Gandhi's admonition against "Wealth without work" -- as applied to the business coaching industry
Channel: George Kao
Date: 19/02/2016

One of the greatest benefactors and leaders in history is Mahatma Gandhi.  He was also a profound social philosopher.

Gandhi gave a list called "The Seven Social Sins" to his grandson, on their final day together, shortly before his assassination.  His grandson Arun Gandhi later called it  "The 7 Blunders of the World" that lead to violence.  They are: 

Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.

Today I'd like to touch on the first of these, "Wealth without work" and apply it to my own industry: Business/Marketing Training & Coaching.

 The M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence gives the following explanation:

"Wealth Without Work: This includes playing the stock market; gambling; sweat-shop slavery; over-estimating [the value of one's work], like some heads of corporations drawing exorbitant salaries which are not always commensurate with the work they do. Gandhi’s idea originates from the ancient Indian practice of Tenant Farmers. The poor were made to slog on the farms while the rich raked in the profits. With capitalism and materialism spreading so rampantly around the world the grey area between an honest day’s hard work and sitting back and profiting from other people’s labor is growing wider. To conserve the resources of the world and share these resources equitably with all so that everyone can aspire to a good standard of living, Gandhi believed people should take only as much as they honestly need..."

Wow.  What a difference to the dream of the modern entrepreneur.

In my industry, it is assumed that there are 2 goals:

(1) To charge more, and more, and ever more for 1-1 coaching/consulting/mentoring.  Maybe you start out at under $100/hour.  Eventually with enough experience and audience, you get to a higher level, $250-350/hour.  Then as you get more and more popular, you get into the stratosphere of $2,000/hour.  

I've even heard of an ex-colleague of mine who currently charges $40,000 per day of coaching/consulting.  $40K. Per day.  Talk about over-estimating the worth of one's work. 

A typical capitalist would say: "George, your colleague is providing enormous value to the client... maybe saving them $100,000 in that one day's consulting."   But I can almost guarantee you: a similarly skilled consultant charging $350/hour, or $2,800 for a consulting day (compared to $40,000) can very likely get the same result... perhaps even better results given their more balanced view of themselves!  

(2) To reach "passive income" by creating and charging for info products such as e-books, webinars, online courses.  Now, I don't have a problem with people charging for that.  What I *do* find problematic is when such products are created one-time, then expected to sell again and again, sometimes for years, without updating them significantly.   "Wealth without work."

With the abundance of continually new, better, more integrated information & knowledge on the internet, information products ought to be updated constantly.  *That* is the constant work that the info-product-creator is being called to.  Otherwise they are selling an outdated product, unjustly, without making transparent to the buyer that there is likely better new information.

It's important to note that I am *not* saying people shouldn't take vacations or breaks.  If you've followed my content for awhile, you know that I am a big fan of a balanced lifestyle, taking renewal breaks whenever we need to.  For example I take 3 naps a day.  And I take approximately 1 week of vacation for every 6 weeks of work.

Yet my vacations have a purpose: they are for deep rest and renewal, *so that* I have new energy and creativity and re-ignited passion to serve you even more effectively.

Money is not a problem to be solved so that we can go on vacation forever.  Money is energy exchanged for just, dignified, honest work.  Or at least, that's what it ought to be.

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