Our parents taught us about the birds and the bees, but most parents rarely teach children a much less natural part of life: negotiating salaries. Additionally, colleges and graduate schools typically don’t offer courses in negotiating salaries. Consequently, we’re far too often thrust into the professional world with limited experience and tools to negotiate our salaries.

For folks who only change jobs every 5 or 6 years, it can take decades to figure out how to negotiate salaries in an effective and productive way. As an example, I’ve had five professional jobs since graduating from college (not counting my consulting firm) and, in retrospect, each transition helped form these “contemplations on compensation”

I hope these four contemplations on compensation help you earn the highest possible salary for the contributions you make to your organization.