Diminishing utility of Intelligence

The complaint of most of my colleagues, friends and classmates who are at work today is that they seem to be not doing enough 'value-add'. Most of us (including me of course) think that we can contribute much more. The overriding emotion is that if we could probably earn much more if only we were able to really contribute with our intelligence and learning. But then why does it not happen?
Well the answer, boys and girls is Diminishing utility of intelligence. That is as every executive contributes with his intelligence, the utility of that intelligence to the organization is quite high initially and hence the employee is recognized and promoted however as he contributes more and more the utility to the organization of that is isnt quite so much.
Think about it, could there be an explanation for this? A low level employee is usually one among many since they form the majority of the strength of the company. However as he is promoted and he rises above, the number among which he is competing becomes progressively smaller. In fact as he reaches the middle or higher management, he is among the top 1 to 5 % in any company. Now even if he contributes through his knowledge or value-add, it wont have that much impact. Why?
One explanation is that an organization can pursue only so many new ideas or policies. As a result some executives will not really be doing intelligent work but in fact will merely be implementing those ideas decided by others in the top echelons.
Another explanation is that as part of the top brass, their value add though significant is hard to measure and compare against those of their peers just as someone with $200 mill is just marginally better off from someone with $100 mill.
Thus maybe the utility of intelligence and indeed the compensation ;-) associated with it diminishes as it progressively increases per employee. I wonder if that's why they say, 'the meek shall inherit the earth'?
P.S. Special mention of RM, AK, DC and ND-M for having had contributed to this blog through your insightful comments. {This is not simply a means to flatter you but I guess it wouldn't hurt ;-) }

Quoted with Truth!

"If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;.."
-Lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem If.
Its only under high pressure situations that you really know if you have got what it takes and the placement week was certainly a good test. A lot of unlikely candidates crumpled under the pressure and a lot of others showed just what they are made of.
Personally I think the week was a great leveller and the spirit shown by nearly the entire batch was phenomenal. It was also a unique experience for me since it was the first time I was in the job market.
To end this post a rather random quote from a Hindi movie: "Its so simple to be happy but it is so difficult to be simple." (Can you make a connection to the topic)

A new experience..a new phase

I am employed.
That is all I should say about my company since this is not meant to be a blog about my career. However, I want to share that experience of going through this whole placement process (which was a first for me.) It was a gruelling, hectic and for some people quite a tense time as they probably lost perspective. That made me realise that "its worthless to think you are worth less since often what you get is what you think you ought to get!"
If you think the role is good and you will love doing it, assume the best outcome and ask for an aggressive salary. It shows the employer that you are confident and capable of performing.
I guess the last week was a great experience and over the next few blogs I hope to share it with you but for now this quote (not an original), about life:
"Everyone dies but not everyone lives!"
Another very good one by the little master Sachin about his cricket (but I think very applicable to life):
"I know that no matter how I play (live) I won't be able to satify everyone so I just try to satisfy myself".