Work to Learn, Don't Work for Money
Choose jobs for the skills they teach, not the paycheck they offer.
Kiyosaki's sixth lesson inverts the conventional career advice of specializing deeply in one field for maximum pay. Instead, he recommends seeking jobs and experiences that teach you the broadest range of skills, even if they pay less. The goal is to know a little about a lot, rather than a lot about one thing.
The world is full of talented poor people. Artists who create masterpieces but cannot sell them. Engineers who build brilliant products but cannot market them. The missing skills are almost always sales, marketing, communication, leadership, and financial management. These are the skills that create wealth, and they are the skills that most people avoid because they are uncomfortable.
Kiyosaki followed this principle himself: he joined the Marine Corps to learn leadership, worked at Xerox to learn sales (despite hating rejection), and took jobs across multiple industries to learn trade, management, and international business. His rich dad groomed him by rotating him through every department of his business empire. The short-term cost of lower pay was far outweighed by the long-term value of diverse skills.
- Seek work for what you will learn, not for what you will earn.
- Know a little about a lot rather than a lot about a little.
- The most important skills for wealth are sales, marketing, communication, and leadership.
- Specialization makes you dependent on that specialty and vulnerable to change.
- The management skills needed for success are management of cash flow, systems, and people.
- Overspecialization is what creates the need for union protection.
- The world is full of talented people who are poor because they lack business skills.
- Audit Your Skill GapsHonestly assess which skills you lack among the critical wealth-building skills: sales, marketing, communication, leadership, negotiation, financial management, and people management. Identify which gaps are limiting your financial growth the most.
- Seek Learning Opportunities StrategicallyLook for jobs, side projects, or volunteer work that will teach you the skills you lack. Consider working at a company with excellent training programs in your weak areas, even if the pay is lower than your current role.
- Embrace Discomfort as a Signal of GrowthThe skills you most need to learn are usually the ones that make you most uncomfortable. Fear of rejection means you need sales experience. Fear of public speaking means you need communication experience. Lean into the discomfort.
- Apply Skills Across DomainsAs you acquire new skills, apply them to your investment activities and business ventures. Sales skills help you negotiate better deals. Financial literacy helps you evaluate investments. Leadership helps you manage teams and partnerships.
Despite being a shy person terrified of rejection, Kiyosaki joined Xerox specifically for their sales training program. He endured four years of door-to-door selling, facing constant rejection, until he consistently ranked in the top five salespeople. His rich dad was proud; his educated dad was ashamed that his son was a salesman.
Kiyosaki's rich dad encouraged him to work across many areas of his business empire rather than specializing. He worked in accounting, construction, sales, reservations, and marketing. Later, Kiyosaki chose to work at Xerox not for the salary but specifically to overcome his fear of sales rejection. He stayed until he was consistently in the top five salespeople, then moved on. His educated dad could not understand why Robert would leave high-paying positions, but rich dad saw each move as acquiring another skill for the toolbox.