Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®

Alan Weiss
  • 4.8 (4)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Daily

Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth® is a weekly broadcast from “The Rock Star of Consulting,” Alan Weiss, who holds forth with his best (and often most contrarian) ideas about society, culture, business, and personal growth. His 60+ books in 12 languages, and his travels to, and work in, 50 countries contribute to a fascinating and often belief-challenging 20 minutes that might just change your next 20 years.

  1. 4d ago

    The Hangar

    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.

    The Hangar

  2. Jul 23

    The Wrong End

    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.

    The Wrong End

  3. Jul 16

    Entitlement

    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 kids (no college debt) and our parents (no rent, medical bills taken care of, assisted living provided). I was the safety net, and happy to be one. Let's stop bitching and moaning and demanding that everyone else change because our every little requirement is not being met. Life IS unfair, so deal with it. We're entitled to an equal starting line and level playing field, but not to an equal finish. That's determined by talent and discipline and accountability. Even if you successfully blame someone else, you haven't improved your condition. And you're probably not going to receive the help you need. If I've found one thing to be true in 40 years of consulting and coaching, it's that you can't help anyone who doesn't want to be truly helped, as opposed to just receiving a handout. If you're not willing to help yourself, why should anyone else try to help you?

    Entitlement

  4. Jul 9

    Survey This

    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'll receive a survey after this call, and I'd appreciate your giving me a strong rating." You'll always receive one of these after every Uber trip, along with the tip suggestion. I'm told that Uber drivers rate their customers, as well, and those customers who have given low ratings aren't responded to as rapidly as those who've given high ratings. I don't know if that's true, but I would suspect it is. Please don't rate this podcast. But then again, no one is asking you to do so.

    Survey This

  5. Jul 2

    Bigger Isn't Better

    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-absorption. Try for quality, not quantity, and certainly not volume.

    Bigger Isn't Better

  6. Jun 25

    The Road to Excess

    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 train ticket was $15 is now $150 to get to the Meadowlands in New Jersey from Penn Station in Manhattan, and it can cost as much as $175 to park at Gillette Stadium on Foxboro, MA for the World Cup (where it's $50 for Patriot game). The road to excess had a lot of potholes.

    The Road to Excess

  7. Jun 18

    Talent and Tech

    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 volume but won't help you to naturally sing on key. Superb skis and advance waxes can help your skiing speed and control, but are no replacement for quick reflexes and physical stamina. Technology, whether AI or a remote control, can enhance your abilities and success, but they can't replace your judgment and native talent, unless you try to allow them to, which will only atrophy your unique abilities.

    Talent and Tech

  8. Jun 11

    The Mixed Media Affect

    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, racism, misogyny, colonialism, stolen lands, and it seemed also mosquitos and loud noises. It never ended. Fortunately, it was the exception on a stage where the mixed media affect used to predominate. Moreover, no one seems to care anymore. The group on The View, a notoriously liberal and polarizing television cast, embraced Kamala Harris physically and intellectually when she visited them while running for president. And look what happened to her. So ignore the otherwise notable figures who are stepping out of their field of expertise and/or talent. They're just richer, they ain't smarter.

    The Mixed Media Affect
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About

Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth® is a weekly broadcast from “The Rock Star of Consulting,” Alan Weiss, who holds forth with his best (and often most contrarian) ideas about society, culture, business, and personal growth. His 60+ books in 12 languages, and his travels to, and work in, 50 countries contribute to a fascinating and often belief-challenging 20 minutes that might just change your next 20 years.

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