Category Archives: Alan’s Monday Morning Memo

Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 11/28/11

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Alan Weiss

November 28, 2011—Issue #114

This week’s focus point: I’m just back from Australia, and heading to Canada to make a speech. Earlier this year I was in Germany and Italy. We are living in a global economy (as the markets reflect every morning), with more similarities than dissimilarities. As an entrepreneur, how much effort are you investing in becoming a global presence? Whether in person, remotely, through alliances, or by attracting people to you, your value and your impact are not circumscribed by national borders. As kids we were sometimes afraid to “step over the line.” We’re not kids any more, and we’re not confined to our backyards.

Monday Morning Perspective: We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others. — Le Duc de La Rochefoucauld

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ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 11/21/11

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Alan Weiss

November 21, 2011—Issue #113

This week’s focus point: Influence is in inverse proportion to distance. It’s easiest to influence when we’re together, which is why politicians still travel the country making speeches and shaking hands. Email is one dimensional, phone two dimensional, meetings three dimensional. Yet so many in business default to email instead of personal contact. No one has ever charmed me with an email, and the last major purchase I made due to a cold phone call was in 1988. But enthusiasm is contagious when we’re face-to-face.

Monday Morning Welcome: Welcome to all the new subscribers from the UK and beyond in response to kind words from Andy Bounds!

Monday Morning Perspective: Give me only a place to stand and I can move the world. — Archimedes of Syracuse (who invented the lever and discovered leverage)

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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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 11/14/11

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Alan Weiss

November 14, 2011—Issue #112

This week’s focus point: To expect ethical behavior, there must be awareness of conditions, values that determine what is and isn’t appropriate, and skills to resolve the issue. Awareness and values without skills create “can’t act.” Awareness and skills without values create “don’t care to act.” Values and skills without awareness create “don’t know anything that prompts me to act.” All three are required for organizations and individuals to act properly.

Monday Morning Perspective: It’s better to be humble than hung. — George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

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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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 11/07/11

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Alan Weiss

November 7, 2011—Issue #111

This week’s focus point: We’re seeing financial dynamics in the U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere that are only tangentially related to the recent economic turndowns. The fact is that with aging demographics, westernized countries cannot fuel the benefits that these populations promised themselves without extraordinary growth. Even pre-recession, there had been insufficient growth to build and sustain the retirement and medical support that had been put in place over the past 50 years. This was as obvious as a ham sandwich, with an insufficient number of workers to support a growing number of retirees. The problem has been the continuing reluctance and delay in making decisions about how to resolve this inexorable and obvious mathematics problem. For society and business–and much of nature–continual and robust growth is essential to success. We shouldn’t plan to “reduce our way into the future.” When times get tough, what might have been difficult decisions in the best of times become polarizing ones in the worst of times.

Monday Morning Perspective: It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; the former lies on the surface, this is quite manageable. The latter resides in depth, and this quest is not everyone’s business. — Goethe

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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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 10/31/11

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Alan Weiss

October 31, 2011—Issue #110

This week’s focus point: I’ve never seen a company or institution with unhappy employees and happy customers. Employees are assets, not expenses, yet many executives think they should be investing in equipment maintenance but not people maintenance. Among the worst offenders are banks, newspapers, and airlines. Apparently, Qantas would rather close its operation, ground its fleet, and inconvenience tens of thousands of customers than try to resolve its people issues. TWA, Eastern, and others were all driven out of business by horrible management-labor relationships. Neither unions nor management are always right or always wrong, but when you decide to take your ball and leave the playground you are a child, not an adult.

Monday Morning Perspective: He can board and carry an enemy frigate with guns roaring and drums beating in a couple of minutes; but that is no way to give a girl much pleasure. — Diane Villiers describing Jack Aubrey in “The Yellow Admiral,” one of Patrick O’Brian’s series of naval novels.

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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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 10/24/11

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Alan Weiss

October 24, 2011—Issue #109

This week’s focus point: Business growth superstar David Maister was my guest at my annual Thought Leadership Workshop in Palm Beach last week. Among his gems: “How much you really want something will determine how hard you work to achieve it. Most of us know what to do, we just don’t do it.” That’s why passion is so important in our personal and working lives. Don’t try to make money and become passionate about it. Find your passions, engage and help others, and you’ll earn a wonderful living.

