I got kind of a rough start. As a young man, I was not what you would call a "model citizen." Rather, I was what today would be called a thug. I had a lot of friends, and we had thuggery in common. Then one day, I got an amazing break. It's a long story, but let's just say I when from career criminal to up and coming corporate executive almost overnight. The only thing that was a hold over from my old life was...my friends.
I remember clearly when the light bulb lit up for me. It was after work. Hot July night. There was some drinking. Pizza. More drinking. Some random vandalism. More drinking. A fight, with the combatants literally kissing and making up drunkenly when it was over. More drinking. And it hit me. WTF are you doing here? It was at that point that I realized that my current friends were not going to take me where I wanted to go. I wasn't going to pull them up, they were continually going to drag me down. So, I made a hard decision. I would break off those old friendships and seek out new ones. I would strive to make friends above my socioeconomic level, not below. It wasn't an easy choice. My old friends were close, like brothers. Some of them would take a bullet for me. One did. But, I'd outgrown them. So gradually, my friends changed. The bikers, dealers, etc. gave way to college professors, CEOs, and lawyers.
At the same time, I went from street hood to electronics tech, to engineering manager, to vice president, to CEO. Coincidence? I'll let you be the judge.
Cheers,
O-2
I remember clearly when the light bulb lit up for me. It was after work. Hot July night. There was some drinking. Pizza. More drinking. Some random vandalism. More drinking. A fight, with the combatants literally kissing and making up drunkenly when it was over. More drinking. And it hit me. WTF are you doing here? It was at that point that I realized that my current friends were not going to take me where I wanted to go. I wasn't going to pull them up, they were continually going to drag me down. So, I made a hard decision. I would break off those old friendships and seek out new ones. I would strive to make friends above my socioeconomic level, not below. It wasn't an easy choice. My old friends were close, like brothers. Some of them would take a bullet for me. One did. But, I'd outgrown them. So gradually, my friends changed. The bikers, dealers, etc. gave way to college professors, CEOs, and lawyers.
At the same time, I went from street hood to electronics tech, to engineering manager, to vice president, to CEO. Coincidence? I'll let you be the judge.
Cheers,
O-2