Alan Weiss' The Uncomfortable Truth

SHOW NOTES: • Plastic cup lids that pop off and spill all over you. • Cheap plastic water bottle with tiny, cheap caps that you twist, squeeze the bottle, and it squirts all over you. • European bottle caps that are connected and hit you in the nose or the eye. • Cheap straws that rip or break up. • European insanity about air conditioning. • Only 43% of US households participate in recycling where it's available, and only 21% of potential is actually recovered. Bottom line, only 5-9% of residential plastic recycling potential is actually recycled, and the rest remains as plastic waste. • Drucker's rule about laws resulting from a single person's actions. 8Electric battery fires are extremely hard to extinguish. • They card me for a beer at Fenway Park. • When my wife's metal knees trigger the alert, even after she tells them, they check her for gunpowder residue. • The CYA of banks ignoring their best customers and making them to conform to limits on remote deposits, ID checks with tellers, etc. • Entering

SHOW NOTES: •Influencers have been found (by the NYT) to be changing their tune from objective recommenders to shills for politicians. Josh Green and Carlos Eduardo Espina and Avery Cyrus are singled out for accepting substantial amounts of cash, Mr. Espina alone over $400,000. •We're just talking about another form of political graft. •But many of you are also following "influencers" for clothing, vacation, and relationship advice, as well as absolutely frightening medical advice. •We've lost our faith in our judgment to the extent we're not even using Astrology or Ouija boards but simply charlatans looking for money without any particular expertise or authority—or even candor. •We have the media stars and politicians who have been caught making invidious racial, ethnic, homophobic, transphobic, and religious slurs who then informs us, "That's not who I am." •There are the hard-to-believe retreats into institutions to "rethink" their lives and addictions. •There are the ridiculous excuses, placing the blame

SHOW NOTES: •People who walk into a breakfast restaurant carrying Starbuck's coffee. •Those too lazy to use directional signals. •The demand for "spiced rocks." •Deleting the tax before calculating the tip. •The clumsy line cutters. •Internet ads with phony products capitalizing on illnesses. •Waiting weeks for appointments because the service provider books solidly without accounting for errors and emergencies. •Politicians who send texts recounting their being war hero's, lifeguards, eagle scouts, and vowing to fight Trump (how about improving the schools and lowering prices instead). •People screaming outside of voting cities. •The belief that "soak the rich" will help cut costs and more than pouring ice over your head will help reduce diseases. •Changing all the damn clocks twice a year because of farm issues in the 1940s. •All the ecological waste from pages of legal warnings in bills, notices, agreements, bank statements and so on because that's how lawyers make money and that's why CYA has become as c

SHOW NOTES: Two major sentiments about how the US (and most countries) treat the citizenry and how to finance and provide the funding. Every person deserves a minimum quality of health care, safety in the streets, educational opportunity, and access to employment. The corollary is that we need the opportunity and support to help people to innovate, create, and build organizations that provide that employment, further advancement, and significant taxes. Do we do this through "tax the rich, occupy Wall Street, millionaire taxes"? Or do we do so by reducing excess spending and reallocating resources toward such basic human needs. Rhode Island is 8th highest in expenditure per student, yet our reading proficiency is only 34% in math 30% in English. No high school in the state is in the top 150 nationally, despite that high expenditure. What's the cause? Politicians don't talk about it. The current US debt is $40 trillion. Our gross domestic product in $30 trillion annually. Who pays most of the taxes? The top 1%

SHOW NOTES: Signs of the self-centered: •Every conversation is turned back to themselves. •They pause to discuss the play in the middle of the theater exits. •They stop to look around at the bottom of descending escalators. •They never signal for a turn or lane change. •They will wear a hat in any seating arrangement, not caring if others can't see. •They talk over you. •They make noises in public when they yawn, stretch, or belch. •They start sentences with, "Let me explain to you...." •The constantly exaggerate, "I have the best doctors in the world," "We had the best meal imaginable," "My blood pressure is perfect." •They turn to talk to someone else while a person is in the middle of a story. •They will spoil the punch line of someone else's joke. •They inflate experiences: "This had to be at least a two-star Michelin restaurant" (it actually had no stars). •They never discuss or converse, they lecture. •They don't have the most expensive car in the lot because "they really didn't want it." •If they can'

