Rethinking my career.

• Position: Brief Article - Column

WHEN I THINK BACK ON MY CAREER CHOICES, TWO THINGS COME TO MIND.

First is the famous old saw from Willie Sutton, the bank robber. When asked why he robbed banks, he replied, "Because that's where the money is." Duh.

Second is the admonition from my father that I ought to study business in college because, basically, that was where I'd find the money. Not so duh.

But I heard both of those things around the same time, when I was about 20 years old.

Of course, I thought my father was daft and that Willie Sutton was a genius, if not a prophet.

As it turns out, of course, Willie Sutton was a piker, and my father, unwittingly, was the prophet. My father's businessman friends made a little more money than he did (as a physician); they had a few more perks as tax write-offs; and they had a lot more free time for things like golf.

Not that I was planning a life of larceny, mind you, but at the time robbing banks had more romantic appeal than business. What a fool I was.

As a youth, quite obviously, I had no perspective from which to understand the nuance between petty larceny and grand, even epic, larceny. I have learned over the years, however -- and lately I have been schooled somewhat marvelously -- that if you rob a bank, the authorities put out an APB on you. If you own one and just absorb all the cash, the authorities invite you to their parties and ask you to be their campaign manager.

I'm 50 years old now, and perhaps it's a little late for a career change, but I've decided now that it doesn't matter. My plan is to get an MBA, and then climb the corporate ladder at the sleaziest, fastest-growing...