"What I was looking for was patterns on consistent behavior and ideals."
"I then started to dissect the nuances of his behavior..."
"...the walk, the fact that he has an almost imperceptible lisp..."
"... his accent that was a combination of northern California and Wisconsin..."
"... the way he paused before [an] answer and nodded in understanding..."
"... the way he bowed in namaste when receiving praise, and stared with contempt when in conflict."
"I noticed how he used his hands to talk and how he counted with his fingers (pinky finger first), how he used the words 'aaaaand' and 'noooow' to think about what he was going to say next."
"Once armed with this external impression I wanted to get a better feel of why he saw the world the way he did."
"So I started to consume what he consumed."
"Researching the artists he admired: Bauhaus, Folon, Ansel Adams."
"Eating the food he ate: Grapes, Carrot Juice, Popcorn."
"Studying the Entrepreneurs he admired: Edison, Edwin Land."
"Then I met with the people that he knew and worked with to unravel some of the subtle quirks and conflicted decision making that I couldn't rationalize."
"But in the end one of the greatest tells of the man were his creations."
In case you're wondering if it's really Ashton writing on Quora:
