“You don’t appear tough and candid enough to hold strong people’s respect,” he said. “On the good side, no one good has quit, and your people like you.” I had to smile at that. Forget radical honesty. This was brutal honesty. Ruthless honesty. “Gee, thanks,” I said. “Put that one on my tombstone: He may have run his business into the ground, but no one good quit, and his people liked him.”
