I recently met up with two business school pals for dinner. As we waited for our table and enjoyed a cocktail in the bar, we started talking to a couple of younger guys.
They were recent Kellogg MBA grads who worked for a very large online retailer. (I won’t say which one, but it’s as big as a South American river.)
Friendly and respectfully curious, they asked us about our career paths. They were duly impressed with my accomplished classmates—a hedge fund manager and former start-up executive who has rung the bell a few times. I’ve done all right myself.
Then one of the guys asked an excellent question: “Where were you at 30?”
I laughed, pointed to the software leader, and said, “When I was 30, I was deep in debt, sharing a two-bedroom, one-bathroom walk-up with this guy, and working in an industry that was unravelling violently.”
The young men smiled at my unimpressive answer. I elaborated.
On my 31st birthday in March 2000, the stock market was in free fall. The Nasdaq Composite index lost 1/3 of its value in four weeks, on its way to shedding 80% over 18 months.