How Leaders Learn

Chapter 18

Everyone Else Is Taken

Learn by being yourself—your best self

Back in the nineties, as I was moving up the ranks in PepsiCo, Montblanc fountain pens were a status symbol for leaders, like a badge in the breast pocket of executives. I got one to feel part of the club, especially because I didn’t have some of the other badges my colleagues had, like an MBA or an Ivy League education. A few weeks later, I tucked it into my shirt pocket without the cap on. Black ink spread out into a giant stain, ruining my shirt. I hurled the pen across the room in anger and broke it.

I never bought another. I took that moment as a sign, a reminder that I wasn’t a fountain pen kind of guy. It just wasn’t me.

You may know the quote often attributed to ...