Shows / Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®
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.
Episodes
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Honestly
My wife wasn't feeling well, so I went out to eat at 5:30 and brought her something back. When I do that, I bring my iPad and read a book at the bar. I…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Two Guys
I recorded and wrote this prior to the presidential debate. When I couldn’t publish it before the debates, I was going to abandon it. But in view of what…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Innovation
The only way to “coast” is when you’re going downhill. Even on a plateau, you have to pedal to keep moving. However, there is a way to “coast uphill.” To…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®They Shoot Horses, Dont They?
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? No, they don’t. The advent of the automobile around 1895 did not engender a huge equine genocide. We use horses today: for work…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®The Reunion
Our 60th High School Reunion On the way to the reunion We’re on Amtrak on our way to our 60th high school reunion: Emerson High School, Union City, NJ. It was…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®The Bartenders
Show Notes Mario Abbondanza and Noah Chantharangsy have been bartenders for quite a while, Mario for about a quarter century. I see them so often from the…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®The Breath of Others
We claim we don’t like elites, but we eagerly follow every ridiculous and pompous movement of the British Royals. (They’re now upset about a Nigerian trip that…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Doug Durand
I met Doug at Merck where he worked as a sales executive and I was an external consultant. Some years later, he called me from his current pharma company and…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Family Business
The old apothegm is that the first generation starts it, the second expands it, and the third ruins it. Probably not so true any more. It’s not about a…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Generosity
The best leaders and most successful people I’ve met also exemplify generosity. This is not an accident. “Generosity” means “giving or sharing,” and being…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Great Education
I was required to engage in a “liberal arts” education at Rutgers. That meant that I had to have credits in languages over two or three years, science every…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Al McCree
Al McCree is a former fighter pilot who has flown 196 missions! He is an executive in the music business and has managed all kinds of talent. He’s also worked…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®How I'd Change Education
Primary and secondary 1 End the “warehousing” of children • Chronology is silly and hundreds of years old • Socialization is important, but not at this cost •…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Conspiracies
Not just about the government or the banks or big Pharma, but even sports when YOUR team loses! “The refs were crooked, it was rigged.” 9/11 was an “inside”…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Pressure
The more pressure you feel, the more your talent is “masked” and the worse you perform. You control pressure. You can’t allow yourself to feel “judged” every…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Skechers
Do you need shoes that you can put on without touching them, without bending down, without even sitting down? Barring those whose illnesses or conditions…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Control
Some things we can control, some we can influence, and some we can neither control nor influence. It’s important to understand the differences, and it’s vital…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Electric
We’re going to need tens of millions of electric charging stations to satisfy goals for electric cars in six years set by the government. It looks like we…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Quantity Over Quality
I send out • Daily video • Monthly video • Weekly podcast • Monthly newsletter • Weekly newsletter • Blog 7 days publicly • Blog 7 days to community • Post on…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®The Post-Pandemic Blues
The pandemic is a milestone event. Even if the medical effects have been ameliorated (which is debatable), the social impact is huge and continuing. Some of…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Jeffrey Magee
Jeff is the publisher of Performance Magazine which has featured interviews of and articles from people as diverse as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Shaquille…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Rudy Giuliani
I’ve met Rudy Giuliani. We belonged to the same cigar club in New York (which has since lost its lease). Those were the days when he was still in the afterglow…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Noah Kagan II
How do you create a million dollar idea and begin earning on it in one weekend? Noah Kagan is one of my buddies and a guy I greatly admire. He’s founded and…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Irritations
Isn’t Starbucks just a tad affected when the have “baristas” and sizes like grande and venti and trenta and Huey, Dewey, and Louie? Is it possible not to want…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Discipline
One of the major issues with a lack of success is that people don’t hold themselves accountable. They fail to meet deadlines, fail to fulfill obligations. They…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Suits
If you want to see writing exhaustion, this is the series. After two pretty decent seasons, the show devolved through the ensuing six as if the writers had…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Healthcare
• We’re seeing huge changes in healthcare. • About 25% of patients used telehealth last year, far exceeding the 5% who accessed care this way before the…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®How to Improve Your Profits
• Cut your expenses: virtual assistants, subscription software, subcontracting (even in the Philippines). • Move work to the client. • Focus on advisory work…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Overdone
When you have a great talent on stage, do we really need dancers, other singers, flashing lights, and magic tricks? What does Starbucks gain giving us all…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Lowering Higher Education
