In this Honor Roll episode, host Mike Michalowicz introduces the segment with sponsor acknowledgments before presenting his take on the "greatest movie line ever for entrepreneurs." He argues that the classic film Miracle on 34th Street offers a powerful business lesson: honesty with customers—even when it means directing them to a competitor—builds trust and can ultimately drive more business. He illustrates this with a scene where Santa, working as a store Santa, tells shoppers about a cheaper alternative, leading his employer to fire him, only for the store to later thrive because of the honesty. Michalowicz then cites It’s a Wonderful Life as another essential film, emphasizing the entrepreneurial habit of sending holiday greetings to everyone, including buildings, as a way to nurture relationships during the season. The monologue is informal, peppered with self‑deprecating humor about accents, and aims to inspire entrepreneurs to adopt honesty and relationship‑building practices drawn from classic cinema.
Chapters
Welcome to Honor Roll. And now, here's your host, Mike Michalowicz. Welcome to Night of Theater, because this evening we're going to talk about the greatest movie line ever for entrepreneurs. But first, sponsor time, the people that pay for all this stuff. Thank you to American Express, Dex, Digital, Provendis Group, and my boys at Skype for being sponsors. And by the way, Nextiva, you too are awesome. So the most important movie you can ever see. I'm just turning to different accents here because quite frankly, I have no control over accents and I suck at it and I just kind of flop around. So it. Whatever. So, best movie ever. Miracle on 34th Street. Stick that in your corn cob pipe and start smoking that one. Why? Because there's a scene where Santa Claus is at the Macy's or the Gimbels. I don't know where he is, but he's at the store where Santa is hired to be Santa. If you're stoned watching that movie, it's a total mind mess. People are coming in to buy stuff, and they asked Santa, hey, where do I get the hot new toy? And he says, store across the street has it for a little bit less. Go there. So they go to the store across the street, and the manager of this store comes to Santa and goes, what the? What? He didn't say, what the? It's an old movie. He said, what the. Hey, ha. And Santa's like, it's a better price. And he's like, santa, you're fired for doing this. We're losing customers. But then the next day, the manager is aghast because people come flocking back to the store because this is the honest store that tells the truth of where to get stuff. And they get more business than ever. That's the business lesson. Do right for the customer. Even if you are not the solution. You'll have your own little miracle on 34th street or 5th street or the boulevard or whatever street you're on. To be honest, there is another movie that perhaps has a more impactful and prolific message for us. It's a Wonderful Life. If you haven't seen that, like, what planet are you from? And the lesson is this. During the holidays, always, always send greetings to everyone, particularly buildings. Merry Christmas, Mowgli Hol. Merry Christmas.
