My friend and I have a longstanding debate that will never be settled: who is the better rapper, J. Cole or Drake?

You already know where I stand.

We’ll never settle this debate because what we each appreciate in music differs, along with what we consider important metrics.

Drake, whom I actually like and listen to, clearly wins the streaming and popularity game. You don’t reach the level of distribution and audience size Drake has if you are not good. He has mastered creating radio hits and appealing to a broad audience, which leads to the Spotify and Apple Music records. The focus is quantity.

Cole, on the other hand, doesn’t have very many radio hits. His albums don’t stay #1 on Spotify as long as Drake's. While I don’t personally know him, it appears that J. Cole is more focused on creating music he likes and on lyricism. I find it hard to disagree that J. Cole is a better lyricist than Drake, which in my book is important. J. Cole also produces most, if not all, of his music (along with other artists). The focus is quality.

In the finance world, there is a similar debate, and since he and I are both in the profession and run our own firms, it’s worth looking at it as a part of the music debate.

Many attribute a firm's “success” and quality to the size of its assets under management (AUM)—the more assets under management, finance’s version of song streams, the better the firm must be. Assets under management shouldn’t be ignored, but it doesn’t guarantee the firm is doing a great job for clients—they might be a great marketing firm that does average planning work.

I know many firms, including my own, that would lose the AUM comparison game but do better planning work than firms with more under management. Note: There is nuance in this comparison due to firm size as well; for example, a solo advisor firm vs a 25-person firm, but the comparison game in finance almost always comes back to assets under management.

Quantity doesn’t always equate to great.
Quality doesn’t always equate to great either, but I think it tends to do so more often.

If your Pursuit involves the quantity vs. quality debate, I encourage you to lean into quality.

For those pursuing their Authentic Life, quality will align more than quantity because it supports alignment and authenticity and avoids compromising your values by chasing quantity.

Quantity is for others.
Quality is for your Self.

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC