Status as Space
Status Seeking is a fact of human life: it’s not necessarily bad or something to be avoided. On the contrary: Status Seeking can motivate people to accomplish amazing things.
Josh Kaufman • The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a Single Volume
But it has one terrible feature that sets it apart from all the other currencies of life. Unlike wealth, or health, or learning, status is purely positional. The size of the pie is fixed, and everyone's out to get a slice of it.
Richard Meadows • Optionality: How to Survive and Thrive in a Volatile World
but problem-solving is a strangely status-conscious job: there are high-status approaches and low-status approaches.
Rory Sutherland • Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life
status is always a moving target, because it is defined by ongoing comparisons to others.
Keith Payne • The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Changes the Way We Think, Live and Die
