Asking Your Boss for a Raise

What value do you currently hold; what future value do you hold; what current and future value can additional compensation unlock for him; what losses—current or future—could he suffer if you don't get a raise?

Evaluate your own workload against the project he's preoccupied with. Assess your importance. Not how you perceive yourself, but whether you matter to his interests. If what you do doesn't affect his bottom line, you're irrelevant. If it does but he can easily replace you in the market, you're still irrelevant. When you're not important, make yourself so. If you're all knife and meat with zero leverage, what negotiation is there to be had?

Current value has two parts.

First, how critical is what you're doing now to the big deals your boss is currently focused on? Second, what influence do you have over other colleagues—can you boost their motivation, can you raise their efficiency?

Now you understand why some people grind away for years without a raise. Because someone else claimed it. The raise they deserved was collected under someone else's name.

If only that happens, your boss will temporarily pacify you, then find someone to replace you.

You also need to paint a future picture upfront—make him believe in the value you'll continue to provide, and the value you can mobilize from others. This is reverse cake-painting.

People decide based on expectations, not facts.

Plant the hint that someone is poaching you—but crucially, only when you're already indispensable. If you're not important and you drop this hint, he'll see you as unstable and just let you go. But if you're important and someone *is* poaching you, and you remain unmoved, that's expected value management for your boss. You don't need to ask for a raise or threaten him. Just demonstrate loyalty and indifference to outside offers. If you're truly vital to him right now, he'll feel uneasy. Then he'll start wondering: if I don't give you a raise and a competitor steals my crown jewel, what loss will that bring me?