Physically strong and energetic, with darting eyes like a cat’s, he was making his way in nomadic society. But rejection shaped him in ways that would inform his leadership ever after. Temüjin grew up to be extraordinarily tough and self-disciplined, and placed a higher value on loyalty than anything else: he would never tolerate even a whiff of betrayal or dishonesty, and reacted ferociously when he was rejected, resisted, or thwarted.
