There’s a myth that the cool kids aren’t interested in money, that they’re more interested in all that other stuff like purpose and meaning and authenticity (Hence the well-meaning knucklehead in the cartoon).
I’m not so sure how intrinsically true that is, frankly.
My experience would say that the cool kids are pretty much into whatever the other cool kids are into. If that means money, power and status, fine. If that means love, music, world peace and other stuff, that’s fine too.
In other words, it’s not enough to offer people good wages and benefits (although that certainly helps). In the back of their mind, people are also saying to themselves,”What will my friends think?”
We’re hyper-social primates. That’s how we roll.
