Witty and profound, which is rare

I love Alain de Botton; I have several of his books. He’s a great writer, very funny, but I had no idea he would be so entertaining as a speaker.

As many of us have found out over the past couple of years, success and failure feel very random these days.

They aren’t always linked in a “just” way with ability and personality. So be careful about judging yourself, and others, based on whether or not we fit the current definition of success.

That’s the main thing, isn’t it? We all fear that judgment that will brand us losers, failures.

“The nightmare vision is that frightening people will get more work out of them.”

Fear seems almost a part of our daily lives now: fears about terrorism, about losing our jobs, our homes, our health, our future.

Thus is the current state of the business world, and exactly why this talk is so important.

So, how do you define success and failure? Share a story with us about someone you know who has been successful in a non-traditional way. It’ll give us all hope.

And hope is the best gift of all.