Few executives anywhere push their style so forcefully, let alone at an outfit like HP, a place so low-key and humble that Japanese executives are shameless self-promoters by comparison.

FORBES: All Carly, all the time

"The only risk in terms of the comparison is of a self-fulfilling prophecy, " he said.

BBC: Why the Sahara is not the 'new Afghanistan'

The British self-help market is tiny by comparison, but is growing fast.

ECONOMIST: How to succeed in publishing

For an interesting comparison, see Joshua Reynolds's self-portrait of 1788, when he was 65, hanging in an adjacent room.

WSJ: Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | Status Symbols | by Willard Spiegelman