SHOW NOTES: I've consulted with, coached, and advised a huge diversity of people over the decades. They include executives, entertainers, politicians, athletes, military officers, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists. The most successful of them, both at the outset and after development, had the courage of their talent. Let me define the term which I coined several years ago and which has developed into an entire book. Courage is not fearlessness, but rather the ability to accept fear and/or pressure and nevertheless perform at the top of your game. Talent includes the innate traits, abilities, and behavior which help us to master challenges and to lead. Some are highly relevant (for a consultant, communication skills) and some are irrelevant (for a consultant, perfect pitch). Psychologists call this "efficacy." The best performers are able to focus as much and as many of their talents as possible on their "callings," and might provide for the rest in hobbies and personal interests. When people can't apply the

SHOW NOTES: The Bishop of Fall River, MA, told me an interesting story recently in Nantucket. It seems he was present during a memorial service held in a huge airplane hangar for families who lost loved ones in a terrible airplane crash off the coast. People were grieving and forming small groups to offer each other consolation. There was even some laughter among the tears as they exchanged stories about loved ones. Clergy from varying faiths, along with psychologists were there to provide clinical help. One woman among the hundreds was notable because she was weeping uncontrollably, not staying with any groups, but going from one to another. Finally, a priest took her aside and asked if he could help. Listen to the podcast to hear what she said and think about her reply.

SHOW NOTES: In professional services (and even in most product companies) trying to "raise the price" is the wrong place to start. You need to begin by raising perceived value. Value is the improvement in the customer's/client's condition. Perceived means they can identify it. "Lead magnets" and "loss leaders" are from the 50s. Go watch Soupy Sales. You need to build value and tell them and show them that value. It's often in what the product or service does (tax returns, wrenches) but usually is what it creates (saving money, more efficient construction). A luxury is a luxury until you use it the second time when it becomes a necessity. Value consists of new ideas, better practices, new interpretations, reframing—not solutions on the spot. Not obvious events. You need to become an "object of interest" so that they want you around. If your brand is strong, they want to brag about being a part of it. Just ask Bentley.

SHOW NOTES: Do we have toxic workplaces or toxic employees who make workplaces harmful and unhealthy? Are we terminally entitled? I found that there was no safety net for me, being born and raised in a poor family. I mean damaged furniture, stained rugs, bill collectors on the phone. When I was being beaten up by the neighborhood tough guy, my father, leaning out the window, told me to fight my way out of it. Many years later a therapist told me that was my father's bad, not mine. Whatever. So I learned to be smart to stay out of fights, to get along with teachers right through grad school. They looked kindly on me as not being a troublemaker and gave me the benefit of the doubt when I was. I was never looking for a safety net below, I was looking for another handhold above. I free-climbed the El Capitan of life. When I was fired, I got angry, not distraught, and determined to be my own boss and to own, not be employed. I realized that my life was my responsibility. I was happy later to support both my

SHOW NOTES: Have you noticed the increase in surveys from hotels, airlines, online retailers, and even medical practices? These are usually accompanied by requests for ratings on the internet. This is related to "calls being recorded for quality purposes." If anyone really listened to the calls, we'd have a lot better services. Even restrooms have a computer screen asking how clean the place was. I really don't want to touch it with my finger. Why not take care of my service problems while I'm experiencing them, not asking about how bad they've been after the fact? I think many of these are a pretense for actually caring. They try to cheaply overcome the unhappiness of customers with a false promise to improve, when they are actually just a vent for unhappiness with no obligation to improve. Executives have "executive assistants" so that they don't have to personally respond to calls and emails, even though they claim to lead "customer-driven" operations. I love the representatives who tell you, "You'l

