I’ve been telling this to people who work for me for years (especially the clueless ones who can’t understand why they don’t make 500k a year): your value is based on scarcity and demand. You don’t just get a high salary for being a nice person or serving 20 years at the same company.

Be the person who invents the next big thing, or can consistently save the company millions, or master a skill set that is so necessary, critical and difficult to hire for in the outside world: that companies will reward you top dollar for that skillset so you don’t go to their competition.

I have met some amazingly smart and successful women who completely understand this and have built their fortunes through focus, sacrifice, and hard hard work. But, the vast majority either: do not fully understand what I just said, or, are not willing to make the 100% sacrifice to drive themselves to be one of those top people.