The crowd cheered as the young man walked across the stage to receive his award as the company's top producer. He looked over the audience and trembled, and there was a clear pause that brought a silence to the room. It took him a moment to control himself. "The last three months hit me pretty hard," he began. "And I feel the need to share a piece of my story though I'm not sure why. A friend called me about his new marketing system, an outbound    fax service that could reach thousands of potential customers at very little cost. I checked it out, got excited and accepted it. After thousands of faxes, it seemed that what I did was illegal . I was punished a dollar for every one sent out. The crowd was surprised. "I failed to do proper research, and didn't pay attention to the details. Now I am heavily in debt. As some of you know, I recently move up here from down south. I stored my stuff  in my old office, which I closed down. When I drove back to pick it all up, I found that everything except my computer and the clothes I brought with me was gone." He continued, "I drive a sports car. I love that car. One day while driving it, I stepped on the accelerator  , lost control at 85 miles an hour, and hit the guard rail. I damaged my car very badly." "In three months, I got charged, lost everything I owned, and damaged my car. We all face challenges," he smiled. "I guess I wanted to share mine with you. Thanks for listening. " He left to a standing ovation  . Standing in the back of the room, I realized how much respect that young man earned. He faced his fear, publicly admitted his mistakes and never gave up, in spite of the difficulties. That day, he won much more than a trophy  . Why was the young man punished?
He made a serious mistake in his research. He illegally sent faxes to customers. He stole a computer from an office. He drove his car at a high speed.