Re: A Rant

[Mark Suszko] "I think there is a common disease among people in our business where we LOVE to swoop in like the white knight and solve every problem and meet every deadline, even stupid ones, no matter the cost because we get off on helping people and demonstrating our mastery of something."

That is so true! On the one hand it's a fantastic trait. I owe so much to a handful of people on this and other websites. Some truly eminent experts have taken the time to set me straight, many times. I can't possibly repay them because they know so much more than I do. But I appreciate their generosity.

On the other hand, we really have to watch out for this tendency in ourselves. We can easily be exploited by people who recognize this tendency to need-to-be-needed. So I try to be careful about riding to the rescue, because as Ron is fond of saying, there are lots of grinders out there.

I justify it, business-wise, by saying that it is like putting money in the bank. There is a heart-warming article about this in today's NY Times. "The Tire Iron and the Tamale." Highly recommended.

Bob C