Not everyone found Richard’s style of micromanagement so congenial. He was an early adopter of email, and at meetings he could be a discomfiting presence, focusing on his huge laptop computer, as if he weren’t listening to what anyone in the room was saying, only to look up, suddenly, and ask a pointed question. Periodically, he would stand, walk over to the wall where there was a phone jack, and plug his laptop in. Then everyone would be forced to listen to the rings and dings of Richard’s noisy dial-up connection so that he could send an email. Richard’s work ethic could be taxing for those
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