Being fired was the best luck of my life. It made me stop and reflect. It was the birth of my life as a writer.

The unions say 'last hired - first fired ' we say hire and fire based on merit. We want the best and brightest in the classroom.

I didn't see it then but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

I get all fired up about aging in America.