The taxis in Germany were quite nice, far superior to what you would find in the US, and that taxi ride to the hotel went quicker than normal. Before I could replay the night’s events in my mind, the taxi pulled up to my home away from home. I stepped out of the cab, and the taxi driver unloaded my suitcase for me. I tipped the cab driver twenty Euros, much to his surprise. I was feeling extra generous that day. I grabbed...

The life of a consultant can be exhausting. For the past three years, I have been traveling from Chicago to Stuttgart, Germany, once per month. A manufacturing company hired my company during the acquisition of a small startup. What started out as a “quick and easy” evaluation of their profit and loss statements and valuation estimate turned into a more elaborate chore once we realized just how messy their books were. The...