Clark, my client, stopped by our office unexpected:  “I have good news and bad news. The good news first. . . . A couple of partners and I just bought a small telecom—a spinoff of the division I managed before we all got laid off.”

“Sounds like great news,”  I said.

“Maybe. If we can make a go of it.”

“The bad news?”

Keith, CEO of a Fortune 500 financial organization, called with an intriguing project—one I’ve never been asked to repeat elsewhere, but one with fascinating results.

The Project

The CEO wanted to know how much I could discover about a person’s leadership style from their writing. “I don’t know; I’ve never had occasion to test my theories,” I told him, quite reluctant to take on what already sounded like an oddball way to lose a good client. He listened as I pointed out that someone might be a great leader, but just an incompetent writer and vice versa—how they might be an eloquent writer, but a lousy leader.