[Shakattack]

The long-term vs short-term argument makes sense, I agree on that. If you have nothing to offer in the long-term, then it's probably not going to last. If you just want to ask the hot girl out of your league on a date to say that you did, then yeah, it's probably not going to go very far.

I think the people who actually succeed in going out of their league, or the ones who do have that long term relationship with the CEO, are the ones who have the confidence that they do have some value to offer. And by definition, these people are more likely to take the risk - because there's something legitimate backing it up. Not saying that every confident person who approaches the GS CFO will develop a long term relationship. But the ones who actually attempt are probably going to be the same people who have the confidence in themselves to build a long term relationship - and believe they can offer some real value.