Rejection

 

All I Really Want To Do

Now I don't want to meet your kin
Make you spin or do you in
Or select you or dissect you
Or inspect you or reject you
All I really want to do
Is baby, be friends with you
Baby, be friends with you

Rejection can be a good thing

24 years ago I joined the consulting firm, Cambridge Systematics. I applied for a position not only because I was impressed with the firm, but also because it was founded in 1972 by MIT professors. It was primarily to promote on research on how choices were made, particularly in my chosen field of transportation. I had applied to MIT as my first choice as an undergraduate in 1969 and for  graduate school in 1974. I was turned down both times and had to settle for my second-place school each time. (Since those second places worked out well for me, I thank MIT for turning me down,) 

Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx once said, “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.” I subsequently learned that the decision to hire me at Cambridge Systematics was hardly unanimous. After several years, I was considered for promotion to principal. On my first consideration, I was rejected. This was consistent with  the narrative that I had developed for myself.  I only want to belong to a club that would reject me as one of its members.