Imagine walking away from a long weekend spent with close friends, feeling refreshed, supported, and “richer” in a way that has nothing to do with your bank balance. Or consider the satisfaction after mentoring a colleague – no cash traded hands, yet both of you feel you’ve gained something valuable. These experiences hint at a profound idea: wealth is more than money. In fact, human energy – the time, love, knowledge, healing, empathy, and creativity we share – is constantly exchanged all around us as a legitimate form of wealth.
We are all sharing in energy collection, because we come from the same energy source. One combustion of energy.
Can we challenge the money-centric definition of wealth and uncover how relationships, emotional capital, intellectual contributions, and life experiences form a currency of their own? In this article we will explore the illusion of scarcity, eight new forms of wealth, and envision a future where all forms of capital are valued equally.
The Illusion of Scarcity in a World of Abundance
Economic thinking tells us resources are limited – “life is a finite pie; if one person takes a big piece, there’s less for everyone else,” Stephen Covey famously explained. The scarcity mindset breeds competition and fear of loss. We see it in cutthroat business tactics and in relationships and even marriages that become transactional. Money, in particular, is treated as a scarce commodity, but it’s a shared delusion.
I believe this is set up to drive a continuum of worker bees. If the queen bee says we are running out of money and you won’t get fed, you are going to keep working harder and harder until you make the Queen happy. That’s the way nature is set up. So, in business, we use those tactics to our benefit, not our collective happiness or abundance, which makes it become an societal framing that has to pivot.
Author Charles Eisenstein argues that money was originally a tool to connect human gifts with human needs, but somewhere along the line it turned into “an agent of scarcity,” blocking those gifts from reaching those needs. Humans produce enough food every year to feed a population of 10 billion yet people still go hungry. There are critical jobs like caring for the environment or helping the poor that go undone because there’s “no money in it.” We have plenty of resources and willing hearts, but our current economic system mandates artificial scarcity.
Because capitalism is the leading philosophy of the our modern world, the tenants of scarcity trickle down into our personal relationships and self perceptions. Think about how often we equate self-worth to our net worth, forgetting the wealth of our friendships, skills, or health? Embracing abundance means recognizing the full pie of life’s riches, not just the slice measured in dollars.
What if everything that we think about is actually a societal norm put in place that no longer serves us? There are often façades of life and when you dig one layer deeper, they are extraordinary networks of chaos. The beauty on the surface, masking the chaos inside. I am factinated by this continually and as a team, we are digging into all the systems that are currently not serving us as a society. Examples: Those with kids, a 9-5 schedule absolutely does not work for their after school programs, so why do we do it? We are really working, 9-3 and then again 8-10pm or what if we just chose to collapse our schedule into 6-hours and be more efficient.
What happens when we stop obsessing over the size of our money slice and start celebrating the feast we all share? To do that, we need to broaden our definition of wealth.
I clearly have more questions than answers, so this is an ideal place for us to work through the idea.
Human Energy Exchange
Relationships as a Currency
Every day, often without realizing it, we engage in human energy exchanges that enrich our lives. Consider a simple example: you spend an hour listening to a friend vent about a problem. You’ve given your time and emotional support; in return you’ve strengthened your bond and maybe earned their gratitude and trust. No money exchanged hands, yet both of you came away feeling a bit more uplifted.
Important sidenote: evaluate your relationships. After an exchange with someone, do you leave with more or less energy? If it is more, that is a relationship worth investing a lot in. If it is draining, is it always draining or do you get a turn to unload, lean-in, or be supported? If it is constantly draining, consider spending less time with that person and more with another who gives you energy. We talk about this often with Generative Listening.
An emotional transaction is a form of wealth exchange. Psychologists speak about “emotional capital” in relationships – an emotional bank account of sorts that partners, friends, or colleagues build over time. Each act of kindness, trust, or understanding is a deposit into the relationship, while conflicts or betrayals are withdrawals. Every relationship carries with it an emotional capital from which people in that relationship make credits and debits.
We look at “The Collective” as an approach that is critical to success and human happiness. Without my collection of humans, I would be lost. Additiionally I have pockets of beautiful friends from around the world who are my essentials.
