During my four years at Treasury, I boom from a distance. Its impactwas obvious and appealing even beyond being able to wear jeans to work. Technology wastransforming communication and changing lives not just in the United States and developed countries,but everywhere. My long-term dream instinct kicked in. When President Clinton’s adminisDuring my four years at Treasury, I witnessed the first technology boom from a distance. Its impactwas obvious and appealing even beyond being able to wear jeans to work. Technology wastransforming communication and changing lives not just in the United States and developed countries,but everywhere. My long-term dream instinct kicked in. When President Clinton’s administrationended, I was out of a job and decided to move to Silicon Valley. In retrospect, this seems like ashrewd move, but in 2001, it was questionable at best. The tech bubble had burst, and the industry wasstill reeling from the aftershocks. I gave myself four months to find a job but hoped it would takefewer. It took almost a year. My Silicon Valley job search had some highs, like getting to meet my business crush, eBay CEOMeg Whitman. It also had some lows, like meeting with a high-level executive who started myinterview by stating that her company would never even consider hiring someone like me becausegovernment experience could not possibly prepare anyone to work in the tech industry. It would havebeen so cool to have thanked her for being honest and walked out of her office. But alas, I was nevercool. I sat there hemming and hawing until every last molecule of oxygen had been sucked from theroom. True to her word, she never even considered hiring me. Fortunately, not everyone shared her view. Eric Schmidt and I had met several times during myTreasury years, and I went to see him just after he became CEO of the then relatively unknownGoogle. After several rounds of interviews with Google’s founders, they offered me a job. My bankaccount was diminishing quickly, so it was time to get back to paid employment, and fast. In typical—and yes, annoying—MBA fashion, I made a spreadsheet and listed my various opportunities in therows and my selection criteria in the columns. I compared the roles, the level of responsibility, and soon. My heart wanted to join Google in its mission to provide the world with access to information, butin the spreadsheet game, the Google job fared the worst by far. trationended, I was out of a job and decided to move to Silicon Valley. In retrospect, this seems like ashrewd move, but in 2001, it was questionable at best. The tech bubble had burst, and the industry wasstill reeling from the aftershocks. I gave myself four months to find a job but hoped it would takefewer. It took almost a year. My Silicon Valley job search had some highs, like getting to meet my business crush, eBay CEOMeg Whitman. It also had some lows, like meeting with a high-level executive who started myinterview by stating that her company would never even consider hiring someone like me becausegovernment experience could not possibly prepare anyone to work in the tech industry. It would havebeen so cool to have thanked her for being honest and walked out of her office. But alas, I was nevercool. I sat there hemming and hawing until every last molecule of oxygen had been sucked from theroom. True to her word, she never even considered hiring me. Fortunately, not everyone shared her view. Eric Schmidt and I had met several times during myTreasury years, and I went to see him just after he became CEO of the then relatively unknownGoogle. After several rounds of interviews with Google’s founders, they offered me a job. My bankaccount was diminishing quickly, so it was time to get back to paid employment, and fast. In typical—and yes, annoying—MBA fashion, I made a spreadsheet and listed my various opportunities in therows and my selection criteria in the columns. I compared the roles, the level of responsibility, and soon. My heart wanted to join Google in its mission to provide the world with access to information, butin the spreadsheet game, the Google job fared the worst by far.