EXPERT OPINIONS? CHECK REFERENCES

Before you act on expert opinions, do one thing first.

Check references? Nooo, not yet.

First, ask why you need to trust someone when they ask.

After you’ve got trust locked in, be a good listener.

Believe them when they tell you who they are, after checking references.

Say a guy pulls up and asks if you want your address painted on your curb.

Some random character asking for work, and you feel like they deserve a break, so you give them the go ahead.

They finish up, collect their pay, and leave.

Then your wife gets home to see some sloppy lines and already smudged numbers.

A year later the paint is chipping off and looking like it’s been five years.

 

Wife: Did you call the painter?

Me: Nooo.

Wife: Did you check his work?

Me: How does it look.

Wife: Bad and going to get worse.

Me: Ooops.

Wife: It looks like he didn’t clean the surface before he painted.

Me: That’s not going to last.

Wife: No, it’s not.

 

Trust Expert Opinions

Baby boomers used to get important information from Walter Cronkite.

He was without question a man of integrity.

The highlights:

 

The momentous moon landing, the Kennedy assassination, Cronkite’s detailed analysis of Watergate scandal, and his unabashed misgivings from the situation in Vietnam. 

 

Cronkite came way before social media where everyone is a trusted newscaster no matter what comes out of their mouth.

He said the Vietnam war was off-track back in 1968 when troop levels were highest, and deaths were highest.

Instead of toeing the line of his corporate overlords, he reported news, fair or unfair.

He didn’t take a knee to get and keep his job. By all accounts he was a decent guy.

Where would he fit in today’s news cycle? Would he fit at all?

 

Today We Give Experts All The Room They Need

Baby boomers once stood up and spoke to power.

Millennials now have the task.

Are they up to it?

How can we help?

 

Not like this.

 

PS:

Know your place, then step outside the boundaries with young people. They like chance-takers.

 

PSS:

Find a way to understand young people on their turf, then show how easy it is for some jack-ass to pull the rug out from under them.

Remember, don’t be a jack-ass.