I am the Utah franchisee for a major national casual dining brand. We have about 500 employees. Each quarter we bring our restaurant managers in for a business meeting and I generally try to have some sort of motivational speaker.

A year or so ago, I reached out to Brian's office to see if he might consider being our guest speaker. I told his office we would be glad to pay whatever honorarium he normally receives. He accepted our offer but declined any compensation (In lieu of that I decided to give a few thousand dollars to the Cougar Club for the athletic general fund.)

He was our banquet speaker and absolutely wowed the whole group, which is roughly divided 50/50 male/female. THERE WAS NO PRETENSION, ARROGANCE OR CONDESCENSION WHATSOEVER. I chatted with him through the dinner and found him to be open and as good of listener as he was a speaker. We sat together during the dinner and after. He stayed until the last person got a picture with him and answered everyone's questions.

In my prior career, I contracted many celebrities for events and generally spent significant time before and after events with them. Brian was one of a few of those who didn't reveal any ego or self-importance.

If someone else has personally spent time with him and has a different view, so be it. Those who haven't and disparage him I consider to be cheap-shot character assassins.