He always appealed to people's better nature. But that doesn't mean he was naive. He wasn't invited onto the GM board because he was a nice guy. In the early 1960s, he led a series of boycotts against some of this city's largest businesses for their failure to hire blacks. And he had the stature and political skills to take this notion nationwide.
Power understands power.
Better to have him inside the boardroom than outside with a bullhorn. Mr. Sullivan was savvy, persuasive, comfortable in those boardrooms. Once inside, he worked inside. He used the levers well, domestically and abroad - particularly in South Africa, where he played a determining role in ending apartheid. There is a word for this confluence of character, tenacity, selflessness and high moral purpose.