Every argument clarity score on this site is built from rows on this page. Each
question and answer was assessed with names hidden, the host's own answers included, on
four things from 1 to 5:
directness (does it answer the question asked), coherence (do the ideas follow),
precision (concrete details and clear references), compression (says a lot per word). The weighted
mix (30/30/25/15) is the exchange score. A person's published score averages their exchange
scores on raw tape only, at least 8 of them, shrunk toward the cohort mean.
Full method →
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 3 · P 4 · Cm 3 3.85
Q Was there a moment when you realized he wasn't a big shot?
A Well, I'll tell you, it's an interesting story. Uh, I used to work, he worked in a garment coat company. He worked, he worked buttons, he had kind of a low level-ish job, although I didn't want to face that. Um, and he, um, They asked me to take the payroll. I was 16. They said take the payroll to the bank. What do I do? I duck out the freight entrance on West 37th street and eighth avenue, go into the neighboring freight entrance. I looked through all the pay stubs or whatever it is. He was one of the lowest paid people there relative to his peer group who he would always put down and whatever. That was a reality for me. So that, it was a cold reality. So my thoughts of him being whatever disappeared then. And as I grew, um, he, he wasn't a good dad. So when I lived there, I was going to City College, I was miserable, and I was, you know, I used to go to subways, Long Island Railroad, and I'd had to escape from the house. So I, I luckily got into, I, I didn't know where to apply, State University of Buffalo, some guy I knew went, wasn't even a close friend. I got in, so I escaped to Buffalo, and for two years, and, ah, but it was, you know, never took Any, he was competitive with me in an, ah, ironic way, and, you know, I was getting a lot of press when I, you know, I worked 12 years in the department stores, and then I was very lucky, fortunate, I was called to run, ah, Ann T…
AI assessment note: “I looked through all the pay stubs... thoughts of him being whatever disappeared then.”
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 3 · P 3 · Cm 3 3.60
Q What does it mean to be a merchant?
A What it means to me is, and it's not a lot, I think, it means to have no Know from what's gonna sell well, from what's not gonna maybe sell well. Focus, make sure it's on brand. Now this is what I do. No rear view mirror. Most people do rear view mirror, and they say, well, we sold last year this. Sometimes it's gonna go this way a lot. So you chase what's over in post peak. It means to me to be a merchant Is having a sense of what's gonna sell, knowing the, like, I always had an instinct, I guess, on what I loved, and I learned later on if I think it, it is non-negotiable.
AI assessment note: “It means to me to be a merchant Is having a sense of what's gonna sell”
Answered produced feed
D 3 · C 3 · P 3 · Cm 3 3.00
Q What gave you the confidence to do that? I mean, this was like a, what was it? We're, we're basically going to go extinct. So that's the base case.
A That was two or three years. Even when it turned around, it was like, uh-oh. But I worked my ass off. I kept, no one taught me how to run Ann Taylor. I just did it without any supervision, because the headquarters, it was a twenty-five million dollar business, but I just went in there day one. And, you know, corporate, a lot of people, they leave you alone, or they don't leave you alone. But there I was, and the, the, the threat was if I don't turn this, I was under pressure. I didn't make money there. They didn't pay me. I didn't negotiate, whatever, but it is what it is. So, uh, I always depended upon my gut, my instinct, and in hindsight I did. I knew who was good person, not a good person. I knew who was Full of it, and down to earth. And I, in the department store was 12 years. I kept looking for the right place to go.
AI assessment note: “I always depended upon my gut, my instinct, and in hindsight I did.”
Answered produced feed
D 3 · C 2 · P 3 · Cm 2 2.55
Q What, what was he like as a board member?
A He was a troublemaker because he brought up things. I'd sit there, thank God, but he alienated people because You know, it's ok to alienate people. He had, he, but he didn't, he really wasn't a very paid attention board member. But I didn't care. So he was on the board only about a year, and he, he wasn't very popular, but I just, you know, guy was ill, he was dying. I just so admired him, and, ah, I really admired him a lot, and Johnny Ive was his lunch mate, and I had, you know, Johnny and I became good friends, and Steve was whatever. So, There's a board meeting. I knew there was something going on. People, all of a sudden, you know, and you have corporate, and they don't, first of all, I never had a director who really understood the goods. You know, and, and you know, if they came in, they didn't like the name Old Navy. I got it off a bar in Paris. I was driving to the airport. I was fortunately in the back seat on the left. I'm looking out. I said to Maggie, she was in marketing. I go to Paris, you know, you go to shop, you get ideas, creative. So I see Marquis with a lot of neon lights, and it says Old Navy. I said, Maggie, that's the name. We needed a name for Old Navy, which, by the way, is about an eleven billion dollar business today.
AI assessment note: “He was a troublemaker because he brought up things.”
