It was not proof that every weakness had vanished or that shareholders would approve every decision forever.

I did not use it to claim I had saved the company alone.

The people answering clients, checking accounts, repairing systems, and managing deliveries had done the work.

The financing gave them room to do it.

The board’s responsibility was to protect that room and ask whether it was being used honestly.

When I visited departments, I tried not to arrive with a speech about my grandfather.

One employee showed me a process that required the same data to be entered three times.