Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Lieber.
Dave, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in an unusual place. Manhattan on Broadway. So the arts, media and politics were central to my growing up. As a 7-year-old I campaigned for Lyndon Johnson for President and Bobby Kennedy for NY senator in 1964. When I grew a little older, I sang in the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus for several years. I studied acting at the legendary Stella Adler School as a teen. And I peaked at 14 years old when I hosted a live one-hour, unscripted national TV show in NBC called “Take A Giant Step.” After all that, journalism is what attracted me most. I decided I wanted to live a life like my columnist hero, Pete Hamill. After more than 40 years of newspapering, I can say I have.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Most recently, as you know, the newspaper business is suffering. I lost my job as columnist at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram after 20 years as a columnist. Fortunately, The Dallas Morning News scooped me up, and I’ve been writing The Watchdog there for 5 years. I know it will end one day, and I’ve prepared a second career as a certified professional speaker with a focus on comedy, storytelling and especially storytelling for business. Business storytelling, done properly, increases your income and expands your brand. I’ve helped some of America’s top companies, associations and individuals build their storytelling marketing skills.
The Watchdog columnist at The Dallas Morning News – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m known as one of America’s last crusading newspaper columnists. I receive hundreds of letters from readers every month and write two columns a week from them that appear Fridays and Sundays in the newspaper – and at
www.dallasnews.ccom/watchdog online. I’m know as someone who fights on behalf of people, who works to expose bad practices and corruption in businesses and governments. I tackle a lot of subjects and show people how to save money. Many people, for example, have lowered their Texas property tax because I’ve showed them how. I’m known as one of AT&T’s toughest critics and send a monthly report of customer complaints to the CEO. I fight for reforms in the system, and I show Americans how to do it. I’ve written six books and one of them — Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong — teaches a whole philosophy on being a super consumer. I’m the founder of Watchdog Nation. I also created one of North Texas’ largest children charities called SummerSanta.org. We send kids to camps, among other things, and we do it with an all-volunteer staff, no overhead, no physical office. We’ve raised and spent more than a million dollars in 20 years on Texas kids in need.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Definitely, my wedding proposal column in which I proposed to my wife Karen in 1994. It won a national writing award, helped Texas readers understand this New York boy and brought me Karen, her two kids and their dog, who hated me. It’s the opening story in my book, The Dog of My Nightmares: Stories by Texas Columnist Dave Lieber. It begins, “Here in Texas, I’ve met the woman of my dreams. Unfortunately, she lives with the dog of my nightmares.” The last line was, “Will you marry me?”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.davelieber.org
- Phone: 800-557-8166
- Email: dave@yankeecowboy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davelieber/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Dave.Lieber
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveLieber
- Yelp: www.dallasnews.com/watchdog
- Other: http://youtu.be/Xig_r8eKfeM
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