The Colleague

Former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates tells of the time when earlier in his career he, in the role of note-taker, accompanied National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski  to a meeting with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Gates notes: 

I will never forget Brzezinski introducing me to Sadat not as his aide or staff assistant but as his "colleague," It was a tiny gesture of respect, but one I remember vividly nearly forty years later. Zbig was a demanding boss but unfailingly polite to those who worked for him.