FORTUNE -- The rumors persisted of Lehman Brothers' being taken over again, and it was against such a background that Dick devised his pièce de résistance.

Fending off the external threat would involve a lot of bluff to convince people that Lehman Brothers was far stronger than it was. It would have to ooze confidence if it was to make its way. At some stage, Fuld seemed to have decided that the best way to do this was by completely revamping his own image, even, if possible, his personality.

In May 1995 BusinessWeek magazine published an interview with Fuld, just a year after he had led Lehman Brothers into its renewed status as an independent firm. "Free at Last" read the headline, mimicking the cry from the 1960s of the late civil rights leader,...