Cultivated Image as Negotiation Armor

“knew that better than anyone.” Harrison also admired how K.C. Irving managed his public image, because it, along with his reputation, was crucial to his business suc- cess. Harrison maintained that, because K.C. Irving never gave inter- views, people simply believed that he had little interest in projecting a public image. Harrison insisted that nothing could be further from the truth. K.C. Irving knew better than anyone the role a public image has in business and how to manage it. Irving cultivated the image of a tough, demanding, shrewd, austere, tireless, sober, secretive, no- nonsense businessman, never to be outgunned. “Christ,” Harrison explained, “when K.C. Irving walked in to negotiate a business deal, the competition was already ready to give up and say I can’t compete with this guy. The competitor would lose before the competition began because everyone knew that you could never beat K.C. Irving.” Harrison admired K.C.’s management style, which he said was based”

“today it’s still just as good for us.” Another of K.C. Irving’s firm beliefs was in work, focus, work, and work some more. His son Arthur Irving told me that his father had no sense of time and had incredible energy. He could outwork and out- last people thirty years younger. Harrison McCain once observed that K.C. Irving had “great energy, wonderful energy. Never got tired.””