The marginal impact of an investment of time or money is the additional impact that this specific investment created. The term is usually used to emphasize that when you make decisions, you should take into account only the impact that was actually generated by your choice, rather than counting the impact of already existing efforts. For example, joining a huge movement with lots of impact isn’t inherently better than joining a small movement, if your own impact isn’t greater as a part of that movement.
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Your marginal impact in an organization depends on a lot of specific details, but there are some general trends to how the idea of marginal impact might influence your career decisions:
• While at first glance it might seem obvious that joining more successful and impactful organizations is always better, some of the additional promise of working at a great organization is mitigated by having less influence on the organization as a whole, thus making it unclear what your marginal impact is.
• We still think joining incredibly successful and impactful organizations is usually a good idea, but this is because they often provide good opportunities for individual impact (as well as great career capital) – and their total impact shouldn’t sway you if they don’t.
• This also greatly increases the importance of personal fit and acting on unique opportunities you see that others might miss. While obvious opportunities that everyone appreciates usually have larger total impact, opportunities that you can uniquely capitalize on often offer great marginal impact.)
- View Highlight
-

The marginal impact of an investment of time or money is the additional impact that this specific investment created. The term is usually used to emphasize that when you make decisions, you should take into account only the impact that was actually generated by your choice, rather than counting the impact of already existing efforts. For example, joining a huge movement with lots of impact isn’t inherently better than joining a small movement, if your own impact isn’t greater as a part of that movement.
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Your marginal impact in an organization depends on a lot of specific details, but there are some general trends to how the idea of marginal impact might influence your career decisions:
• While at first glance it might seem obvious that joining more successful and impactful organizations is always better, some of the additional promise of working at a great organization is mitigated by having less influence on the organization as a whole, thus making it unclear what your marginal impact is.
• We still think joining incredibly successful and impactful organizations is usually a good idea, but this is because they often provide good opportunities for individual impact (as well as great career capital) – and their total impact shouldn’t sway you if they don’t.
• This also greatly increases the importance of personal fit and acting on unique opportunities you see that others might miss. While obvious opportunities that everyone appreciates usually have larger total impact, opportunities that you can uniquely capitalize on often offer great marginal impact.)
- View Highlight
-