"If Your Love is Real" David Gray

The best thing that happened this week was running to catch my train home and waving at the passengers because I missed it by 30 seconds. And then the train stopped and the doors opened and I went in and people grumbled. I never felt so special and wanted.

Last night, I hung out with a couple guys I used to work with. I've shot better games of pool. We talked about work, about ambition, about going back to school. Ambition is strange. I feel a little weird when people say "I want to..." because sometimes I get very excited for them, and sometimes I know they're not going to do anything to get it done. But I have to respond the same way.

I work with very rich men who handle the money of those who are even richer. I spend time in their offices fixing their computers, explaining to them what replication in Lotus Notes means and fixing the synchronization process between their local address books and an online CRM that we use. But what I really do when I'm in their office is absorb their photographs, the books they've chosen to display, the "You're the best dad in the whole world" school projects that soften their personalities. I respect these men because of how they treat me. They, moreso than the others I support, respect my time. I'm observing as much as I can.

Here are some common traits:
1. Respect towards others
2. Quietly, methodically, and patiently consider data
3. Exude things like "busy" and "on-the-go" but are never dismissive. When you're in a conversation with them, they are fully engaged.
4. Concise.
5. Easily admit when they're wrong or when they don't understand.