•The American Council on Education reports that 33% of universities and colleges have female presidents. • In the Ivy League it’s six of eight. Several for the…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Profanity
I find the use of profanity is the last resort for the inarticulate. It’s supposed to be “daring” and “shocking” but it’s actually just lazy. I sometimes surf…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Cultural Curiosities
Have you ever wondered about how other people might see this society? The proliferation of “tip jars” when virtually no service is performed; the intense…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Devolution
The opposite of evolution is devolution. Merely moving forward in time chronologically doesn’t guarantee higher standards, better performance, or improvement…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®True to Yourself
Why do people immediately leaving a church service proceed to cut you off in the parking lot or, immediately before it, park in “no parking” fire zones? Don’t…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Higher Education
According to Google, the average college/university tuition in the US is $26,000 a year, but they range up to nearly $90,000 per year. We know this, these are…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Screed Part Three
What are the major concerns of leadership in the near future? • Managing the transient worker • Metrics for true performance and not “presence” • The 40 hour…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Immediate Gratification
• Gratification is pleasure • Immediate means done at once • Why do we seek this: ° To avoid delay in important matters personally/professionally. Evolutionary…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Overhead Overboard
Here’s how I saved the entire $450,000 tuition bill for my kids by not having an office. I’ve never needed nor desired employees for my strong, seven-figure…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Bonanza
Bonanza: A situation or event that creates a sudden increase in wealth, good fortune, or profits. It was also a TV show in the heyday of westerns, and ran from…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®The Second Smartest Guy in the Room
The Second Smartest Guy in the Room by Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Barry Banther
We are in the midst of the largest transgenerational shift in wealth in the history of the country. Part of this are the maturing retirement funds created…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Virtue Signaling
Is an economically disadvantaged kid better off because of an insistence on how many black film editors, or baseball executives, or executive chefs receive…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Jeff Herman
Jeff has been representing me for over 30 years, and was responsible for acquiring publishers (McGraw-Hill, Wiley, Macmillan, AMACOM, et. al.) for my four…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Proportionality
I received a letter from someone who had subscribed to one of my newsletters for $250 annually. He was late, but I accepted him, and he demanded—not…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Censorship
Elin Hilderbrand has a new book called Five Star Weekend. In my view, it’s awful, not at all up to her earlier work, predictable, with paper-thin characters…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®I'm Old Fashioned
An “old fashioned” is a fabulous cocktail. The official origin of the drink is still heavily debated. While the Waldorf-Astoria in New York by way of the…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®The Bridge
In 1973, D. Keith Mano wrote his only science fiction book, The Bridge. It takes place in 2035, over 60 years since its original publication, but only 12 years…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Breathing Space
When we see an empty ballroom, or stadium, or theater, we can see unlimited possibilities if we have any creative juices at all. We can stage performances…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Unsolicited Feedback
Let me harshly deal here with people who provide you with feedback you didn’t ask for, don’t require, and can’t use. That applies to feedback which is too…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Seth Magaziner
Seth Magaziner and I met when he ran for, and served as, Rhode Island State Treasurer for eight years. I asked that we make this conversation non-partisan, to…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Meaning
What do you mean? What do we mean? What is “meaning”? We seem to be engaged existentially in some search for meaning. The Beatles were famous for a spiritual…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Tony Estrella
I could share theater stories with Tony all day long. As both an actor and director of great stature, his knowledge of the theater and its strengths and…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®No Benefit, No Doubt
Remember “the benefit of the doubt”? That was meant to convey the belief that, when something was in doubt, give the other person a break. Don’t assume guilt…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Randy Gage
Randy told me once that you don’t end poverty by creating more of it. He’s an independent thinker on prosperity and success. He doesn’t connect prosperity…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Guido Quelle
Guido and I have known each other for a quarter century. He introduced my concept of value-based fees in Germany in building his multi-million euro boutique…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Graduation Day
How much have times changed in the past 50 years? What is the difference in view point, expectation, and options for college graduates today versus those in…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Generations
50s: Constancy, GI Bill, Levittown, Sputnik, Korean War, Univac, DNA discovered, Joe McCarthy, Hungarian uprising, Montgomery bus boycott 60s: Kennedys shot…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®A Conversation with Chris Kolenda
Chris gave up his commission as a full Colonel in Afghanistan to assist three, four-star generals and two Secretaries of State to try to negotiate with the…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®LinkedOut
Learn how I’ve been banned from Linkedin, though not why, because none of us knows why. Consider what might happen to you—with your business, a special event…
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®Microaggressions
Macroaggressions should be pretty obvious, but even they are often ignored because they are too common. I’ve been involved in shining a light on them for some…