There's a reason why every salaried person and salary-giver is Googling 'Vaibhav Taneja'. Tesla's CFO, we were told this week, earned $139 mn in 2024. This is significantly more than what most of you, Pichai and Nadella included, earned. But apart from what it says about Taneja (he's valuable), what does it say about Tesla? That for all its bad press as a Muskmaster, Tesla values talent in the most objective, non-mystical way known to humans: monetarily.

Corporate prestige is still determined by the oh-so-20th c. parameter of profit margins. But reputations of companies are being made by how much they compensate their employees. The same rule applies for countries and individuals - cool is the nation/person that pays its teachers and house helps the most. Used to, as we are, patting ourselves on the back for getting max work done for the least pay, labour arbitrage is for ordinary entities. Extraordinariness is increasingly being reserved for those who boldly pay their workers solid dosh. Like Tesla to Taneja, and Luxembourg - country with the highest per-capita income - to its people. So, let titans of industry scramble not to cut costs, but to outdo one another in offering the best salaries and benefits. CEOs boasting, 'Our janitors earn six figures, and our interns drive sports cars', should be the ultimate company calling card.