A strong community bond or a circle of friends can be as supportive and transformational as an immense amount of wealth that buys you the same support or upliftment. I spent about 2-hours every other week on a call, quarterly retreats each year with my 2 girls in my TRIBE, Annie & AmyK. Together we are collectively building $100m businesses and sharing in the trial, tribulations and challenges of life.
Human energy exchange fuels our businesses and communities in powerful ways. In the workplace employees swap ideas, expertise, and creative energy that drive innovation. Someone’s personal presence can lead to team transformations.
Companies have started to recognize that their greatest assets often walk out the door at 5pm (or perhaps 3pm as noted in my earlier example). As of 2020, intangible assets—things like brand reputation, intellectual property, and human talent—made up 90% of the S&P 500’s market value. This marks a dramatic shift from 1975, when they accounted for just 17%. Only a few decades ago, most corporate value was in factories and equipment; now it’s in ideas, skills, and relationships. Knowledge is wealth.
Consider also the energy exchange in communities and networks. Mentoring, volunteering, parenting, or simply being a good neighbor are actions that create value, even though no money changes hands. A community where people share tools, skills, and support is far richer than one where everyone is on their own. In open-source projects or local groups, people contribute time and knowledge freely, and everyone benefits.
Sociologists call this social capital—the trust, goodwill, and connections that make communities stronger. Businesses rely on it too: a company with a loyal customer base and a strong reputation holds wealth that isn’t measured in dollars. Whether it’s emotional support, expertise, or relationships, human connections constantly generate value. When we recognize these as real forms of wealth, we can begin to redefine what it truly means to be rich.
The Many Forms of Capital
If money alone doesn’t define being “rich,” what does? True wealth, as many thinkers have observed, is multidimensional. One such thinker, leadership expert Robin Sharma, offers a helpful framework. Robin Sharma’s 8 Forms of Wealth remind us that financial wealth is just one piece of a much bigger puzzle.
Spiritual Wealth – Your inner foundation. This includes mindset, mindfulness, and a sense of purpose or meaning in life. Cultivating inner peace and character is a form of wealth; it’s the “positive mindset, high self-respect, internal peace and strong spiritual connection” that Sharma says underpins real success. If you have clarity in your values and a calm center, you are wealthy in a way no market crash can take away.
Physical Health Wealth – We often say “health is wealth,” and it’s true. Your energy, strength, and vitality are priceless assets. If you sadly want to find the real financial value of health, speak to someone with a terminal diagnosis, they will share how much money they would give to be healthy once again. Your goal is to not be ”the best businessperson in the hospital ward” as Sharma puts it. Taking care of your body through good nutrition, exercise, and rest pays dividends.
Emotional Wealth – Emotional intelligence, resilience, and peace of mind. Life throws massive challenges our way and our emotional wealth determines the capacity at which we can respond. Can you stay balanced and grateful through loss, grief, even devastation? If so, you are rich. This might show up as an overall satisfaction with each day. Gratitude, contentment, and humility are your dollars and cents.
Social and Family Wealth – The relationships and connections that nourish you. A loving family, supportive friends, a network of mentors and colleagues – these are riches rooted in people. No matter how much you spend in financial terms, you cannot buy authentic dedication that only comes from your time and energy investment. Studies have shown that strong relationships are one of the biggest predictors of long-term happiness. Having people to celebrate with in good times and lean on in hard times is wealth no money can buy.
Career Wealth – Fulfillment in the work you do. This isn’t about income, but about feeling that your career or craft is an expression of your talents and passions. Mastery, growth, and recognition in your work provide a sense of accomplishment. It’s the difference between just making a living and making a life. When you love what you do or see it as your mission, you possess a wealth of purpose.
Financial Wealth – Yes, money does matter – it’s a form of wealth, just not the only one. Financial stability can greatly affect our quality of life by providing security and opportunities. There’s nothing enlightened about ignoring money; rather, it should be seen as a tool. As entrepreneur Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia) said, “The more I make, the more I can give away,” highlighting that money can enable generosity and positive impact.
