We think we shape life. That’s wrong. Life shapes us. All readers know how they first learned this. Here’s my story, one that will help corporate counsel when it comes to deciding whether to impose the equivalent of capital punishment in employment: termination.

It was 1975. Much to my mother’s dismay, I dropped out of college, moved to Washington, D.C., and started to work at a large, 800-room convention hotel as a desk clerk. Working hard, I was promoted to chief clerk (hot stuff).