Category Archives: Alan’s Monday Morning Memo

May 20, 2013—Issue #191

This week’s focus point: I’m sitting in a villa in Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany. It is incredibly beautiful and peaceful. Instead of rushing from monument to monument and checking off historical points of interest, we’re simply spending a week immersed in the local culture and environment. We can walk or bike to shops, have some wine and espresso, and have high quality family time (there are 8 of us). You can’t find a bad meal in Italy, and cousin Jimmy and I are about to head out for morning coffee. We don’t have to go to Italy to realize that it’s important to obtain quality “down time,” which isn’t accomplished during “vacations” where we’re engaged in scavenger hunts to find every novelty and benefit possible in five days. Sometimes “domani” is a fine decision. It’s tough to live when you’re not enjoying life.

Monday Morning Perspective: Age is such a high price to pay for maturity. — Tom Stoppard (one of my favorite quotes of all time)

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© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

May 13, 2013—Issue #190

This week’s focus point: I don’t believe others intimidate us. I believe we allow ourselves to be intimidated through self-limiting beliefs and lack of self-worth. My experience in board rooms is that there is present the same insecurities, emotionalism, turf battles, uncertainties, and poor judgment that exists on the factory floor or in the sales force. They are just playing with higher amounts of money (that’s not their own). Titles and position do not create character, only business cards. I’ve met professors so bigoted that they are pathetic, and CEOs so vacillating that I want to shout, “DECIDE!!” Generally, the more initials after one’s name, the more suspicious I get. We are all individuals of worth and value to others if we choose to be, and once we act that way we can stand toe-to-toe with anyone. In fact, often that’s the only position from which we can be of real help.

Monday Morning Perspective: We’re not in this to test the waters, we are in this to make waves. — Unknown

May 15 World View Deadline: Only two days left to subscribe to Alan Weiss’s Common Sense® World View Weekly Video with one-third off, a few bucks a week, for five minutes of insights about life, business, global affairs, economic trends, and relationships. Sample videos and registration: http://www.summitconsulting.com/seminars/Alans-Common-Sense-World-View.php

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ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

May 6, 2013—Issue #189

This week’s focus point: A “futurist” told me once that the next decade would be all about “credentialling.” He couldn’t have been more wrong. (The more initials I see after someone’s name, the more suspicious I get.) Futurists, of course, are never held accountable for their predictions. The future is about talent and competence. Home schooling has demonstrated that dumping kids into uninspiring “factories” of education isn’t mandatory (and perhaps not even desirable). Expert assessments are going to replace diplomas. Can you do this job and achieve this result? I’m not talking about standardized tests, but about demonstrations of ability. “Six years of experience” is often six years of mediocre performance. If you can pass the Bar exam, why attend law school for three years? If you can teach effectively, why spend years pursuing (usually vacuous) education degrees? If you can perform well as an insurance underwriter, why would a formal BA degree help? You get promoted in the workplace based on outstanding performance, not company-issued degrees. Too many people are educated and incompetent, and many are formally uneducated but brilliant. Let’s acknowledge that.

Monday Morning Perspective: That our national anthem is difficult to understand and hard to use should not be surprising since it was written by a lawyer. — Letter in the Wall Street Journal about Francis Scott Key

Alan Weiss’s Common Sense® Worldview: Only nine days left for 30% discount and a few bucks a week for insights into life, work, relationships, and opportunities globally. http://www.summitconsulting.com/seminars/Alans-Common-Sense-World-View.php

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Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
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ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

April 29, 2013—Issue #188

This week’s focus point: When my daughter was young, she used to call “instructions” by another name: “destructions.” And watching me assemble a bike or replace flashlight batteries at times certainly merited the latter. Yet complexity was one fiftieth then of what it is now. I received a video instruction kit for my pool vacuum, and a 30-page manual for my electric toothbrush. A third of these are warnings, another third are technical specifications, and the final third are abstruse instructions that could only have been created by an engineer consulting a lawyer. We need to use our judgment, intellect, and common sense far more. I didn’t have to teach my dog, Bentley, how to fetch a ball. Learning to ride a bike is totally experiential. I could read the Bible faster than my car’s owner’s manual. Let’s give ourselves a break, exercise our brains, and not turn the simple into the complex. That applies to our relationships, help, and learning as well. It’s not “garbage in, garbage out” these days. It’s “garbage in, garbage gets stuck and clogs everything up.”

Monday Morning Perspective: Thirty percent of the people love life and fear death. Thirty percent of the people prefer death and avoid life. Thirty percent of the people fear both life and death. Only ten percent of the people have the wisdom to accept both life and death as facts, and simply enjoy the dance of existence. — The Tao of Leadership

Common Sense Worldview: One-third discount only until May 15, a couple of dollars a week for provocative views of our life and times. You can watch two videos and sign up here: http://www.summitconsulting.com/seminars/Alans-Common-Sense-World-View.php

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Privacy statement: Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

April 22, 2013—Issue #187

This week’s focus point: The Boston tragedy demonstrated more than anything the basic goodness in people. Strangers helped others without hesitation. The requests of the authorities were accepted without whining or demands for exceptions. The capacity that we all possess to support, assist, and help others is extraordinary. Sometimes it takes trauma to highlight it, but the potential is there every day. It may be appropriate this week to think about donating time or money to a charity, coaching someone who needs help, or even giving someone a break trying to turn across traffic. We shouldn’t need catastrophe to bring out our true character.

