I was stuck in the Young Professional Trap 👈️ 

How can I tell? Easy, my family isn’t experiencing the fruit of my professional growth. Instead, they have been experiencing frustration and unsettledness. During the first quarter, work was a little more challenging than normal. The issue, however, is not that work was too demanding, but that I slipped into the habit of tying my identity to the performance of the company.

As each week went by, I was disappointed that I failed to write an article. Here’s the story I told myself as to why I stalled out:

• I couldn’t think about YPT until work was improved

• My family responsibilities were too great, and I was too exhausted

On Wednesday this week, I had my monthly CEO forum meeting for C12. When I gave my snapshot of how I’m doing, the other people in the room spoke up and called me out. I came back home that afternoon and it was clear I had been trapped.

So what is the good news here?

It took me a minute, but I finally created some real transferable value that the people in my life will hopefully experience from me. The value I am reaping from my work over the last few weeks is humility and selflessness.

This isn’t the first time I’ve learned that lesson, and it won’t be the last. But I believe that is part of the beauty of what our work does for us. Our work puts us in situations that challenge us, but as we grow, so do those challenges. Which means that whatever humility and selflessness I unlocked this week will surely be challenged again soon.

My mother-in-law has a phrase about parenting that I think applies here. She likes to say, small kids, small problems, big kids, big problems.

The same is true for our work. As we go further into our working lives, we experience more and more responsibilities.

• We manage and lead more people

• We steward a larger and more complex budget

• We buy a home and have a mortgage

So my challenge to us today is to keep pace with the increasing responsibilities that our lives present us with. How? By focusing on the true transferable value that stems from the growth of our day-to-day work.

Here are a few thoughts to close on why this type of “Real” Transferable Value is so important for us to focus on.

• It Shapes Who You Become 🤩 
  The personal growth you gain through work—resilience, empathy, discernment, humility—follows you forever and compounds over time.
  

• It Impacts Every Relationship You Touch ❤️ 
  Your evolution as a person directly shapes the way you lead, love, parent, and show up for the people in your life.
  

• It Can’t Be Bought, Sold, or Lost 💸 
  Unlike a business asset, the wisdom earned through meaningful experiences can't be transferred in a deal—only in how you live and influence others.

As always, please respond to this email if you’d like to talk and discuss anything from this or prior posts! If you don’t feel like you have that community to reach out to, respond to this email, and I would be grateful for the opportunity to walk alongside you in your journey. And if you have any friends who you think might derive value from this - I’d love for you to share it with them.

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With Hope and Gratitude,

Alex