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You Never Know

You Never Know

In my weekly Alan’s Monday Morning Memo®® yesterday, Memorial Day in the U.S., I simply posted a photo of the graves at the American Cemetery in Normandy, with the request that we pause and remember those who have served and protected us. (The photo will probably appear here on the blog shortly, since the Monday Morning Memo® is archived here.) Quite a few people wrote in support, some mentioning that people from other nations also were buried there.

This morning 9 people unsubscribed. That’s a small fraction of a percentage of total readership, and I respect people deciding to read and not read what they choose. I do it all the time.

But that photo and request seem like a strange reason to decide at that point to stop receiving the publication, which was apparently fine for them until then. Some things are beyond my understanding.

Written by

Alan Weiss is a consultant, speaker, and author of over 60 books. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients from over 500 leading organizations around the world.

Comments: 12

  • Alan Weiss

    June 1, 2011

    Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I never thought of the D-Day invasion and freeing Europe as American hegemony. And I always thought, no matter what your politics, you blame the politicians, not the people in uniform serving the flag. I appreciate your insights very much.

    You need to live with dogs to understand all the cartoons. I write them for dogs.

  • Aras Geylani

    June 1, 2011

    Hi Alan,
    You publish many types of content (video, audio, blog, cartoons, etc.) But within each type there is a consistency. Your Monday Memo newsletter arrives in a familiar consistent format: banner with your picture and a beautiful car, tagline, date, body, copyright, footer with command links. Your recent newsletter was a sudden departure from the norm. A picture can worth a thousand words, but I sincerely doubt many people can utter them. When I see the headlines of your newsletter in my Inbox I expect certain things. A second less likely reason could be that those readers see you as a consultant, not a politician. American foreign policy, troubles in the Middle East, and the state of American economy, the mere sight of wartime cemetery can easily overshadow sincere wishes to remember the dead of war, and instead project an image of American hegemony.
    I think it was a thoughtful issue. Keep up your good work, I love them, sometimes I don’t understand the cartoons but I am sure Koufax wouldn’t unsubscribe. 🙂

    Sincerely,
    Aras

  • Matthias Bohlen

    June 3, 2011

    Alan, it may have been a pure coincidence. How is the mean number of people unsubscribing per day and how is its standard deviation (sigma)? If 9 is less than or equal to mean+3*sigma, it is a common cause, not a special cause. If 9 is greater than mean+3*sigma, it makes sense to start thinking about it.

  • Alan Weiss

    June 3, 2011

    Exactly what I suspected, the delta PI cusp didn’t equal /6#%8, or less.

  • Mike S

    June 5, 2011

    Alan. I think your reply was funny as hell, but I also thought Matthias had a good point.

    Mike

  • Rene' Vidal

    June 18, 2011

    Picture, no picture. Christmas list, Hannukah list. Whatever, who cares.
    Alan Weiss, you’re a mensch doing amazing work. Isn’t the first question, “Did you conduct your business honestly?”
    Many, many thanks.
    –Rene’ Vidal

  • Alan Weiss

    June 19, 2011

    No, because that should be implicit, not a question you have to ask, but I get your point.

    • Rene' Vidal

      July 3, 2011

      Integrity is just a ticket to the game–Jack Welch.
      Jewish tradition: God’s first question: “Did you conduct business honestly?” Not hammering, clarifying-poor writing my part.

      For fun, latest dumbing down example: my 8 year old’s 4th place tennis trophy-6 kids in tournament. Upside-he wasn’t happy with plaque.

  • Rene' Vidal

    July 4, 2011

    he has full docket on pardoning.
    tournament directors want repeat business :).
    ebonics not far from clayton, called east st. louis.
    keep keeping score, quote by mao tse is fabulous.
    best and happy 4th.

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