A better way to imagine Burford is as a therapist, a cajoler, a confidante, and then a sort of medium once the hat comes on and the writing starts.

But Mr. Thompson, the lawyer for the shareholders, said the law creating the housing agency, with its tenure protections for the agency’s director, “reduces the president to the cajoler in chief.”

"Julian Smith, with his background in the whip's office, he's a fixer, he's a nudger, he is a cajoler, ... he has to make deals every day to get government business through," said Mr Grimason.

Mr. McConnell viewed his role as equal parts cajoler and instructor.

The least confrontational of conductors, Levine has always been a cajoler on the podium, but behind the scenes he is accused of the opposite.