Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®

Alan Weiss

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. That's All I Have

    5D AGO

    That's All I Have

    SHOW NOTES: We had left Vigil Mass on Saturday night where I helped serve Communion as a Eucharistic Minister. (I’ll be the lector next week.) We drove ten minutes to the restaurant for dinner and immediately heard of the shooting at Brown University. (And as I write this, a similar horror at Bondi Beach in Australia which was aimed at Jews celebrating the start of Hanukkah.) The streets, the classrooms, public gatherings—none is immune to the violence of the mentally ill, the racist, the anti-Semitic, the terrorists, the disaffected who merely seek to kill. Luigi Mangione, who killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York street, captured on camera, has pleaded not guilty, and some people have raised a fund for his defense. Do we kill the school principle if our child has failed a test? Do we murder the coach if our home team is terrible? (Gamblers are currently threatening athletes to underperform which will reward their betting.) Do we kill the event planner if the wedding is not to our liking, or the chef for a bad meal? In the US, our government representatives are cowardly in not taking action on a bipartisan level to remove the mentally ill from the streets and to enforce stricter gun control laws. (I easily remember all the Representatives and Senators immediately after 9/11 standing on the Capitol steps singing God Bless America together. I drove home cross-country from LA with a client, and we saw cities, bridges, and countrysides adorned with American flags.) I am not ever again providing funds or voting for anyone of any party who does not make these points a campaign pledge with a plan to implement. I know there are some of you who resent even a political taint to what I write here, but this is non-partisan, this is a call for freedom—the freedom from violence. We have a right to conduct productive lives and to live and raise our children in safety. When I was a child, poor and in an inner city, I could walk the streets alone, even at night, without fear and without my parents fearing for me. Early this morning, 15 minutes from Brown where I live, I considered taking my gun to walk the dogs in the dark patches of our own lighted backyard. (I didn’t. But I thought about it.) Some people object to “thoughts and prayers” as if they are of no value. I disagree. And I offer them to the families, to our communities, to all of us. Right now, at this moment, that’s all I have.

    4 min
  2. Political Bloviation

    DEC 11

    Political Bloviation

    SHOW NOTES: I am neither aware nor unaware. Did. you lobby to get her on the board? She'll make an excellent board member. But did you arrange for her appointment. She's a stellar candidate. Weren't you in charge of this huge problem area? No, I inherited it. But before that you were a top officer of the company. Surely you must have known that the operations were illegal. Under my watch we reduced the impropriety by 41%. I have not spoken to the man but have made it clear that I would do so if he came to me. I have not seen the footage in question but I believe, based on what I know is in it, that everyone should see it. It is not our job to investigate the competency or work of the bridge inspectors, or to tell them where we think the problems may be. I am not asking you to coach me for free, I am asking for your advice on an issue. It depends what "it" is. I didn't come in here, and I'm not leaving.

    6 min
  3. Alone Again, Or Maybe Not

    DEC 4

    Alone Again, Or Maybe Not

    SHOW NOTES: I heard an "influencer" today on a morning talk show explain that dating, or having any ongoing relationship, is no longer considered favorable. In fact, he pointed out, many people are finding that being single—is "aspirational." Now, I can understand independence and self-sufficiency, hell, I write about them as positive traits. But to seek to remain unattached to another person as "aspirational"? We all need others. We need companionship, love, solace in defeat, and celebration in victory. Many of us have visited foreign lands, scuba dived, engaged in competitions, faced health issues, suffered trauma. Doing so alone makes defeat into cataclysm and victory into evanescence. It's healthy to be able to be effective and happy alone. But I doubt it's healthy to want to achieve that as some aspirational life goal. It takes accountability and sacrifice to be in any kind of relationship. Perhaps being alone isn't so much a goal and as escape.

