You can take the path of licking your way up, but you also need to be able to fall out of favor and slide down.

Licking is a skill, and there's nothing wrong with it. The problem this time is: it's like two piles of dry firewood—you burn brightly on your side, then turn around and pee to extinguish the other side.
This wave of grabbing attention by "creating opposition" just happens to clash with the high-level executives of both exchanges seeking to downplay conflicts.
The times create heroes. Back then, you just happened to appear at the right moment, full of energy and magic, at a star-making point. If it weren’t you, someone else would have done it.
This incident made me think of the following three points 👇:
1⃣ Disenchanting the impressive people
Only when you treat impressive people and yourself as equals can you truly learn from their strengths, rather than shrinking in admiration.
Deifying someone is giving them the unilateral power to hurt you. They don’t give you money or solve your real problems. Mythologizing them only adds to your frustration.
2⃣ Don't mistreat yourself casually, and prohibit mistreating others 🚫
Licking and flattering are your business; it’s fine to smack your lips while enjoying good food and drinks. But you can’t also take away others’ livelihoods and parade it around. If others don’t like it, that’s interesting.
3⃣ Socializing upward is pointless; standing on your own feet is the way to success
Remember CZ once had a chat app called Reachme, where you could pay to ask questions. Due to overwhelming spam, CZ raised prices and provided question frameworks, tearing off the warm mask of socializing 👇.
What do you want me to do? What can you offer?
Socializing isn’t about knowing who, but about matching with who. Instead of fantasizing about social climbing, it’s better to make yourself valuable.