Category Archives: Alan’s Monday Morning Memo

Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 12/27/11

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Alan Weiss

December 27, 2011—Issue #118

This week’s focus point: In the U.S., housing has bottomed out and shows small improvements. Retail sales are up four percent from last year’s holiday period, surpassing projections. The market is over 12,000 as I write this. Unemployment is marginally reduced. The Europeans seem to be figuring out how to shore up the euro and avoid national defaults. These events don’t represent radical improvement, perhaps, but they do represent progress. You’d never know from most media outlets. Beware of people paid to be cynics, promoted for skepticism, mavens of catastrophe. Unsurprisingly, they become quite good at it and incapable of seeing or reporting anything else.

Monday Morning Perspective: Justice, I think is the tolerable accommodation of the conflicting interests of society, and I don’t believe there is any royal road to attain such accommodations concretely. — Justice Learned Hand

Happy New Year!

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© 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 – 12/19/11

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Alan Weiss

December 19, 2011—Issue #117

This week’s focus point: I’m writing this deliberately before the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots meet in a football game later today. If Denver quarterback Tim Tebow is on the winning side, with a record of 7-1 to this point, at 8-1 people will say he’s the “real thing” since the Patriots are a strong team. If he loses, all of his detractors will say, “I told you so.” But do you know what he’ll be properly called if his team loses? He’ll be called 7-2, still pretty fine! Leadership doesn’t have to be technically perfect. Leaders from Grant at Vicksburg to Welch at GE have made errors, and plenty of them. Leaders don’t have to charm people. Steve Jobs seldom did. Leadership is seldom about hierarchical position, expertise, or the ability to reward and punish. It’s about “referent power”: I admire you, believe in you, and intend to follow you. That results in commitment and not mere compliance. And it means ignoring the detractors who can’t even play the game.

Monday Morning Perspective: A man blowing a trumpet successfully is a rousing spectacle. — Rhys Davies (Welsh writer)

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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 – 12/12/11

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Alan Weiss

December 12, 2011—Issue #116

This week’s focus point: Brevity isn’t merely the soul of wit (Hamlet). We seem obsessed with telling people everything we know rather than what they need to know (hence, all those boring undergraduate lectures). Keep two factors in mind in business: speed and brevity. The more quickly you help others, the more valuable you are. Of course, that entails the suppression of ego and a true focus on helping, and a strong self-esteem that doesn’t require that you continually prove how smart you are. Enough said.

Monday Morning Perspective: If an offense come out of the truth, better it is that the offense come than that the truth be concealed. — St. Jerome, cited by John Toland in “Captured by History”

Deadlines Approaching: December 15 deadline for 2012 discounts on Friday Wrap and Thought Leadership experiences.
http://www.summitconsulting.com/seminars/friday-wrap.php
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Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
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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 – 12/05/11

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Alan Weiss

December 5, 2011—Issue #115

This week’s focus point: The lessons from American Airlines’ bankruptcy include learning for all of us: You can’t build staggering debt loads to finance yourself; there has never been a long-term example of unhappy employees and happy customers, so establish constructive labor relations; you lead from the front, not within the pack; and you don’t cut your way to growth (removing pillows and olives is beyond stupid, it’s amateurish). What practices do your clients employ? What do you, yourself, do? Grab a pillow, eat an olive, and invest in your employee and customer relations.

Monday Morning Perspective: The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Special Teleconference: 5T: The Totally Tremendous 2012 http://summitconsulting.com/seminars/the-totally-tremendous-2012.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 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 – 11/28/11

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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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 – 11/21/11

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.

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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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