Solve Your Probelm’s by Thinking Like a Famous Person

Impossible is a word found only in the
dictionary of fools — Napoleon

A friend of mine came to me with a problem about a fairly new used car he had bought that had broken down several times. The dealer had, in fact, fixed his car seven times in just six months. He had asked for his money back, and they refused. He had asked to trade it in on another car, but they had offered him 60% less than he had paid for the car just six months earlier. He was very frustrated with the situation and felt helpless. He asked what could he do to make them help him?

I told him that instead of looking at the situation through his eyes, he should think as though he were someone else.

For example, how would Ralph Nader, the famous 1970’s consumer advocate, deal with your problem?

After thinking for a few moments, my friend decided the dealership would get so much negative publicity it would be forced to fix the problem.

Now he had a new problem. How could he generate enough publicity to get the dealership to take notice of him. I told him to go home, take out a sheet of paper, write the problem at the top, and figure out all the possible ways he could to generate publicity. He did, and about an hour…