In This Months Business Monthly

I have a tendency to be too accepting sometimes. When first meeting someone I tend to assume the best. This is not always a good social strategy. Many times I end up being disappointed in my first impression.

Perhaps that is why I have always admired the approach of Herb Weber. Herb and I met back in the mid eighties when we were neighbors in San Francisco. Though he was rapidly rising through the ranks of investment banking, he still embraced his blue collar roots. Herb was one of those guys that could carry on a conversation with anyone and make them feel like what they said genuinely mattered.

Most of the time it didn’t. Most of the time Herb was just putting up a good front. “I  start off hating everyone I meet and in that way I’m never disappointed,” he confided in me once.

Twenty some years later that conversation came back to me as I sat down to write a column about the relatively new HoCo EDA chief, Laura Neuman. To say that Laura and I hit it off right away would be inaccurate. Our first face to face meeting dispensed with false pleasantries and instead dove head first into an airing of grievances.

It was oddly refreshing.

You can read this months column here.