So I asked how he got into public speaking. He told the story of how, many years back, when he was coaching at North Carolina State, he'd been invited to give a sort of pep talk at a nearby IBM office by an alumnus who knew his reputation for passionate locker-room oratory. At the time, he had no idea that it would grow into an auxiliary career, no way of guessing that American business would become so befuddled as to repeatedly call on his services. My follow-up should have dealt with the tarnished image of IBM today. True, this would have introduced a churlish note into an otherwise upbeat talk.
Reality can have that effect.
But suddenly, I was confronted by two MBNA executives demanding to know who I was and what I was doing at a private function. Old schisms born of old problems had not entirely vanished. I held my ground. Bob Katz is author of the novel Hot Air and a lecture promoter. All letters to the editor are for publication and may be edited for length and clarity.