Adventure Wealth – A life rich in experiences. This is the wealth of time, adventure, and memories. This type of wealth is often mentioned on death beds. Elders often muse that the moments (wealth) they valued the most were the exciting and mundane experiences shared with loved ones (Adventure and Family Wealth). The freedom to travel, to explore new hobbies, to learn new skills, or to simply enjoy memorable moments is highly valuable. Novelty and joy enrich us.
Impact Wealth – Leaving a positive mark on the world. This form of wealth is measured in legacy and service. It’s the satisfaction that comes from knowing you made a difference in other people’s lives or in your community. Whether through charity, mentoring, activism, or simply spreading kindness daily, contributing to something greater than yourself rewards you with a sense of significance. “Leaders leave a legacy,” Sharma writes, and ultimately “each of us craves to be significant – to know that the world has been made better because we have walked the planet”. When you have impact wealth, you feel purpose-driven and connected to humanity.
It’s worth noting how these wealth forms interact. Often, investing in one form of wealth yields returns in others. If you invest time in your health (physical wealth), you gain energy that might improve your career performance and free up more time for adventure. If you nurture relationships (social wealth), you improve emotional health and even open doors in your work. And ironically, once you view money as just one type of wealth rather than the only wealth, you often reduce anxiety and make wiser financial decisions – leading to better financial outcomes! In other words, shifting our mindset from scarcity to abundance across all these areas can create a positive spiral of wealth in life.
Practical Applications of Intangible Wealth
These ideas have practical implications for how we organize businesses, communities, and our personal lives. If we value different forms of wealth beyond money, our decisions and systems start to look different. Let’s explore a few concrete ways this can play out:
Rethinking Business Success Measures: Forward-thinking companies are expanding how they define success. Rather than single-mindedly chasing quarterly profits, they ask:
Are we also building our intellectual capital?
Is our team motivated and growing (human capital)?
Are we strengthening customer trust and community goodwill (social capital)?
Some companies even bake this into their legal structure. For instance, becoming a Certified B Corporation or a benefit corporation legally obligates a business to balance profit with purpose, considering the impact of decisions on employees, community, and the environment. The result? Many such companies find that by caring for these “intangible” assets, they create more resilient, beloved brands – which is good for financial wealth too. Side note: we will dig into certification systems soon. This is something we have an opinion about.
Investing in Emotional and Social Capital at Work: Smart leaders know that team morale and culture are treasure troves. A workplace where colleagues trust each other and feel psychologically safe ends up more innovative and productive. How do you grow this emotional wealth? By encouraging and make space for mentorship, collaboration, and empathy in the workplace. Some businesses now measure employee engagement and satisfaction as key performance indicators, right alongside sales figures. They provide benefits like wellness programs, continuous learning opportunities, and time for volunteering or creative projects – effectively valuing employees’ health, growth, and sense of purpose. These initiatives recognize that an employee’s loyalty and passion are wealth that pay off in lower turnover and higher creativity. It’s the human energy exchange at the organizational level.
Community Currencies and Time Banking: In our local communities, people are experimenting with valuing time, skills, and care directly as currency. Time banks are a great example. In a time bank, one hour of a person’s service (say, gardening, tutoring, or cooking) is equal to one hour of anyone else’s service. You earn time credits by helping someone, and you can spend those credits to get help in return. All hours are valued equally, regardless of the service provided – meaning an hour of child care is worth an hour of legal advice or home repair. It’s a radical departure from a money economy and it strengthens community bonds. Everyone’s time and talents become valuable and exchangeable; no one’s contribution is “lesser” just because the market says so. These systems remind us that helping others and being helped in return is a form of wealth circulation. Similarly, some towns have local currencies or barter markets to keep value flowing within the community, valuing local skills and products in new ways.
Recognizing and Rewarding Knowledge Sharing: Whether in business or communities, creating platforms for people to share knowledge freely can generate immense collective wealth. Take open-source software communities – volunteers around the world contribute code (intellectual wealth) which others can use and build upon, often without any money changing hands. The result is robust, freely available technology (like Linux, or Wikipedia in the knowledge domain) that benefits everyone. Organizations are learning to tap into this: some companies have internal knowledge-sharing networks or cross-departmental projects, effectively treating knowledge as a shared asset rather than a hoarded advantage. When you reward teams for collaboration and knowledge transfer, you create an economy of ideas within your organization, enriching everyone.
