How I became the Honest Broker

This essay recounts how the author, a music critic who previously did high-stakes overseas consulting work, adopted the idea of the "Honest Broker" as a guiding principle for criticism. During a stressful project in China, a drunk Australian whose name the author cannot recall told him to find the Honest Broker, an intermediary whose reputation for straight dealing makes them the key to getting things done. The author later applies this model to music criticism, which he describes as a field marked by critics who take freebies, recycle press releases, and trade coverage for access.