Being able to carry something is not the same as being obligated to, and the people resting on you will never, on their own, notice the difference.

You have to notice it for them.

And then you have to, occasionally, step out from under the weight — not out of cruelty, but so that the people who forgot it was you holding them up can finally feel, for one honest moment, how much you were carrying.

Chapter 6 — The Invisible Benefactor

While Christopher played at being a technology titan, my own career climbed at a speed that startled even me.

I went from senior analyst to vice president, and by our sixth anniversary I was named chief financial officer of the firm.