In 2007, almost a decade later, I joined the Microsoft board. Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft CEO at the time, is this big, boisterous, friendly guy. He would talk very transparently about his mistakes, saying stuff like: “Look here, see how I really screwed this thing up.” This led me to feel connected to him. What an honest thoughtful guy! And I realized: oh, it’s just normal human behavior to feel more trusting of someone who is open about mistakes.
