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In 2015, the business world was buzzing with disbelief over a move that sounded more like the plot of a feel-good movie than reality👀. Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments, a small credit card processing company in Seattle, had just announced something radical. He was cutting his own $1.1 million salary to $70,000 a year. The reason? So every single one of his 120 employees could earn at least $70,000 annually.🙌 The idea didn’t come from a corporate strategy meeting or a PR stunt. It came from a conversation with a close friend. She was smart, hardworking, and full-time employed—but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get ahead. Rising rents, bills, and the cost of living kept her trapped in a cycle of stress and exhaustion. For Dan, it was a wake-up call. If she was struggling despite having a job, what about his own employees? How many of them were quietly drowning in similar circumstances? The decision wasn’t easy. Critics were quick to call him reckless. They predicted his business would collapse under the weight of increased salaries. Some even accused him of pandering or chasing fame. “Gravity Payments will go bankrupt within months,” one financial expert proclaimed. Even some of his employees doubted whether it would work. But Dan wasn’t in it for applause. He believed in something simple: if you treat people well, they’ll rise to the occasion. And rise they did. Almost overnight, Gravity Payments transformed. Employees started buying homes, paying off debts, and starting families. Retention rates skyrocketed, and so did productivity. People came to work energized and ready to give their best because, for once, they felt seen, valued, and secure. Dan didn’t stop there. He stayed on his $70,000 salary, living modestly and pouring the company’s success back into its people. Within two years, Gravity Payments’ profits tripled. The same critics who had called him foolish were now hailing him as a visionary🔥. His story sparked a global conversation about what leadership and fairness could look like in a world often defined by greed. Dan Price wasn’t just another CEO. He was a kid from rural Idaho who built a company from scratch at the age of 19. But more than that, he was someone who proved that business doesn’t have to be about taking—it can be about giving, too. And that sometimes, betting on people is the smartest decision you’ll ever make.