How Ashford Capital Group's new CEO rebuilt investor trust after two brutal quarters.

Q: Where did you start?

With the balance sheet, not the press release. Everyone wanted a comeback story on day one. I wanted to know exactly how bad things were before promising anything.

Q: What convinced investors to stay?

Transparency, mostly. We over-communicated for two years — monthly letters instead of quarterly ones. People forgive bad numbers faster than they forgive silence.