Measuring Well-Being and Happiness: On a broader scale, even governments have started to incorporate non-monetary metrics. A famous example is Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, which tracks the population’s well-being across multiple domains – from health and education to community vitality and ecological diversity. Bhutan’s approach deliberately seeks “a harmonious balance between material well-being and the spiritual, emotional and cultural needs of society” .
In practice, this means policy decisions are weighed for their impact on community and cultural wealth as much as economic growth. The idea is catching on; other countries and cities are exploring happiness indices and well-being budgets (New Zealand, for instance, crafted a well-being budget focusing on public welfare improvements). This movement paints a picture of a future where we hold our leaders accountable not just for a strong economy, but for a healthy, happy society.
A Future Vision: Abundant Wealth in All Its Forms
Imagine a future – say 20 or 50 years from now – where when someone asks, “What is this person worth?”, the answer is not a dollar figure. Instead, we have a holistic profile of wealth: This person is rich in wisdom and compassion, with strong community ties, plenty of creativity, a healthy body, and yes – enough financial resources to live comfortably.
In the future, different forms of capital are valued equally, or at least more consciously balanced. Success stories in business will highlight not only profits, but contributions to community and employee happiness. Schools might teach kids about financial literacy and emotional literacy, the importance of investing in relationships and portfolios. Governments might publish “well-being accounts” alongside economic accounts, measuring how policies impact the collective emotional and social wealth.
Is this utopian? No, it is human. We already see glimmers of the shift today. The rise of the sharing economy (in its pure form of sharing, not just ride-hailing apps) shows people’s appetite for access over ownership, for community trust over isolated consumption. The fact that volunteerism and philanthropy thrive even in tough economic times reflects an innate understanding that giving and helping enrich the giver as much as the receiver. Movements for minimalism and downshifting suggest many are realizing that time and freedom are more precious than the latest gadget or a bigger paycheck.
May the scarcity mindset loosens its grip on us. We see that wealth can be created in countless ways – through a kind word, a scientific breakthrough shared openly, a community project, or a personal triumph over hardship that inspires others. Money finds its rightful place as a useful instrument, not the master measure of value. People feel safer to pursue vocations that speak to their soul, even if not highest paying, because society recognizes and supports the value they bring in other ways. A teacher or artist might earn a comfortable living (perhaps supplemented by community support or patronage systems) because we collectively appreciate the social and cultural wealth they generate. A caregiver or an environmental conservationist would be respected and supported as much as a tech entrepreneur, because we see their work creates real wealth for society – just in a different form.
We can build starting now, in small ways. We can start by changing our personal definitions of wealth. We can notice and be grateful for the wealth we have in time spent with loved ones, in the knowledge we’ve gained, in our hobbies and health. Gratitude itself is enough to start. We can make a point to invest in others in non-monetary ways: mentor someone, share knowledge freely, volunteer, or simply give full attention to people, knowing these “deposits” build a richer world.
Finally, we can gently challenge institutions to broaden their measures. Support businesses that treat people and the planet well. Vote for policies that prioritize health, education, and the environment. Perhaps keep an eye out for community projects or alternative economies to participate in – it might be as simple as a local tool library or as organized as a time-banking network. These are the seeds of a new kind of wealth exchange system.
As Charles Eisenstein writes in Sacred Economics, “In the beginning was the Gift.” Human society was built on gifting and mutual aid. We are wired to exchange not just goods but care and knowledge. By honoring human energy exchanges as true wealth, we rekindle that spirit in a modern context. We begin to see wealth everywhere: in a smiling neighborhood, in a collaborative workplace, in a thriving forest (natural wealth is part of this picture too!), and in ourselves.
At Superstruct, we’re committed to building a future where wealth is measured in dollars, in impact, in relationships, in community health and much more. If our vision resonates with you, let’s connect. We’d be happy to jump on a call and explore how we can support each other in creating something truly lasting.
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