Bury My Heart at Conference Room B: Sweat Time at Microsoft

"You just did a very bad thing," said Bill Gates, reacting to a presentation of Stan Slap's suggestions. In this excerpt from his upcoming book, "Bury My Heart at Conference Room B," consultant Stan Slap relates how Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and a room full of Microsoft execs loved and loathed the concept of leading with your values.

Check the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language under "aggressive" and you'll find Orlando Ayala's picture. The head of worldwide sales for Microsoft is a...