Where the firm had been forward looking and creative, it becomes self-conscious in the way of a man, pestering itself with dozens of questions before it can act. How will it look? What will they say? If the business is wealthy and strong, the executives who come to power in these later generations will be characterized by the worst kind of self-confidence: they think the money will always be there because it always has been. They sit in their private clubs and railroad cars, saying, “Everyone knows all the land north of the Utila belongs to the company.” Or, “What’s that little Russian up to
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