Props to Anaqua CFO and COO Justin Crotty for allowing us to first zero-in on his early career chapters when the economy showed no mercy.  Crotty, who joined the leading provider of intellectual property management software and services, about three years ago, launched his career with a tech consultancy at the height of the dot.com era. In his mid-20s, he took on the role of project lead for a prickly client that all of his colleagues ducked (a professional development approach he advocates). Crotty says he “wound up failing pretty miserably … I drove the project into the ground.” But the failure steeled him to dust himself off, get the project across the finish line, and devote himself to mastering project management, expertise that serves him extremely well in his dual role.” Those skills “have been a key part of my success. I still conduct daily standup meetings with my team and ensure that we’re getting things done, managing our plans … and focusing on delivering good experiences.” This candor and relational creativity probably should be expected from a finance executive who points to the flick Slumdog Millionaire for a career-development comparison. “Throughout that movie the protagonist has all of these experiences that come together in ways that he wasn't expecting – and ultimately for the better,” Crotty adds. “That’s the way my career has unfolded.”