Kiss Ass

Shakespeare would have used this phrase a lot, if it had been available - but the English language hadn't advanced that far yet.

But the idea would have been familiar enough - to make people like you, (and do favors for you) you have make them feel good. The best was to make them feel good, is to tell them how wonderful they are. And tell them this frequently.

I am thinking of a guy I grew up with in Ft. Madison, Iowa. I became an Electronic Engineer, and was working for the Army's Research Lab in Ft. Belvoir, Va. He was living with his wife and children in Alexandria Va. not far away. I used to visit them for lunch on Sunday. At the time, he was nothing, career wise.

But then he went to work for the Pentagon, rose quickly through the ranks, and soon outranked me. He had found his place in the world, and soon became rich. I'm sure he did this legally. There is so much money sloshing around in the Pentagon, it can't help rubbing off on you. If you are willing to help it along.

I should done some of this, when I was working in Silicon Valley in the Nineties. There were plenty of stupid people there, doing stupid things - but they needed to be told how great they were. If I had  done this, they would have kept me on board - instead of letting me go.

I worked for the last American robotics company, I could see its software was defective, and didn't bother to learn it. As a result, I was quietly pushed overboard. The company failed, not long after that.

If I was smart, I would have made them think, I approved of their lousy software, while I learned some of their technology that was advanced - and used it at other companies. This would not have been honest of me, but it would have been smart of me.