I don't think that's entirely correct from what we have seen of Howe, he does care what others think but will never ever ever show any obvious signs of it. That's core to his public identity. Behind closed doors/in his head that will not be the case. He doesn't like to do what everyone is expecting, the obvious decision, he wants to do everything in his own way. It's also why he reveals so little in press conferences. Most of the time that has worked out well, not rushing new signings into the team etc, but sometimes there's an underlying stubbornness that can be damaging. I do like it about him, but in the Burn scenario he took the "I know better" way too far.