I was at this seminar last week. This middle-aged guy comes up to the microphone and begins to speak. He’s the only dude on stage dressed in a shirt and slacks – everyone else is in jeans. He grasps the microphone with two hands. He asks if there’s anyone in the audience from the insurance industry, but no one raises their hands because we’re Singaporean and we hate raising our hands.

He tells us that he used to work for a big, brand-name bank as a VP in insurance. He oversaw over a hundred insurance agents, and he was responsible for making sure that they met their sales targets. He didn’t mention his salary, but I could guess that it was several multiples of mine.

And then he got fired.

He’s got a wife and three kids and a dog. He searched and interviewed and searched some more, but even ...