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Shut the Door!

Shut the Door!

I once worked for a brilliant but erratic genius named Ben Tregoe, who founded the consulting firm I was employed by in Princeton. I eventually rose to one of the highest positions in the place, and reported to him.

One day he called me and asked me to come down to his office.This was never necessarily good, and I was wondering what was going on. I arrived and he asked me to sit down and then said, “Watch this!”

He hit a button, and his door closed. “Isn’t that great?!” he asked. With that, he got up, opened the door, then sat down and closed it again. “Do you want one for your office?” he asked.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “You can close it, but not open it remotely? The door is six feet away, but you want it to close with that button? You had this installed recently?”

“Yes, just yesterday a guy came around selling this and told me he could install it immediately. Do you want me to ask him to come back?”

“Yes.”

“So you want one installed in your office?”

“No, I want to hire the guy who sold you that.”

Written by

Alan Weiss is a consultant, speaker, and author of over 60 books. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients from over 500 leading organizations around the world.

Comments: 2

  • Tim Wilson

    October 25, 2017

    Alan, have to say I’m still laughing at this story. I need to know, what did Ben say to you when you told him you wanted to hire the person who sold him the one way button.
    Also, re-reading two books, Value Based Fees for the umpteenth time still learning something new every time. And the The New Rational Manager (revised) also remembering what I forgot in the training class I took from one of K&T trainers.
    I have to say, knowing you worked for K&T it makes even more sense to me about the clarity of your approach to consulting.

  • Alan Weiss

    October 25, 2017

    Ben was mystified!

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