the system

A colleague e-mailed me about getting laid off from his job. He was a co-worker at my last work place who decided to take a big risk after just five months at our former company. He left to work for an independently wealthy investor on a Hawaii project. After a month, he is unemployed.

Now he is scrambling to find something else, including consulting for my old company. Rather than making a personal call or take his old boss to lunch, he wrote an e-mail and received a short but firm rejection.

By leaving after a short period, he definitely burned some bridges. The worst part was that he often looked down at the others. I firmly believe that people can detect elitism faster than they can smell fear. If you think you are better, people's guards will be up.

Sometimes it's a curse to be smart and achieve at a young age. It sets up for very high expectations that makes life that much more dissatisfying. I feel lucky because I have very little expectations for life. I still believe that most of my professional and personal accomplishment comes by the way of fate more than anything else. I try hard, but I know to expect nothing.

One lesson in all this - the most important quality to gain in life is humility.