With that said, the thing that I can’t stand is exactly what Kelly Smith from Curious Office beautifully describes in his blog entry, Entrepreneurs vs. arm chair quarterbacks….

Marketing is a constant activity, whether you are marketing a startup company or marketing your own skills and achievements inside a larger organization in order to land a promotion or bonus. In the end, I’m not much offended by that kind of personal marketing, so long as its not at the 50% level you mentioned. Something like 5% is more appropriate. That kind of self-promotion is helpful to me in this information-overload world if someone takes the time to remind me of their performance. Then, I’ll be the judge and make decisions. Of course, as someone who shared risks with you, Kelly, and taken other career risks as well, I can’t help but measure the self-promoter against that standard – did they take any appreciable risks and succeed. Starting up a company is scary, but people take other career risks all the time. The arm chair quarterbacks take no risks whatsoever, and its easy to be a critic when your neck, credibility or life savings aren’t on the line. No risk, no reward. Risk takers, change agents – I’ll hire and promote them every day of the week and twice on Sundays.