I’m sitting in the Las Vegas airport writing this. Looking around, I see a familiar sight — people trying just a little too hard to project youth and status. A woman with too many plastic surgeries wearing clothes designed for someone half her age. The guy next to her has a bad hair dye job, fake tan and is wearing a status-symbol shirt — Gucci.

In college, I learned about signal theory. Signal theory says that every action a company takes sends a signal to the market, and customers interpret that signal to judge risk, credibility and intent.

These two people I’m low-key fixated on are clearly sending signals to the world. They want people to see them and say, “Look at that beautiful young woman,” and “Wow. That guy must be a big deal.”

But if you’re a little judgmental like I am, that’s not what you think.…