The one thing I *did* learn from this period was a much more visceral understanding of that Upton Sinclair quote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it”. I misunderstood my role; I was expected to be a "smart guy" rubber-stamping bad proposals so that they could proceed. I did not initially understand that they were going to proceed regardless of my input, and that the value of my input was just social proof, not analysis.