If you’re only friendly to people who can open doors, everyone else can see the doorman in you.

Selective warmth is extremely visible from outside, even when it feels subtle from inside. People watch how you speak to someone who can do nothing for you, and they file the answer away permanently. What they learn is not that you are ambitious. It is that your friendliness is a currency you spend strategically, which makes it worth very little when they receive some.

Have a real conversation this week with a person who has nothing to offer you. Not as an exercise in virtue. Ranking people is just a bad habit to build young.