Everything I Know About Business I Learned From the Car Guys

Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers run a hell of a business. They do the Car Talk show on National Public Radio each weekend, they’re a hoot, and I’m thinking of modeling my business on theirs. The show turned 20 years old this past weekend, and it shows no sign, now that it’s out of its teenage years, of growing up. Thank God. The boys are outrageously honest. A caller had some white gunk on his engine, and Ray (I’m guessing Ray, can’t really tell, they volley so fast) said it was because the carbon mixed with the glippety glop and produced sulfuric acid dioxycontin override. And he said it with authority. And Tommy said, “Really?” And Ray said, “No, but wouldn’t it be great if it were true?” as he laughed his head off. How great. We give some executive advice, speak it in a deep voice, and the exec says “really?” and we laugh and say, “Beats the hell out of me, but wouldn’t it be great if it worked?” The words they use are the opposite of spin or hype. They refer people to...