@-Anteros- I read 12 rules for life and completed his maps of meaning lecture series years ago. What you call a " form of exhortation to improve ones station" is rather a "stand up straight and get your hands out of your pockets" admonition any #father would give you.

What you call "earning potential" is predicated on being able to afford university education in the first place and the increase in education costs as well as the decrease in the quality of education already caps what you claim is "economic mobility".

Since you give your financial success as evidence of what you call "empire building" I'll throw in the evidence against "economic mobility" in the USA in the example of Summa Cum Laude students who need to run gofundme campaigns and give speeches to rotary clubs to afford a masters or a phd.