I was sipping my favorite tea, and generally thinking and realized that successful companies are like a Venice Carnival mask — a lot of grunt work, minutiae, dull details and daily frustrations hidden behind the beautiful, magical moments. The world only sees the magical moments, the press celebrates their specialness, but no one really notices what happens behind the mask.

Photo by Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons