Expert advice from one partner

Two partners in a car rental firm fell upon hard times. Business was bad, money was tight and they could not agree on many things. They decided to meet for lunch at a nice restaurant and make some tough business decisions.

One partner arrived late to find his partner glassy eyed. “You will never guess what happened,” the partner who arrived first said. “I was sitting here when Lee Iacocca walked in. His party was late also, so we struck up a conversation, and I told him our problem.”

“What did he say?” the late partner asked. “Iacocca says we’re doing it all wrong. We can’t make money in the short-term rental business. Hertz and Avis will have us for lunch. Forget that, and concentrate on longer term personal auto leases because that is where the money is.”

“Well, if Iacocca says so, let’s give it a try.” And try they did. In six months, they broke even. In a year, they turned a profit and in three years, they were the largest, most profitable auto-leasing firm in the state.

One night, the first partner met Iacocca at a gala and thanked him for his advice. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Iacocca said. “I don’t know you or your partner, I never give business advice, and I’ve never been in that restaurant.”

Shattered by what Iacocca had told him, he called his colleague. “I just spoke with Lee Iacocca. He never gave you any advice, he never spoke to you and he doesn’t even know who you are.” “So?” asked the partner. “So you lied to me. Those ideas weren’t Lee Iacocca’s. They were all yours.” There was a pause. “If you had known that three years ago, would you have gone along with me?” the other partner asked.

The story is told about Gerald Ford when he lost his bid for the presidency in 1976 to Jimmy Carter by a small margin. He consoled himself by noting that he had lost a close one but was greatly disappointed all the same.

A few days after Carter was inaugurated, he and his wife flew to Houston to attend a dinner in memory of the legendary great football coach, Vince Lombardi. The dinner was a benefit to raise money for cancer research, and Ford had agreed to be the guest of honor when he was still president.

As the plane neared the Houston airport, Ford began brooding about his recent defeat and wondering if the Houston fundraisers would be let down by having an ex-president rather than a president at the banquet. “They thought they would be getting a sitting president,” he told his wife, Betty. Don’t worry darling,” his vivacious wife said consolingly. “It’s me they are coming to see.”

Sid Luckman was the famed quarterback of the Chicago Bears back in the 1930s and 1940s. His father, who was an immigrant tailor, did not get many chances to see him play but Sid made sure he was there for one important game against the New York Giants.

The game was going well when Luckman got the ball on one play just as his teammates were falling by the wayside. He was left alone to fight off the Giant’s huge linemen. As he dodged big bodies hurtling towards him he heard his father’s voice above the crowd yelling, “Sidney, let them have the ball. I’ll buy you another one.”

Red Skelton flew to Europe in 1951 for an appearance at the London Palladium. As the plane was flying over the Swiss Alps, three of the four engines failed. The situation looked very grave, and the passengers began to pray. Skelton went into one of his best comic routines to distract them from the emergency as the plan lost altitude.

At the last moment, the pilot spied a large field among the tall slopes and made a perfect landing. Skelton broke the relieved silence by saying, “Now ladies and gentlemen, you may return to all the evil habits you gave up 20 minutes ago.”

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