First, though, a story.

One of the common refrains you hear from the critics of Wall Street is that financial services employees don’t build anything or make anything. To them, it means you don’t do anything for society. We know that’s not true but because one can’t reach out and touch your product, they like to say you earn a living by moving money around without ever creating anything real. The same can be said for my line of work. What do I do? I put words out there but it’s not like you can hold them in your hands or see someone walking down the street carrying them. And on some days, you start to wonder if the haters are right. You start to reevaluate. You question things. You wonder if you should quit and become a bricklayer or a shepherd.

Then a moment comes along, like one did today. Wherein you read a story about an employee of a noted analyst dressing up as the alter ego you conceived for her a couple years back on a lark and then proceeded to fill out, giving her all kinds of storylines and accoutrements like a spreader and truss bar and testicle clamps, which you suggested she used on the heads of various banks and it all becomes clear– you can see it before your very eyes– your undeniable impact on the world. Read more »