Importance of Being a People Person

James. He insisted on being called James.

Not Jim. And for goodness sake, don't even think Jimmy.

Everyone told me he was gruff.

Never smiled.

Never laughed.

Never one to chit-chat.

Actually, never one to chat, at all.

Unless he was yelling.

And James yelled a lot.

At workers who feared him.

And subordinates who'd practically hide from him.

But James was brilliant.

Talk was he graduated in the top of his Ivy League class.

So what he lacked in personal charm, he made up for in business skill.

James was ruthless.

You needed someone to cut the fat, he was the guy.

He'd even cut some bone for good measure.

Always met his budgets.

Always beat his targets.

Always earned his pay.

A lot of pay.

Millions, I'm told.

Until this week, he was told to go.

No longer needed.

The company was cutting back, because a new company was coming in.

His services were no longer required.

Word is James was shocked.

So shocked, he got, gulp, emotional.

James cried. Several witnesses confirmed: He cried.

Cried about how he cut costs.

How he met budgets.

How he did all the things he was ever asked to do.

So why this? Why now?

"People don't like you," his new boss told him. "And I can't have that here."

Apparently the new boss was a people person who loved talking to his people. People who told him they didn't much like James. That he hurt morale.

Turns out the new boss is big on morale.

Which is why, in the end, he wasn't big on James, a man who spent his career sucking up.

Undone by the very people he had been putting down.

Watch Neil Cavuto weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on "Your World with Cavuto" and send your comments to cavuto@foxnews.com