Lessons from the Death of Colin Kroll: Wisdom, Formation and Happiness
Written by Pete Bowen on February 26, 2019
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A recent Wall Street Journal article, The Tech Whiz Behind Vine and HQ Trivia, tells the story of Colin Kroll.
Professional Success
Colin was a young, self-taught computer programmer who left Detroit In 2007 to go to New York City and do app coding. He worked 12-hour days at the office and did more work at home.
Eventually, Kroll found backers who funded a video app called Vine. You’ve heard of it. Vine was an app that allowed people to publish 6 second videos that looped. It was a big hit on the Internet. Twitter bought Vine in 2012. Kroll was 28 years old and a multimillionaire.
Those around Kroll through the years always said that he was very smart. Investors backed Kroll in another Internet project—HQ Trivia—that became another Internet hit in 2018.
In terms of money and recognition for his professional skills, Colin Kroll was doing very well. He was the CEO of Intermedia Labs, the company that owned HQ Trivia. He was buying homes. He had a Porsche. He had a $75,000 credit card bill.
Kroll had told one of his advisors, “I’m never worried about making more money…”
Tragedy
Just two months ago, on December 15, 2018, Colin Kroll was found dead in his apartment. He was 34 years old.
Kroll spent the night before talking with his employees at his company’s holiday party. The next day he was dead.
More of the Story
Of course, there is more to the story. It is not a new story. It is a very human story that has lessons for all of us.
Colin Kroll was smart. In high school, he used his software coding skills to kick his neighbors off the Internet so he could get more internet cable bandwidth. He regularly got high on pot and prescription drugs.
When he moved to New York City he “worked incessantly” and smoked almost two packs of cigarettes a day. He smoked pot, “occasionally did cocaine” and drank heavily.
Kroll tried to reset his life in 2018. He quit smoking and began to exercise more. Despite those changes, Colin Kroll died last December 15th from an accidental overdose of heroin that was laced with fentanyl.
It might be tempting to write Colin Kroll’s death off as just another example of the dangers of drug use. But a lot more was going on.
Relationships
The Wall Street Journal article talks a lot about Kroll’s relationships with others. In fact, the article spends more time talking about his relationships than his drug use.
According to friends, Colin Kroll was gentle and endearing. They said that Kroll identified with people who were misfits in life.
To many of those he worked with, Kroll was abrasive. He told a mentor, “Everyone thinks I’m an asshole, and I am an asshole, but I can’t help it because everyone around me is so stupid.”
A partner in one of his companies quit over Kroll’s abrasive behavior. Employees complained that Kroll lashed out at them, that he was moody and that he created a hostile work environment. Articles published about Kroll described him as hard to work with and told stories about women quitting because they found Kroll creepy.
Colin Kroll was imaginative and skilled at work, but he wasn’t very good at relationships.
Lessons from the Death of Colin Kroll
So, what are some of the lessons we can learn about life from Colin Kroll? Besides the dangers of fentanyl-laced heroin?
We can learn the important difference between knowledge and wisdom. We can learn why our society’s focus on education instead of formation is failing our young people and our society. And we can learn more about the importance of relationships in life.
Wisdom over Knowledge
Knowledge is defined as the “facts, information and skills acquired by a person through experience or education.” Knowledge is “the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” Knowledge is a good thing. It is literally about what you know.
But knowledge and wisdom aren’t the same thing.
Wisdom is more than knowledge. Wisdom is the combination of knowledge plus character.
Wisdom is the combination of knowledge of the Truth with the good judgment and character to live that Truth.
You can know that smoking cigarettes is bad for you and still smoke. You have the knowledge about the dangers of smoking, but lack the wisdom—the character and good judgment—to stay smoke-free.
In Mary Shelly’s famous book, Frankenstein, the scientist Victor Frankenstein has the knowledge to bring to life a hideous creature, but lacks the character, good judgment and therefore wisdom to leave that knowledge alone.
And then there’s the Mickey Mouse, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, in Disney’s movie Fantasia. Mickey is the apprentice of a powerful sorcerer who has given Mickey the task of carrying heavy buckets of water from a well to a cistern. While the sorcerer sleeps, the lazy Mickey uses the knowledge he has learned from the sorcerer to command a broom to carry the water for him.
Soon, Mickey finds the broom—the product of his knowledge—out of control. The broom carries water until there is a flood. Mickey uses an axe to try to stop the broom, but the broom fragments become brooms themselves, compounding the problem. Everything appears lost.
Finally, the sorcerer awakens and uses his power to put an end to the disaster.
Mickey the apprentice had knowledge of magic, but didn’t have the character, the wisdom, to control it properly.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge, power, without good character, without wisdom, can be very dangerous.
Colin Kroll was certainly knowledgeable. He was a great programmer. He knew how to build a start-up company. Kroll had a strong reputation for great ideas. He was creative.
But Kroll did not balance that knowledge with good character. He didn’t treat himself well. He didn’t treat others well. Kroll must have known that cocaine and heroin could kill him. Kroll died because he lacked the character and wisdom to avoid them.
Formation for Wisdom is Better than Education for Knowledge
The difference between knowledge and wisdom takes us to education contrasted with formation.
Education is the process by which we obtain knowledge. The most obvious place for education is in our schools. Our school system is focused on developing knowledge in kids. Education is all about knowledge.
Our education system is very clear on this. Knowledge is the top priority. It’s all about what happens in the classroom. It’s all about what kids know. The most important things in schools are test scores and grades. College admissions are primarily about GPA and SAT scores.
So where is character and wisdom developed? We spend very little time on them in schools. The biggest areas where character and wisdom are learned is in the performing arts—like theater and band—and in athletics and team-based activities like robotics competitions.
Most of what kids learn about character and wisdom is implicit. They simply pick it up with, perhaps, a few good insights on life from a coach.
When money in our schools is tight, what gets cut? Knowledge, or character and wisdom?
Formation is an older process that goes beyond education. Formation doesn’t just develop knowledge. Formation also develops character, good judgment and wisdom.
The purpose of education is to develop knowledgeable people. The purpose of formation is to develop good people. People who have knowledge and character.
Our society does pretty well educating knowledgeable kids. Our society does a poor job forming people with wisdom.
You can see the results. We are a society that is controlled by knowledge not a society that controls knowledge. We are not in control of where business, and science and technology take us. We are a society at the mercy of wherever science and technology take us.
Importance of Relationships
Finally, Colin Kroll teaches us about the importance of relationships for Happiness in life. Colin had fame. He had professional success. He had social status and plenty of money.
As we discussed in earlier podcasts, however, Happiness is not about fame, social status or money. Happiness is all about having high-quality relationships.
But Colin Kroll was not very good at relationships. He had alienated most of those with whom he worked. He doesn’t appear to have had many close friends. Few of his friends knew the woman who did heroin with Colin Kroll the night before he died. She was the one that found him dead late the next day.
Very knowledgeable. Professionally successful. Wealthy. Famous.
Nevertheless, Colin Kroll appears to have lacked the character, wisdom and the good relationships that are the foundation for happiness in life.
It cost him and all of us on December 15, 2018, when Colin Kroll died at the age of 34. Tremendous potential unrealized.
We shouldn’t let the lessons of Colin Kroll’s life die with him.
I’m Pete Bowen.
