Spanish to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting Interview with an artist

[Interviewer]: ... Además lo trataré de usted para darle una impronta de cierta distancia que necesito para poder ser más tenaz.

[Name of artist]: Tratarme de usted... Hombre, no sé, si así lo prefieres de acuerdo, señor inquisidor. Pero que conste que me resulta muy raro (incluso algo incómodo). Todo sea por conservar tu tenacidad ;)
Si te parece bien, voy a ir respondiendo justo debajo de la pregunta que me haces ...

So the above is from an interview by one artist to another: they are old friends. But since they are both artists, the interviewer has an odd way of "constructing" the interview, including using the formal usted form with his old friend. What I am not grasping very well is the meaning of the above. I think "Todo sea por" would be something like "Anything to..." but I don't know how to put "conservar su tenacidad", perhaps partly because I haven't decided whether the interviewer's "más tenaz" should be stubborness, or determined, or focused, or what. Anyway, more than anything, it's the "conservar" that I'm having trouble with: "go along with"? "ensure"? I just can't seem to polish this sentence at all.


UK Eng. Thanks in advance!