I agree. The mere fact that the author was a student at an elite university for his craft gave him instant credibility with many of these people. That doesn't

I agree. The mere fact that the author was a student at an elite university for his craft gave him instant credibility with many of these people. That doesn't take away from his accomplishments - he did the work to get in there and presumably do well. However, his article implies that anyone from any walk of life can become successful by simply being friendly with successful people, which is far from the case. If he were a waiter at some of these guys' tables and tried to make the same contacts, something tells me he would have had a harder time.