d into the back seat of a company car to go back to his hotel. The driver, wanting to impress his new boss, peeled away from the curb and promptly rear-ended a taxi. We missed the symbolism at the time. After a year-long honeymoon, the media would criticize Armstrong for moving too fast and acting too boldly-the same qualities for which they had lauded him just months before. Ultimately, they would excoriate him for reversing direction, demonstrating that busi- ness today is as much about managing expectations as it is about man- aging labor, finances, and hard assets. Understand the Media's Mindset Realizing that the reporters who now are at your feet may one day be at your throat, one might counsel a low profile. Unfortunately, that's Don't Dance to the Music of Your Own Buzz seldom possible anymore. After his appointment, John Walter thought he could live quietly in the Short Hills Hilton until his family moved east to join him in the house he was building in the New Jersey coun- tryside. His first night there, the guy running the newsstand compli- mented him on his picture in the latest issue of Newsweek. Armstrong liked the media's attention as much as anyone- arguably more, since the camera loved his broad-shouldered, broadly grinning mien and young reporters were captivated by his Harley- riding reputation. But except for one profile in Business Week during his first days on the job, he consciously avoided on-the-record inter- views entirely for ninety days after being named CEO. He didn't know what he was going to do yet, and he didn't need the media's help in raising expectations or narrowing his options. As it turns out, he may have slipped out of his self-imposed gag 1,735 days too soon. One-on-one interviews feed both a CEO's ego and one of the most dangerous tendencies in modern business writing: personality journalism. Armstrong gives great interviews-candid, colorful, and full of energy. While most executives go into an interview the way mediocre tennis players walk onto the court-focused on re- tu