SHOW NOTES: The Super Bowl halftime show; the World Cup; the Masters championship; the US Open Tennis championship; the Oscars; July 4th; Christmas lights; gender reveals; children's birthday parties; destination weddings. Things don't have to get bigger to get better. In fact, the promise of "bigger and better" leads to expectations that can't be met OR exaggeratedly high response to mediocrity to justify the cost of attendance, real or remote. A thousand people marching around a field while someone lip-syncs a song isn't all that impressive. Pre-game, half-time, and post-game analyses by a panel of "experts" just adds talk, not insight. Gender reveals are nonsense and now the trend of mass wedding party dancing as an opening to the ceremony is as boring as running into the same caterer at every fundraising event. You can be married underwater with a jellyfish band for all I care, it doesn't make your love for each other any different in my mind, though it doesn't affect my impression of you self-absorpt

SHOW NOTES: World Cup attendance and revenues are disappointing. That's hardly surprising. The hype and publicity and exaggerated claims create a level of expectation that's hard to support, and the inflated prices of everything from hot dogs to hotel rooms is absurd. This kind of insistence on constantly "topping" what's come before exists with Super Bowl halftime shows, entertainment award shows (they are proliferating in number as well as production extremes), parades for any variety of causes, political rallies, and even fundraising. The more the pressure to "better" and "outdo" the past attempts as a metric of current success, the more you're prone to fall short. No one has ever sung the Star Spangled Banner better than Whitney Houston, so stop trying to create a canonical version, and just sing the song. Tom Brady wasn't trying to be better than Joe Montana or Johnny Unitas, just the best quarterback he could be.Picasso was just trying to be Picasso. They're wondering why attendance is down when a t

SHOW NOTES: Steven Spielberg created Jaws and Close Encounters. He used technology for the shark and the spaceship. But he used talent for the creation. Pablo Picasso famously relied on Ripolin, a quick-drying, glossy commercial house paint, instead of traditional artist oils. For tools, he used oversized, long-handled bristle brushes, and stiff palette knives for impasto textures. But the painting Guernica was the result of his talent. Bach created the Brandenburg concertos and the musical advancements that most helped him were the rise of flexible "well-temperament" tuning and the rapid development of the Italian concerto style. Together, these innovations allowed him to achieve his legendary harmonic complexity and contrapuntal mastery. But the talent was already there. Houdini created incredible illusions and escapes using hidden keys, sleight of hand, mirrors, and secret hatched. But the design and the implementation were due to his talent. Focus on your talent, not technology. A microphone can enhance

SHOW NOTES: Long ago the Canadian sociologist and business expert, Marshall McLuhan, talked about the "mixed media affect," meaning that experts in one area often migrated to other areas where they are not expert. So you had athletes, entertainers, artists, actors, and random "celebrities" pontificating in fields where they are not expert at all. Barbra Streisand was representative of this phenomenon, with continual political commentary on her web site, at concerts, and in guest appearances. I was in attendance once in Boston Garden, where, in addition to her song lyrics (she couldn't remember them) on the Jumbotron hanging from the roof, was her political "patter" and jibes at the Bushes. (This prompted Laura Ingraham's book, Shut Up and Sing.) At the recent Tony Awards, always great because these are stage actors who don't expect teleprompters and second "takes," a surprise winner for featured actor was Ali Louis Bourzgui for "Lost Boys." He pulled a couple of sheets from his jacket and condemned fascism,

