When John F Kennedy once said, “I like being president. The pay is good and I can walk to work”, that was clearly someone who saw himself at the pinnacle of his career. But, that was a different era. Contrast that with what Bill Clinton, who has collected nearly $40 million in speaking fees over the past six years, recently said: “I never had a nickel to my name until I got out of the White House, and now I’m a millionaire”.

Clearly, all—including US presidents—are seeing and managing their careers differently. No longer are careers ends in themselves. They are clearly the key financial asset for individuals. To be planned and nurtured carefully, so that they yield maximum returns over time.

Probably the most accepted accounting definition of asset is the one used by the International Accounting Standards Board: “An asset is a resource controlled by the enterprise as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the enterprise.”

It appears that modern-day professionals are applying these concepts admirably when managing their own careers. Where, once, people saw their careers as generating a small “revenue” each year, in the form of a salary, now, not only have the salaries grown bigger, but they are helping individuals create their personal balance sheets, with substantial assets.

Notice how even the terms used by the 21st century professional are financial in nature. You often hear “bio-data value” used to describe the strength of a person’s career. Likewise, you see banks offering them home loans by “leveraging” the perceived value of their career asset.

Intrinsically, the notion of “career as an asset” is not a new one. Traditionally, Indian middle-class parents have harped upon the importance of education so that their children are “well-settled in life”. Some of my friends opted for careers in the IAS and navratna PSUs.

On the face of it, their careers have followed the same path as that of many others from older generations. But, there is a big difference. The asset value of their careers is far higher than what it would have been say 15 years ago. They can leverage this asset to take a car loan or home loan, if they wish to.

However, it is in the private sector that the transformation has been most remarkable. It is not unusual to find salaries doubling every few years.

Career asset values are literally going through the roof, much like other indices in India, e.g. stock markets and real estate. Some careers can offer disproportionately high returns. An investment banker, for instance, can aim to build his career asset rapidly on the back of not just huge salaries, joining bonuses and performance incentives, but also due to the fact that they are a rare breed, with limited supply. Parallels with oil prices?

It is clearly time to show the door to thinkers like Oscar Wilde who said, “Work is the refuge of those who have nothing better to do.” For us, the heroes have to be other icons like Paul Getty whose beliefs as stated here, “my formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil”, resonate better with the times.

Srikant Shastri, Managing Director, Solutions Integrated, and Director, Team HR