During one of my very first consulting assignments, a colleague and I interviewed direct reports of the Chief Information Officer of a chemical company about improving project execution. We consistently heard that the CIO was autocratic and intimidating, and that his people were afraid to talk openly about mistakes. Knowing that this was an important issue for project success, we met with the CIO alone and, with some trepidation, gave him this feedback — direct and to the point. To our relief, he didn’t get angry with us. He just said “thank you” and that he’d take the feedback into consideration. At the next meeting with his direct reports, however, he started by saying, “I hear from the consultants that you’re afraid to be open with me. Is that true?” Of course, each person denied the allegation, after which the CIO turned to us and said: “See, I didn’t think that people were afraid of me.”