Venture Capitalists, Think Tanks, and Naïve Doctors – Oh My!
18th September 2021
The differences between Chris and Susan are striking. Susan was born to an extremely wealthy family, and married an extremely wealthy man. Now she’s in her 50’s, and divorced, and finds herself very wealthy with no obvious skills to contribute to, well, anybody. It must be a weird feeling. She has gradually slipped down the social strata throughout her life. From a fabulously wealthy upbringing, to not getting into a prestigious college, to partying away four years at a state school, to marrying a wealthy man and traveling the world on his dime. Now she’s single, divorced, and not all that important to anyone. She’s still wealthy, but nothing else is going right.
Chris was born of very modest means, grew up working on his grandfather’s farm, went from state schools and the military to Harvard, to consulting, to finance, and now is at the top of the heap. He has had a difficult rise, but has succeeded every step of the way, and now, in his 50’s, he is very important to a lot of people, and is setting himself up for an early and very comfortable retirement.
Susan looks down her nose at people like Chris. For a lot of reasons. Susan is an enlightened atheist. Chris is a devout Catholic. Chris doesn’t know anything about the best ski slopes in Austria, or French wine, or Italian shoes. To Susan, he’s just a rat in the rat race, unlike her position as a worldly philosopher, above such petty concerns.
Chris knows exactly who Susan is, too. Or at least, people like her. When I suggested that he could use the expertise of people like her, he initially thought I was kidding. And then, he concluded that I just had no idea what I was talking about, but he was too nice to point out how absurd I sounded. Even though we both knew that he was right.