Spartan Burn as Competitive Identity

"Don was a spartan. Beyond houses he was not a man to splurge. He often highlighted the gulf separating ‘need’ from ‘want.’ The Mercedes sports car he bought in 1988, adorned with the license tag, taipanv, (a tribute to his affection for the James Clavell novel about the founding of Hong Kong and the ruler of the most powerful trading company in the Far East), lasted him for the rest of his life."

"When I encountered Charlie in the early 1980s he was direct and blunt, still driving an old pick-up truck and smoking cigars in the office. In popular lore nothing epitomized the frugality for which National was renowned more than the sheep that one day was employed to trim the fringe of lawn outside its headquarters."

"The one exception to this regime was red wine and he had a fondness for expensive burgundies – particularly those paid for by investment banks as part of post IPO festivities."