A person’s value is defined by their product. By product, we mean the result of one’s actions — something created by a person that holds value for others.
The safest and only true criterion for evaluating a person is their productivity — the ability to achieve the expected result. Upbringing, education, social status, character traits, worldview, political or religious beliefs are not as important as productivity.
A person may hold three university degrees, know everything about everything, support any conversation, be the embodiment of good manners and charm — yet still be completely unproductive. You’ve likely encountered such people among your colleagues: when given a task, they logically explain why it cannot be completed, or they simulate intense activity that leads nowhere.
On the other hand, someone may be stubborn, impulsive, even inconvenient — but productive. Whatever task you assign them, it gets done, and the expected result is achieved. Typically, such people enjoy working hard and delivering results that exceed expectations. They love to create, build, and help others. These people are extremely valuable — not only to a company, but to a nation.
In business or any other group, there is a constant process of selecting such individuals. The extent to which they can be attracted and motivated determines how successful the company or group will be.
When times get tough, selection based on productivity is often replaced by a simplified us vs. them recognition system, which uses external signs of loyalty as the main criteria — declarations of allegiance, repetition of propaganda slogans, language, cultural or national identity.
This reflects the principle of Don Reba from the Strugatsky brothers’ novel Hard to Be a God: “We don’t need the smart ones. We need the loyal ones.” The group begins to reject those who could truly lead it out of crisis, while making room for cunning yet unproductive opportunists. As a result, the number of poor management decisions grows exponentially, eventually leading the group to collapse.
Perhaps this is what Jesus warned us about in the Sermon on the Mount:
“By their fruits you shall know them. Do people gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)
Yevhen Sotnikov
