Why do design knowledge firms believe the benchmark of their value is the hours they spend? Are they under pricing their intellectual capital?

Is low self-esteem (or self-respect) at the heart of why design professionals question the value of the service they provide? Are they justify given variety of excuses: • We do not have enough quality customers. • Customers view what we do as a commodity. • Customers do not understand the value we provide. • Our people do not understand their worth. • When customers engage in hardball negotiation tactics, we capitulate. • Our profession has too much capacity, which drives prices down.