The body language and decision on who stood where in yesterday's pictures of the Big Four arriving at HSBC's board meeting told you a great deal.
After all, this was the meeting where the smooth succession to chairman Stephen Green's departure was supposed to be rubber-stamped by the full board, and in due course announced to investors and press alike.
Instead, a series of leaks and briefings left the bank in disarray last week and forced it to bring forward both the decisions and announcements.
I'm no student of body language but even I can see the only man clearly smiling was Green — well, he's on his way out. Outgoing chief executive Mike Geoghegan may have had a slight smirk — justified given the scale of his pay-off.
The other two — new chairman Douglas Flint and new chief executive Stuart Gulliver — look somewhat more quizzical. One is reminded of the famous Oliver Hardy to Stan Laurel catchphrase: "Another nice mess, you've gotten me into."
It's also worth noting that Geoghegan and Gulliver are standing as far apart as any members of a quartet can.
The other thing that caught my eye was the original succession press release. In this, both Green and Flint praise Geoghegan, referring to him (as do most hacks) as Mike. But Sir Simon Robertson, the senior independent director who led the succession hunt, somewhat formally referred to Geoghegan as Michael. So, he knew him well then!
