How do you objectively measure future value in people?

I spent the other day on the phone with a mathematician friend. At one point, he sighed and said, "Joanna, you're trying to get me to explain a master's degree level of mathematics to you in one conversation."

I backed off, and we talked about who made the best margaritas in the area.

What I was trying to do, and have been trying to do for a long time, was come up with an equation that explained potential. What made it complicated was I was trying to simplify the difference between Potential Energy - amazingness stored in a thing (my definition) and Kinetic Energy - amazingness happening because a thing is moving.

As my friend noted, the equations got too complicated for me very quickly. Once upon a time, I was good at maths. Now I'm good at asking people smarter than me about maths and margaritas.

And in case you're curious.

Potential Energy = mgh

Kinetic Energy = 1/2mv2

If you understand what they mean. Bravo, you're in the "smarter than me about maths" category. Margaritas? Well, that's more subjective.

You may wonder why I'm talking to mathematicians about potential and kinetic energy. Because when I talk about the "Every decision made about you and your opportunities is made in a room you're not in." idea; I'm talking about potential too. When people choose to

• give you your dream job
• assign you the career-defining project
• add you to the all-star team

they're doing so because they can clearly see and understand the value of your potential. And not only can they see it, but they can explain it to other people. They can answer the question of WHY you are uniquely awesome.

They help other people WANT to collaborate with you = Potential Energy

Then they invite you = Kinetic Energy

You need the first to make the second happen.

I have been searching for an objective equation to measure the potential and kinetic energy of what I believe to be the most incredible thing on the planet. YOUR FUTURE TIME

Why? Because how we evaluate, measure, and decide if one person's potential to be awesome is better than another person's potential to be awesome is subjective. Subjective, like margaritas.

No wonder we're all a little frustrated.

It baffles me that when we talk about buying and selling the most valuable product on the planet (our future time), we only use past-based data (our education and our experience) in the process. And when evaluating every other investment, we make calculations about the future. To add insult to injury, while we peddle that your boss evaluates your perfect past to establish if you're the one to get the job/promotion/project. We all know the truth is otherwise.

Your past + your tale of potential is what other people choose.

You can have the most pristine history, but nothing happens if the other person doesn't see the value in your potential.

And potential, by the very nature of what it is, is subjective. It's the person's story about who you are.

Ok. So let's level set a moment.

1. We buy and sell everything on the planet using information about what it is AND what it could do for us in the future.
2. We buy and sell the COOLEST product on the planet only using half of that information AND pretend like it isn't part of the calculation.

Is it me, or does anyone else think this is a bit crazy?

It's time we built an entirely new toolset that factors in both the value of our past and the potential of our future. Doing so should remove some of the frustration from both the buy and sell sides.

How's that for an idea?

So where to start? Plus, what in the plethora of tools shall we tackle first? I'd love to get my hands on resumes, job descriptions, and performance reviews, and I will. Let's start with math and my original question. How do you objectively measure future value in people? Get that calculation right, and maybe, just maybe, the other tools will start to evolve as well.

Now here's what I know about building new things. You can't see something you've never seen before, so you have to look sideways to build a future that doesn't exist. Examples:

• Airbnb reimagined at hotels.
• Amazon originally reimagined books.
• Netflix reimagined watching the movies.

I looked sideways at the other industry that measures the unpredictability of the future - investors. And here's what I found.

As an investor, how do you objectively measure future value?

FV = PV× (1 + i) n

FV = the future value (the value of you in the future)

PV = the present value (the amount of your investment today)

(1 + i)n = the future value factor (aka the present value factor or discount factor in the equation below)

i = interest rate (decimalized, for example, 6% = .06; 25% = .25, 2.763% = .02763, etc.)

n = number of terms (here, years; elsewhere days, months, quarters)

What could this look like for people?

FV = your future value

PV = the present value - this could be a numerical calculation of your experience, your education, and the results of your work. I could see the "results of your work" factor being a bit subjective, but I think it is fixable.

(1 + i)n = the future value factor (aka the present value factor or discount factor in the equation below) - this one stays the same because it's just math.

i = interest rate (decimalized, for example, 6% = .06; 25% = .25, 2.763% = .02763, etc.). In this situation, interest is defined by a number. Imagine I asked you to score your interest in an individual. The subjective potential of someone is how interested you are in them.

n = number of terms (here, years; elsewhere days, months, quarters). Normally, I would have considered something other than this part of the calculation, but it's worth remembering that jobs always have an end date. Is it worth plugging in the industry standard for tenure in a role?

I'm intrigued by this idea. Imagine employees getting an FV score to explain why (or why not) they got the promotion. Imagine a leader got an FV score to measure their efficacy from their team members. Imagine we used this calculation to ensure we look at future value more objectively than the subjective and bias-riddled way we have today.

What say you?

Should I explore this idea more, or does the concept of a Future Value score sound horrifying to you?

Seriously, send me a DM. I'd love to know what you think.

Other things I put out in the world I thought you might find interesting.

• I have a single-question survey live about questions surrounding persuasion in interviews. Want to add your voice? Click here.
• Want an example of teaching other people why you're uniquely brilliant? See Colleen Blake telling everyone about her special kind of magic here.
• Want to see the post that got the most attention this week? I remind people that the more senior you are, the more this becomes true. Check it out.
• THIS made me laugh. And it's not just true for Thai Restaurants. If people can't see you, they can't choose you.

Before I go, I wanted to share this AMAZING review from a reader of Tales of Potential. Have you got your copy yet? You can get on here.

Until next time!

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