SHOW NOTES: We’ve lost trust in major institutions: universities, medicine, journalism, the law, politicians, religion. (The recent rise in Catholic converts and church attendance is not due to any great marketing by the church, but rather due to a desperate need for a source of faith by many.) We tend to see AI as a magic bullet that will help us out of our uncertainly, lack of success, confusion, and sense of loneliness. Yet AI is the product of humans and has the notorious imperfections that one would expect. My GPS, spell check, computer, and other technology has glitches and errors. They are far from perfect. What we truly need is self-belief, confidence in our own judgment. We need to stop seeking the judgment of others, of others’ metrics, of others approval, and of validation for our tentative decisions. This combination of a loss of trust in ourselves and an overhyped AI by an industry seeking to make trillions is a perfect storm. Resist it. Develop faith in yourself. It doesn’t matter what hap

SHOW NOTES: At a restaurant, I’m asked if I have food allergies when I make the reservation, then by the hostess when I arrive, then by the server who has my table. While I appreciate all the precautions, I think they’re afraid of being sued. Isn’t it the responsibility of someone with a serious food allergy who’s make the decision to dine in a restaurant to inform people themselves? The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, a wonderful place, actually has a sign informing its guests that the china, which has artful designs and craftsman ship, has potential cancer-causing agents in the art work. Since these are decorative “chargers” and not used for food, a guest would have to chew on the gold leaf to ingest anything remotely dangerous. People complain that prospects are constantly “ghosting” them and it’s an epidemic of rude behavior. Well, the commonality is the person ghosted, so perhaps they aren’t offering sufficient interest of value to justify a return call and that prospect doesn’t want to waste still

SHOW NOTES: Wherein Alan shares his views of exotic car density, cab maneuvers, High Tea, American advantages in admiring the Royals, and the lies and deception around priority luggage.

SHOW NOTES: “No worries” doesn’t mean “you’re welcome” it means “You didn’t bother me all that much.” “Perfect” doesn’t mean “thank you” it means “You got that right and didn’t waste still more of my time.” “You guys” is terribly inappropriate if the people addressed are not entirely “guys,” and is most misused by women, especially women in the media. “February” and “library” each have two “r’s” in them, or the first is not a month and the second is some kind of fibbing fruit on a vine. These usages are all square pegs attempting to fill round holes, and they’re battered by people who just can’t pass the test. “No worries,” you guys weren’t “perfect.”

SHOW NOTES: The fallacy is that you should be prepared to “spring” in a sales call to “pitch” the sale, like a cheetah on the Serengeti chasing an eland. Well, cheetahs can only maintain high speed for a limited duration, and they’re only successful getting a meal one time in ten (as are all predators). One time in ten is not sufficient for a successful career. We need to empty our heads, and not allow our minds to be crammed with facts, figures, “closing” language, and one-upmanship comments. To “stay in the moment,” which we’re constantly told, we need to listen and watch, not talk and pontificate. The sales “pitch” was already ineffective in the 1950s, but even today you hear about the elevator pitch or the airplane pitch from people who don’t have a clue and cannot sell a thing (which means they’re on Linkedin). Follow my lead. Empty your mind to stay in the moment. And it may just become your moment of glory. The eland is caught, your family is fed, nine times out of ten.

SHOW NOTES: The following guest column by Randy Gage is an excerpt from his new book, Wealth Without Apology, which is being released this week, and which will be the subject of my conversation with him on my podcast this Thursday: Alan Weiss's The uncomfortable Truth Magnitude of Scale: Why Thinking Bigger Pays Better I’m currently conducting a comprehensive, groundbreaking, rigorous, cross-sectional, peer-reviewed, gold-standard, double-blind, placebo-controlled, first-of-its-kind, breakthrough, scientific research study. The purpose of the study is to test the following hypothesis: In today’s environment, it is easier to become a billionaire than a millionaire. This premise may not be as cheeky as it sounds. As I told you earlier, it’s surprisingly easier to earn a large amount of money quickly than it is to earn a small amount of money over a longer period. This is due in large part to a dynamic I call the “Magnitude of Scale Effect.” Put simply… The more bold, audacious, and breathtaking an endeavor is