Monday Morning Perspective: To free oneself is only the beginning. The real problem is to live in freedom. — André Gide

Alan’s Common Sense World View Weekly Video: Still time to join people all over the world to receive my weekly world view five-minute video, a great companion to Common Sense Consulting. Thirty percent discount prior to May 15: http://www.summitconsulting.com/seminars/Alans-Common-Sense-World-View.php

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Privacy statement: Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

April 15, 2013—Issue #186

This week’s focus point: Every day we write the story of our lives, a continuing autobiography. I suspect that if we took the time to read it regularly, we might choose to change the plot! Some of us are rooted in a poverty mentality, as if we’re trying merely to survive; some are in stability, feeling alive; some have an abundance mentality, feeling it’s good to arrive; and a few are in self-mastery, believing they can thrive. As we ascend, the key is to avoid sliding back, and to create water-tight, closed doors behind us. How interesting is your story? You can still change it.

Monday Morning Perspective: In seasons of pestilence, some of us will have a secret attraction to the disease–a terrible passing inclination to die of it. All of us have like wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them. — Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities”

NEW: Alan’s Common Sense World View: Interested in a five-minute video weekly on the world around us, trends, opportunities, interpretations, and positive vibes? I’m shooting it every week, no matter where I am in the world. It will start in June. It’s $295 for a full year, but $175 for my Monday Morning Memo readers if you sign up by May 15. Use this page: http://summitconsulting.com/store/quick-pay.php or send a check to Box 1009, East Greenwich, RI 02818 made out to Summit Consulting Group, Inc. (This is DIFFERENT from the Common Sense Consulting® Weekly Video, which is directed at the consulting profession. This is for people who want positive, pragmatic help to thrive, no matter what their occupation or avocation.)

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Privacy statement: Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

April 8, 2013—Issue #185

This week’s focus point: Very often I say to a coaching client struggling with an obstacle, “What would you advise one of YOUR clients to do?” They respond quickly with good advice, and I ask, “Why don’t you do the same thing?” (This is why I make the big bucks!) We’re more confident advising others than making decisions for ourselves. That’s because we’re confident we can guide the client, make mid-course corrections, and reduce risk. But we see our personal decisions as world-changing and momentous. We need to trust ourselves more. Understand that most decisions are changeable, modifiable, even reversible without making headlines. After all, if you trust those drivers doing 70 miles per hour on the interstate, or the dentist with a drill in hand, or the trainer holding weights over your head–you ought to be able to trust yourself.

Monday Morning Perspective: I envy those people who truly understand that life is a fragile bargain, rescindable at any time by the other party, and live their lives accordingly. — Joseph Epstein, “A Line Out for A Walk”

Consulting College: Still time to participate in this unique growth experience: http://summitconsulting.com/consulting-college/consulting_college_2013-04.php

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Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
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ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

April 1, 2013—Issue #184

This week’s focus point: If you’re going to bill by a time unit, then you believe your value is in the time you invest. But your value is actually in the results you produce. Beethoven and Picasso are not inspiring for the time they put in, but for their lasting impact. None of us is paid to take action. We are paid to generate results. “Deliverables” is a term of the low levels in an organization of any type. And it’s unethical when your billing process (higher pay for more time) is at odds with your client’s best interests (quick resolutions). What value are you bringing to others, and what is it worth? The first sale is to yourself

Monday Morning Perspective: Cambiano i dischi, ma la musica e sempre quella. (They keep changing the record, but the music is still the same.) — Italian saying

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Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
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ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

March 25, 2013—Issue #183

This week’s focus point: In my coaching program, we keep a journal of every session so that the client and I can both trace progress. On AlansForums.com we can easily see when various threads were originated. Some people make rapid progress, others are asking the same questions and sighing the same sighs months later. We will be the exact same person we are today in five years, EXCEPT for the choices we make in the interim. We are not living a Calvinistic predestination in my opinion, but rather a life filled with alternatives, choices, options, and new roads. I’ve found, unsurprisingly, that most people who feel “trapped” and unable to change actually make no choices involving change. For a refreshingly different perspective, you may want to visit this post on my blog: http://www.contrarianconsulting.com/why-i-do-what-i-do/. What will you change to improve your life this week?

Monday Morning Perspective: No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. — Robespierre

My Super Coaching Program: http://summitconsulting.com/seminars/Supercharged-Coaching.php

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Privacy statement: Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved

March 18, 2013—Issue #182

This week’s focus point: When “Chicken Soup for the Soul” became successful, I was besieged to contribute to a hundred derivative works by uncreative others: “Turkey Liver for the Spleen,” “Pickled Herring for the Hair.” These “authors” are the terminally derivative. They seek coattails and not creativity. Yet, objurgation is not my intent, for the rest of us stand out when so many are merely copying. What are you doing to make yourself singular? You won’t stand out with the ten-thousandth book on “team building,” but you will with the first book that says teamwork usually fails because most organizations use committees, not teams, and don’t realize the difference. Stop jumping on the bandwagon and start building your jet.

Monday Morning Perspective: Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. Hannah Moore.

Very intensive coaching with the master: http://summitconsulting.com/seminars/Supercharged-Coaching.php

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Privacy statement: Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
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ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2013. All rights reserved