I worked with some of the top people in the world, in my field. Some of them were generous, self-effacing, humble, and a joy to work with. Others ... not so mu

I worked with some of the top people in the world, in my field. Some of them were generous, self-effacing, humble, and a joy to work with. Others ... not so much. One thing that they all had in common, though, was not suffering fools. Sometimes, they would yell and cuss, other times, they would just never work with you again. I generally preferred the first. I won't do it to others, because that's not my style, but I would get a dressing-down, followed by "Don't let it happen again." I'd still be in the Circle. I haven't been ejected from the game. If they just transfer me out, I'm down for the count. I have found, that, if we want to be top of the game, then we need to work with those that are already there. We have to take the risk that we will be rejected, or told that we're not doing a good enough job. We should definitely not expect participation trophies. In fact, it's likely that we may not get a huge amount of positive feedback. Pretty darwinian, but that which does not kill you, makes you stronger. I feel that a lot of the lessons that I learned, also helped me to be a better leader and mentor. Some of those lessons, were on what not to do.