he goes to see his mentor, a senior executive at the company, looking for direction and encouragement. The mentor shuts his office door and offers the young manager a chair. He recounts a couple of war stories, gives a few specific pointers on how to turn the project around, and then—just as the young manager is getting up to leave—offers up some personal advice. It’s just one powerful phrase, a small kernel of avuncular wisdom, but the young manager will carry it with him through the rest of his career. Direct, deliberate, handed down like Grandpa’s watch from one generation of managers to the next: Such is the nature of business advice.