While it was occasionally done here or there, nobody else had a figurehead like Walt doing it. Jack Warner wasn't on TV. Walt was the boss, but he had a real public profile and he used it to his advantage. And he became a household face. ↗
When I was a young prosecutor, I got called to testify against my boss. I could have backed down, but I didn't. I stood up to him. And he fired me for it. ↗