I went to work at political consulting firms, graphic design and communications firms and ultimately, magazines. Today, my career is in the media business. And more specifically, I'm in the "words" side of the business as opposed to video or music.

I was never going to be one of Nobel prize winners.

In the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, my grandfather got me a job at a local messenger company working on Wall Street. I was lucky enough to have been in the business during a stock market boom but just before the fax machine appeared on the scene, let alone email and the Internet. As a result, the messenger business was booming.

By the time I entered this prestigious high school, my interest in formal education had already been exhausted.

There are not enough forums where institutions invite their workers to share their failures in a constructive way so the organization can move forward.

I think small groups have more collective wisdom than an individual.

When I started out, I wanted to have everything solved by the time I was 30. That didn't happen. Instead, I realized that the journey is the destination, that the work.