the Dallas Cowboys

the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders just exposed the oldest trick that companies use to underpay you. It's called the Talent tax where your work ethic is ironically seen as a discount. Spoiler alert, it's called the Talent tax where your work ethic is ironically seen as a discount. Spoiler alert, it got a full 400% raise in the finale of their docuseries, Season 2 of America's Sweethearts, because they fought their talent tax with two sources of leverage. If you're underpaid, it's likely not cause you're bad at your job. It's likely because they stop seeing your work as work. Before the docuseries was first ever released, these these cheerleaders were making around $4700 a year while representing a $10 billion dollar franchise. Also less than the team mascot, excuse me. You would assume after the success of season 1 that the numbers for season 2 contracts would change. The exact same, despite all of the representation and these women put out, and their sisterhood was used as a reason to underpay them. And the cheerleaders rightfully clapped back. Stop performing and started positioning with leverage. That leverage comes from two sources: Documenting impact & outcomes, TIMING when visibility is high, not during performance reviews. It took this level of visibility for them to be paid fairly. But could they have missed their opportunity and just accepted also, and neither should you. Before you go fight your talent tax, just know that Jada, the woman that led this whole negotiation, actually left even though they got the 400% raise because the company still didn't fix their structure and offer things like health benefits. She won and still, because sometimes the number isn't the problem, the company is. A reminder that no one should pay a talent tax.