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I think I am aggressive, I think I am critical when it's necessary.

Aggression is something that is a part of me, and I'm never going to take that out of my game.

I understand aggressiveness in only one way: being prepared to hurt yourself, not someone else.

I was raised in Duluth, Minnesota, where you never say that you're cold, or that you're suffering, and you listen politely to people, even if you disagree with them completely. Then you say passive-aggressive things later.

I'm not a passive person by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm passionate about what I do. I'd be naive to be passive.

I'm not an aggressive person at all. But I know how to fight.

Feedback for leaders is often nuanced and difficult to deliver. That said, hearing you are passive-aggressive from 10 different people described 10 different ways becomes hard to ignore.

I don't always feel comfortable being outwardly aggressive.

I'm a very direct person just generally. I don't use a lot of words unnecessarily. I try to get to the heart of the issue, address it and go on to the next thing.