    5 min
  4. The Courage of Your Talent

    NOV 28

    The Courage of Your Talent

    SHOW NOTES: I've been consulting, coaching, advising and otherwise helping people to achieve success, personally and professionally, for over half a century. Those clients include CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, top governmental elected officials, executive directors on nonprofits, solo entrepreneurs, entertainers, athletes, and lawyers, accountants, designers, architects, and a myriad of employees. Until the 21st Century kicked in, this was standard work on skills, behaviors, attitudes, and self-confidence. Then things became a bit weird, which was exciting for me, being a resource for people, but scary for them (and, I admit, a bit baffling to me). However, prior to the covid epidemic, it became clear there was a subliminal crisis of confidence brewing which, during and post-covid, burst into the open and became its own pandemic. Many might say the causes were obvious: conflicting medical opinions, tainted political agendas, paranoid conspiracy theories, and all of this inflamed by social media random misinformation and speculation. Yet as I watched the confusion, uncertainty, and vacillation, I realized the actual causes were an unprecedented feeling of powerlessness, an unsatisfied need to receive some kind of "permission" to act, and a profound loss of self-esteem and self-worth. "Self-esteem," for simplicity's sake for the moment, is a confidence in one's abilities to achieve desired results, and an ongoing self-respect irrespective of whether the individual is successful. It's not about ongoing "victories" or "wins," but it is about a permanent sense of "worth." For many people, that has been lost. Like athletes in a "slump" in terms of performance, especially under pressure, people are becoming more afraid, more uncertain, as the turmoil and disruptive nature of our times continue and will not abate.

    9 min
  5. Process vs Content

    NOV 20

    Process vs Content

    SHOW NOTES: If you want to maximize your business growth, you need to generalize and not specialize. There may be exceptions, but generally, the more potential buyers you have the more business you'll generate. A content expert knows the "what." It may be insurance, or auto manufacture, or solar panels. You sell insurance to people to need insurance, auto manufacture skills to, well, auto manufacturers, and solar panels to people who desire it, have the capacity for it, and have a roof (or a large field). But a process expert knows the "how." It may be sales, customer service, decision making, conflict resolution, or negotiating. And these needs, this expertise, is needed cross-industrially and globally. Problem solving, for example, has three components (hear them on the recording) which are immutable, no matter what the circumstances. These process skills are often called "critical thinking skills," which are not sufficiently taught in schools nor recognized in workplaces. Hence, my highly successful career, and this podcast.

    7 min
  6. The Bag Lady

    NOV 13

    The Bag Lady

    SHOW NOTES: I don’t want to give this away, suffice it to say it’s about panic vs. calm, and successful marriages vs. rocky ones.

    5 min
  7. Small Business, Small Minds?

    NOV 6

    Small Business, Small Minds?

    SHOW NOTES: •Why do such a staggeringly large percentage fail? •They don't respond to inquiries when busy. •They tend to create prices based on wealth of buyer. •They don't show up, don't return calls, don't finish on time. •They don't bill in a timely manner, so cash flow is an issue. •They don't consider repairs and warranties for the buyer. •They tend to seek perfection rather than success. •They use shortcuts and blame others when they don't work. •They aren't proactive, only reactive. •They act as if their educated, wealthy customers are stupid. •They don't actively seek referrals. •They act as if the customer's ideas are absurd. Other than that, they're run wonderfully and their rate of failure is due to climate change.....

    8 min
  8. The Decline

    OCT 30

    The Decline

    SHOW NOTES: It seems as if civilization, especially the arts, are in decline. Famed authors are "mailing it in" (or really writing to try to sell a screenplay, not a book). Laugh tracks have to remind us when the writers think something is funny, but otherwise it isn't. Quiz shows, talk shows, news shows all seem out of the same mold, which is 50 years old. No newscaster ever says to a politician being interviewed, "But you didn't answer my question. It was a 'yes or no' question." Despite the decline, athletes, celebrities, news anchors, and politicians receive obscene salaries, endorsements, and benefits. We seem to have lost our taste, misplaced our judgment. We're receiving pap and being told it's wagyu beef. You might find it easier to be getting around these days. But that might have nothing to do with quality or smarts, but rather just the direction in which society is heading.

    7 min
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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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