Monday Morning Perspective: Whatever is morally necessary must be made politically possible. — Eugene McCarthy, when running for President.

Hear me weekly or monthly in 2012:
Friday Wrap: http://www.summitconsulting.com/seminars/friday-wrap.php
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You may subscribe and encourage others to subscribe by clicking HERE.

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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 10/17/11

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Alan Weiss

October 17, 2011—Issue #108

This week’s focus point: Perspective is everything. Your “frame of reference” is about what picture you’re viewing. Don’t assume it’s always the same as the next person’s. I remember party lines and rotary phones. Many people with whom I deal today have never used a landline phone. I had to parallel park to obtain my driver’s license, but today it’s more like demolition derby! Teachers wore suits in my school, today they wear jeans (but that doesn’t mean they’re inferior, just dressed differently). Don’t be permanently imprinted, like a newborn duckling, thinking the first thing it sees is its mother. Eliminate “imprint bias” through travel, self-development, education, diverse friends, and experimentation. That duck may be somebody’s mother, but it’s not yours! (How many of you remember that line, for example?!)

Monday Morning Perspective: Wit is the denial of suffering. — Sigmund Freud

Increase your “hits” from Alan: You can now sign up for my 2012 Friday Wrap and/or Advanced Teleconference Series. Early bird discounts.
http://summitconsulting.com/seminars/friday-wrap.php
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You may subscribe and encourage others to subscribe by clicking HERE.

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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 10/10/11

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Alan Weiss

October 10, 2011—Issue #107

This week’s focus point: “There were giants in the earth….” Sometimes we’re privileged to see the giants amongst us, and Steve Jobs was such a man. While claims about the causes of success range from luck to 10,000 repetitions, it seems to me that Jobs demonstrated a very pragmatic focus to “jump on the next big thing.” He was convinced that if you didn’t merely react but actually created need, the market would respond. He had no fear of larger competitors (and eventually they became smaller), nor of failure, nor of public opinion. He maintained his privacy and used impending death to gain perspective on life. Existentialism focuses on free will and the meaning of life. We could do a lot worse than offering Steve Jobs as a subject in every high school in the land.

Monday Morning Perspective: Example isn’t the main thing influencing others. It’s the only thing. — Albert Schweitzer (repeated here from an earlier issue deliberately)

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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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 10/03/11

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Alan Weiss

October 3, 2011—Issue #106

This week’s focus point: Deal versus loyalty? That’s the big issue in the “coupon wars.” I recall a training firm which would grow desperate to meet its annual goals, and offer huge discounts in the fourth quarter. Then they would offer huge discounts in December. Two-thirds of the entire year wound up in the fourth quarter, and two-thirds of that in December, because clients knew what to wait for, thereby creating a vicious cycle. Provide value, build relationships, nurture loyalty. “Fire sales” and coupons won’t entice the most important customers IF you treat them as your most important customers all year long.

Monday Morning Perspective: Sed quis Custodiet ipsos Custodes? (Who shall guard us from the guardians?) — Juvenal

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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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 09/26/11

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Alan Weiss

September 26, 2011—Issue #105

This week’s focus point: Here’s what we know: We live on a giant hunk of cosmic rock hurtling at 85,000 miles an hour around a constantly exploding star. Why shouldn’t we take prudent risk, have faith in ourselves, and live in the moment? I doubt that any of us will regret late in life that we didn’t spend more time at the office. Look around you and don’t merely smell the roses. Plant some. Work hard and play with gusto. Don’t throw life away by thinking you can make up for what you miss today, tomorrow.

Monday Morning Perspective: If horses and cattle did theology, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle. — Xenophanes, cited by Robert Wright in “The Evolution of God”

You may subscribe and encourage others to subscribe by clicking HERE.

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 2011. All rights reserved

I remember a meeting with a boutique consulting firm that had fallen on hard times. The debate was whether or not to sell their magnificent conference table. “Where would clients sit?” asked one partner. “We have no clients,” stated the advocate of selling. You can’t cut your way to renewal or success. Top line growth is the key to bottom line achievement, for you and for your clients. Today is the time to invest in the future. Once you cut muscle, you’re powerless.
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