*Doubtless influenced by the reigning business wisdom of the M.B.A. culture, Michelin unwisely went for the short-term gain of cutting costs by paring back the payroll of the Service du Tourisme and sharply reducing the number of inspectors. While this may have been a plausible strategy for optimizing certain office operations, it was disastrous for the guide, in consideration of the unique image of unfailing rectitude that it had projected ever since its founding by grandpappy André at the start of the twentieth century. For the sake of a few paltry schoolteachers’ salaries, Michelin took the risk of squandering its most precious jewel, the hundred-plus years of the unquestioning trust that it had enjoyed in the bosoms of gourmets (and, by extension, tire buyers) everywhere, and dashing the last hope of Homo gallicus, that most disenchanted and mistrusting of individuals, that there still remained at least one institution in the country that was not altogether rotten. Michelin went on a hiring campaign to rectify its grievous mistake, and perhaps an M.B.A. or two was fired to make room on the payroll spreadsheet.