Yeah, he was basically the guy who hired me. They had been small clients in the past and we liked each other. Part of me was saying what’s done is done but I felt I had to give it a shot so I emailed him and we had a cordial phone call. Which is more than a lot of CEOs of moderately large companies would do. And it says a lot about the company culture that I never felt I was risking being fired.

> And it says a lot about the company culture that I never felt I was risking being fired.

Yes. I feel that insecure upper managers are a pox on the tech industry (probably other industries, as well). They create a really toxic culture.

I used to work for a Japanese company. My manager didn't speak English, and was 7,000 miles away, but was willing to listen to me. However, I had to deal with the way my interaction developed. Sometimes, the Japanese can be quite ... strident ... when they feel as if they are not being approached with respect.

They had a consensus-based style, which welcomed input from all levels, but would also be pretty brutal, to bad input.

Helped me to develop a habit of making sure all my ducks were in a row, before opening my mouth.