5

The Power of Powerless Communication

How to Be Modest and Influence People

Speak softly, but carry a big stick.

—Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president

Dave Walton took a deep breath. He was an employment law expert who specialized in trade secrets
and employee competition cases. As a partner at the firm Cozen O’Connor, Dave was one of the
youngest lawyers to be elected shareholder, and he had been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer—
Rising Star for several years. But he was about to stand up and give his first closing argument in front
of a jury.
It was 2008, and Dave was representing a company that owned Acme-Hardesty, a Pennsylvania
castor oil distributor that received its supplies from Jayant Oils and Derivatives in Mumbai, India. In
December 2006, the CEO of Acme’s parent company was informed that Jayant was setting up a U.S.
office and sales organization, and would no longer supply Acme with castor oil. During the following
month, Acme executives learned that Jayant was planning to sell castor oil products directly to
customers in the U.S. market, competing with Acme for business.
In the summer of 2006, two Acme employees had jumped ship to Jayant and helped them set up
the competing company. Acme’s parent company filed suit against Jayant and the two employees,
accusing them of stealing trade secrets and confidential information.
Dave prepared diligently and spoke passionately. He presented evidence that in March 2006,
while still working for Acme, the employees agreed to financial terms to help Jayant start the
competing distributor. In June, each of the two received initial payments of $50,000 from Jayant for
consulting services.
The employees gave notice that they were leaving and went straight to India without informing
Acme of their new positions. Dave argued that in India, they incorporated knowledge from Acme into