And entered new markets.
The founder became wealthy.
Then extraordinarily wealthy.
By sixty, he controlled investments, properties, aircraft, and financial accounts beyond anything his parents could have imagined.
But something had changed along the way.
Success gradually became inseparable from obedience.
When an employee challenged his strategy, he interpreted the disagreement as disloyalty.
When a supplier raised a problem, he assumed the supplier was incompetent.
When executives praised him, he grew more comfortable.
When they questioned him, he grew angry.
The company became a place where people competed to deliver the answer he wanted to hear.
His wife warned him.
More than once.
"You're surrounding yourself with people who agree with you."
He dismissed the concern.
"They respect my judgment."
She shook her head.
"That's not the same thing."
He laughed.
"I built this company."
She nodded.
"I know."
Then she asked quietly.
"Does that mean nobody else is allowed to be right?"
He had no answer.
So he changed the subject.
Years later, after she died following a prolonged illness, he remembered those conversations.
But he rarely allowed himself to dwell on them.
He buried grief beneath work.
Promoted executives who reassured him.
And became increasingly impatient with anyone who complicated a decision.
His general counsel understood this perfectly.
The lawyer had spent fifteen years learning how to manage the billionaire's ego.
He knew when to flatter.
When to remain silent.
When to blame junior employees.
And when to describe a difficult legal question as already resolved.
The billionaire rewarded him generously.
A seven-figure compensation package.
Performance bonuses.
Stock-related incentives.
And a reputation as the chairman's most trusted adviser.
The lawyer understood the corporation's weaknesses.
Its dependence on the founder.
Its culture of secrecy.
Its complicated international subsidiaries.
And the enormous value of its intellectual property.
He also understood something else.
The billionaire had become so accustomed to issuing commands that he rarely read the detailed documents implementing them.
He trusted the people who told him what they meant.
That habit would nearly cost him the company.
The legal scheme began as an ordinary corporate restructuring proposal.