B players with too much ego are the kinds who put PhD on their card/throw titles around, talk about MENSA, and challenge everyone else to trivia contests. At a

B players with too much ego are the kinds who put PhD on their card/throw titles around, talk about MENSA, and challenge everyone else to trivia contests. At a big name, exclusive department, more than half of the people were normal and well-adjusted, while the other half skewed on a continuum of quirky to mildly obnoxious or ego now and then but not completely intolerable. TED speakers and people with giant awards, prizes, and h-index. The worst types are the completely intolerable folks who are overconfident and treat others badly because of a superiority complex... the "big fish, tiny pond"-"Comic Book Guy" lifers are found in megacorps. Another aspect to keep in mind is the ambiguity and conflation between a continuum of intentional (jerk) to unintentional (dork) lack of honest and accurate looking-glass self. Finally, another anti-pattern of some subject matter experts is being too comfortable within a narrow range of subjects, talents, life experiences, etc. and being generally excessively risk adverse. The best thing one can do is broaden their horizons by finding where the artists, (sane) homeless people, OG's, and otherwise interesting and genuinely awesome people hang out. Makerspaces, hidden cafe or bar, or so on. I met way more interesting quasi-homeless people in Palo Alto than former Apple employee #4 jerk friend-of-a-friend swinging their Lambo keys around. Ego is boring, status is boring, and absurd wealth is boring too.