Ari Weinzweig: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to The Power of Beliefs in Business

In 1982, Ari, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking, and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue.

Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, including A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to The Power of Beliefs in Business.

In this conversation, Ari and I explore how the power of our beliefs show up in virtually every one of our daily actions. We examine how to begin looking at what isn’t working and how to start examining our beliefs. When those beliefs aren’t working, Ari shares several, critical steps we can take to begin to change our thinking.

Key Points

Our beliefs, many of which we may not be consciously aware of, are often calling the shots in our daily actions and behaviors.
Start examining a belief by picking a current problem to address.
Listen carefully to your internal voices to identify the language showing up. Notice places especially where you frame things as facts, certitudes, thoughts, theories, norms, shoulds, and should nots.
Examine how you came to the beliefs that you uncover. Then, confront your cannons.
Change now, find facts later. Most people do that the opposite way.

Resources Mentioned

A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to the Power of Beliefs in Business by Ari Weinzweig
Humility: A Humble, Anarchistic Inquiry by Ari Weinzweig
Schein On, You Crazy Diamond by Ari Weinzweig

Interview Notes

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Related Episodes

The Path of Humble Leadership, with Edgar Schein and Peter Schein (episode 363)
How to Help People Engage in Growth, with Whitney Johnson (episode 576)
Help People Show Up as Themselves, with Frederic Laloux (episode 580)

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