Thought Leadership Articles
Kenexa HR Thought Leadership™ articles are experience-driven pieces that discuss best practices in the Human Capital Management (HCM) space. These articles are written by skilled HR practitioners or technologists who initiate or provide new thinking on a specific component of HR. Kenexa HR Thought Leadership articles discuss strategies on new or existing HR topics and educate readers about future possibilities and considerations on those topics. The overall purpose of these thought leadership articles is to engage readers through original, innovative ideas that are supported by the knowledge and experience of the author.
Buy Low, Sell High or What Would You Pay for a Pearl of Wisdom?
By Jeffrey M. Saltzman, M.A.
Buy low, sell high is sage advice. However, what is low and what is high? Certainly if you look at the cost of buying shares of a company, they are lower now than they were a few months ago, but are they as low as they are going to go? What is the real value of a share of stock, an automobile, a house or a pearl? The short answer is that the share of stock, the car, the house or the pearl is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. This is often based on the demand for those goods or services and the buyers’ perception that what they are purchasing has value. The perception of value is partly derived by demand because if everyone is buying the item, it must be desirable and, therefore, of value. It is also based on the context in which the product or service is placed in your mind.
I smiled the other day when I received an ad inviting me to attend a “watches of importance” sale. Nice positioning. I have to admit a certain weakness for watches, as I own three. I don’t think I can tell time any better by owning three. I don’t think having more watches makes me any more punctual, or efficient, but in certain moments of weakness, starting about 20 years ago, I went out and bought several nice watches—a Breitling, a Movado and a Muhle Glashutte.