A balance of skepticism and curiosity

Paul Eisenstein of TheDetroitBureau.com writes about Forbes auto writer Jerry Flint, who died this weekend at the age of 79.

Eisenstein writes, “What no one can dispute is Jerry Flint’s love of the car business, and his ability to connect with the industry’s men and women, from the lowliest line worker to the loftiest of executives.  He treated them all pretty much the same way: with a balanced mix of curiosity and skepticism.

“One former senior Big Three executive recalls Flint as a ‘cantankerous contrarian.  Tried to get me fired once,’ he says, but like many who crossed swords with the veteran journalist, over the years, the executive recalls ‘We became friends.’

“But even with his friends, Jerry Flint was never one to back down.  A lunch could, at time times, start to become a lecture.  And when he got on a roll it was good to step back a few feet, as one veteran public relations executive, then an industry newcomer, found out during a discussion over Indian food. ‘I had to clean the lentil mud off my glasses, but it was worth the worth lesson.’

“Once, when he served as president of IMPA, the New York-based auto journalist group, he presided over a speech by a senior industry official.  When the executive waffled during the obligatory question-and-answer session, Flint started offering his own, much more insightful observations instead.”

Read more here.