Ten years ago, the techies who became suddenly and extravagantly wealthy were were often self-conscious about flaunting their riches. It used to be that it wasn't cool, after your IPO, to pull up to the office in a Ferrari. But staying humble and empathic to those not in your rarefied circle or zip code becomes increasingly difficult over time. It is so much easier to tell yourself that you've worked harder than others - or were simply smarter than they - and that you therefore deserve all the prizes.

"Absolutely, wealth can change people," one former Google executive told me. "It disconnects you from average people. It's a big, big problem. You assume your experiences are everyone's experiences, and with wealth that becomes dangerous. Moral exceptionalism is disgusting, and Silicon Valley has tons of it, and it stems fro a lack of empathy. You assume the people who don't see the world as you do are uneducated or stupid."