Thanks for the advice, Kevin O'Leary.

I've watched Shark Tank a couple of times. Often enough to know who Kevin O'Leary is.

If you don't know the show's plot, Shark Tank showcases entrepreneurs who come in and make a pitch for funding before a panel of business experts. The experts evaluate the pitch and decide whether to make an investment in each entrepreneur's company. (If you don't know the show's provenance, the producer behind it is Mark Burnett, whose dubious credentials include giving us The Apprentice. Enough said.

It you don't know who Kevin O'Leary is, he's a big blustery Canadian businessman who co-founded a software company and became a multi-millionaire when the company was acquired. Somewhere along the TV line, O'Leary acquired the nickname "Mr. Wonderful." It was given to him by a fellow panelist - presumably sardonically - and he adopted it. To the degree that on the homepage of his website, it says YOU CAN CALL ME MR. WONDERFUL.

Me? I choose not to call him Mr. Wonderful, especially after I tumbled across a recent tweet of his.

On Saturday, February 11th, it looks like O'Leary (or his designated twitter) had a few minutes of downtime - among other sites, O'Leary has a home in Boston; it was frigid that day in Boston, maybe he was here and going stir crazy. So he (or whoever does his tweeting for him) posted the following bit o' wisdom:

You may lose your wife, you may lose your dog, your mother may hate you. None of those things matter. What matters is that you achieve success and become free. Then you can do whatever you like.

The tweet (when I looked) had been viewed more than 10 million times and had nearly 12 thousand "likes." And quite a few comments that were royally ratioing O'Leary, letting him know that they found this sentiment anything but wonderful.

I don't even know where to begin on this one, but the most obvious is to ask what Kevin O'Leary's definition of success is. Because it sure looks like, to him, it's having made enough money to "become free." (And what does he mean by "free?" Free from having to worry about money? Free from given a rat's arse what anyone else thinks of you? Free to tell anyone to f the f off?)

I'm not a Bible toting, Bible quoting kind of gal, but I can't resist keying off of the Gospel According to Mark and asking yet another question:

For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul wife, dog, and mother?

So what if you've achieved success if, along the way, you've jettisoned your family and friends? As likely as not, if you have an iota of introspection in your brain, you'll realize at some point that you're a miserable old Scrooge who's squelched the inner Tiny Tim that eventually released Ebenezer Scrooge from his soulless, miserly existence.

I had a middling career. No great success, but plenty enough for me. I was never mono-focused or just plain interested enough to claw my way further up the corporate ranks. I had interesting work at (mostly) screwed up companies with colleagues who were, for the most part, wonderful to work with. Some even became life friends. (Hi, V!)

Lack of mono-focus or interest aside, did I ever have what it would have taken to be a big success in business?

Maybe not.

The best part of working for me was always the relationships I built.

If I accept the definition of success as success = $$$, do I wish I'd made more money than I did? I did fine, but more money? Sure, that would have been great. Even if I just had a dollar for every worthless option I was granted by all those screwed up companies...

But my definition of success is broader than my interpretation of O'Leary's. It includes family, friends, dogs, volunteer work, travel, reading, and sitting around doing just plain nothing.

That's what matters to me.

Thanks for the advice, Kev. But I'm glad I took pass on taking it.