James Governor's Monkchips

How Much is Scoble Worth? Or How do you comp a Resaissance Man?

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Q: How much is Scoble worth?

A: More than $100k a year.

The notion that Google or any other firm could increase Robert’s salary by offering him more than $100k a year is the real April Fool. If he is on less than $100k then Microsoft is surely taking Scoble for granted. Just because he loves the company doesn’t mean he should be paid less. Just because he isn’t pounding on anyone’s door doesn’t mean he isn’t worth a raise (although his post may have had had that in mind…).

More than any single "corporate blogger" I can think of, he drives value to his employer every day. Scoble makes Microsoft smarter by making his readership smarter.

Whether in competitive intelligence, customer relationship management, developer relations, product marketing, requirements gathering, public relations, or any of a host of other functions Scoble is an asset.

We’re in the midst of a renaissance but people that set salaries maybe haven’t got the memo. Specialisation is valuable, but context, content and community are invaluable. If Microsoft does undertake a fundamental compensation review it should take into account people like Scoble and how to reward them better. People that go the extra mile and create value for their employer in myriad ways should be paid accordingly. Corporates are going to have to wake up to the fact, given how much fun it is to work in the Long Tail.

Scoble could quit tomorrow, set up a consulting and speaking firm, with advertising on his website, and make five or ten times his current salary. The question is – how would Microsoft effectively fill the gap?

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5 comments

  1. I know money isn’t everything but from what I’m reading, MSFT hasn’t been compensating its people well for some years. Pity.

  2. Thank you for the compliment!

  3. One of the fundamental problems with the IT industry is that it run from the sales side of the house. It is rare that a technologist inhabits the C-Suite and that’s where employee valuation is set. Wouldn’t it be cool if enterprise architects got a bonus based on the new efficiencies brought to a client or the dollars saved which were on par with the sales guy who sold the 1.2 gazillion 5 year contract (whether or not he was certain if the technology and services team could deliver)?

  4. its a great question ed. everyone says its the people in tech that are expensive. maybe its the other way around.

  5. How come industry analysts aren’t recommending to their software clients that they should have their own Scoble on payroll?

    Imagine if BEA and Oracle followed suite…

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