Bill Bain

Mitt Romney’s old boss, recalled in Turnaround as the source of two pieces of management wisdom Romney carried forward. Bain argued there is a scientific basis for trusting your gut on people — that the subconscious brain reads body-language signals you aren’t consciously aware of, so first impressions can be as reasonable as any other input — which shaped Romney’s habit of “listening to what I feel in my heart about people.” Bain is also the source of the line Romney quotes on hiring for raw intelligence: “most things can be fixed, but smart — or dumb — is forever.”

Context: William W. Bain Jr. (1937–2018) founded the management-consulting firm Bain & Company in 1973 and later co-founded the private-equity firm Bain Capital, where Romney served as CEO.

Where this appears

• Turnaround — quoted on gut-instinct judgment of people and the “smart is forever” hiring principle