Episodes

  • The High and the Mighty

    The High and the Mighty
    Oct 9 2025
    SHOW NOTES: There was a song from the movie of the same name called The High and the Mighty, by Dimitri Tiomkin, nominated for an Oscar. It was about a trans-Pacific flight with critical engine problems and crew and passengers facing confrontations with death. It was probably the first of the major disaster films: 1954. We have the high and mighty today and they occupy.....Washington, DC: 2025, 70 years later. The Senators and Congressmen still get their salaries during a government shutdown. They go on "junkets," often with family, overseas. They don't stop at TSA. Many have served through generations of their constituents and they are shameless. They "gerrymander" openly, seeking unfair and wildly distorted districts to ensure local victories. They are hypocrites, with very weak people, such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who screams for term limits on the Supreme Court but not the Senate. He gives more speeches on climate change than anyone else, but his wife is a marine biologist consultant, and the subject of an ethics complaint last year because of his lobbying for climate investments and her potential to benefit from them. Neither party has a statesman, as they've both had in the past, who can create civility and collaboration. They each want the sandbox solely for themselves and threaten to destroy it—shut it down—rather than compromise on where the toy cars should be place. Jasmine Crockett is one of the most foul-mouthed, profane people in any profession I've ever heard, and she's a Representative. She's an embarrassment whenever in the media. They think they're the High and Mighty, but they make that emperor without the clothes seem fully dressed.
    Show More Show Less
    4 mins
  • Why You May Never Be Happy

    Why You May Never Be Happy
    Oct 2 2025
    SHOW NOTES: •The lessons of the newspaper woman. •The causes of toxic workplaces, more often than not. •The 90-minute wrench. •It's not your mother's fault. •Distress and eustress. •The key to peak performance. •It's about how you awaken, and I don't mean "woke." •Putting it to bed.
    Show More Show Less
    8 mins
  • Better Practices

    Better Practices
    Sep 25 2025
    SHOW NOTES: •Never talk to people who can say "no" but can't say "yes." •Treat the buyer as a peer, not a superior. • Have a conversation, don't make a presentation. •Language controls discussion, which controls relationships, which controls business. •No one is shooting at you, get rid of your fears and weak ego. •Gain conceptual agreement. •Money and time are priorities, not resources. •There are three elements to every sale. •Play into the buyer's "story." •Four objection areas, only one is legitimate. •Don't give off "deal vibes." •Have a "min/max." •Always conclude with TDA. •Think of TDTC. •Never settle for "best practices." •Don't be intimidated, change the frame (we never hire consultants). •Provide options. •Learn from every interaction.
    Show More Show Less
    9 mins
  • Business Fads

    Business Fads
    Sep 18 2025
    SHOW NOTES: If you're in favor of this stuff, listen carefully to the audio. You're driving on the wrong side of the road. •servant leadership •holacracy •one-minute management •management by wandering around •management by objectives • total quality management •360° feedback •self-directed teams •open office (hoteling) •open book management •reengineering •JIT (just-in-time) •lean •matrix management •theory Z •flat organizations •matrix management •six sigma •open book management
    Show More Show Less
    7 mins
  • Social Proof

    Social Proof
    Sep 11 2025
    SHOW NOTES: •This is an almost subliminal technique to create normative pressure psychologically. •It's pointing out what others are doing, or not doing, or what events, prove your point. •It's the use of profound analogies. •Listen to my examples about Amtrack's infrastructure, or the fallacies around Kodak. •If pictures are worth a thousand words, social proof is worth a thousand pictures. •Learn who was more important, Brady or Belechick. • Understand how breaking the rules can save lives. •Understand why coach does not arrive at the same time that first class does. •Use these techniques for assurances and probabilities. •Use them to accelerate your conversations toward your goals. •But social proof demands that you be well-informed. To learn how to develop and use Social Proof, go to my website or read below: THE PROOF BEHIND SOCIAL PROOF Has anyone ever asked you, "Give me an example of your point?" and you suddenly forgot how to speak? Or have you said, "Let me give you an example...," and then immediately gone into brain freeze without any ice cream? "Social Proof" comprises pragmatic examples that others can readily relate to which reinforce your point instantly. When you "open the hood" on social proof, beneath is actually a psychological dynamic which creates normative pressure assuring that the actions of others are appropriate and should be imitated. A desire to "fit in" is created. While testimonials and endorsements are a type of social proof, they are not as powerful as citing a headline, a major incident, or a famous example. (One problem with quotations, for example, is that for each one there is an opposite, equally true: "Haste makes waste" but "He who hesitates is lost.") Many people use "false social proof." Kodak was not hiring chemists while digital photography was taking over. Their executives simply thought they could wring a couple of more years of already-projected profits and underestimated the speed of the digital takeover. Join me for 90 minutes and fill your conversations, narrative, and collateral with social proof that will build your brand and fill your bank account. People ask what research I invest in for my success. I don't. Then they ask what my investigative habits are. I don't have any. "So what DO you do?" They ask. I look around. LEARN HOW TO LOOK AROUND TO DOMINATE CONVERSATIONS AND CLOSE BUSINESS: October 14, 2025 10:30 to noon, US eastern time Video and Zoom notes included Fee: $350 until and including Sept. 30, $500 thereafter. REGISTER HERE: https://alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/the-proof-behind-social-proof/
    Show More Show Less
    12 mins
  • Value Follows Fees

    Value Follows Fees
    Sep 4 2025
    SHOW NOTES: •We think the higher the value, the more we can charge. •However, at a given point, people believe they get what they pay for and those lines cross. •The point at which they cross means your brand is strong. •No one needs a Bentley for transportation, a Brioni for attire, a Bulgari to tell the time. But they assign great emotional value in their association and display. •The wrench story. •Many people made money during the pandemic and rough economic times by raising fees. It's easier, of course, to lower them, and to go out of business! •Mercedes made a mistake going "downscale," then failed to go "upscale" with the Maybach. •At the outset, raise value to raise fees. When your brand is powerful, change the order.
    Show More Show Less
    4 mins
  • Verbosity

    Verbosity
    Aug 28 2025
    SHOW NOTES: •Do you know people who are loquacious, verbose, prolix? •Ask a "yes or no" question and they respond with opinions, history, and self-therapy. •Have you been to the Jersey Shore? Well, I did go once, as a child, but my parents really couldn't afford the vacation, and then when they could, they preferred Cape Cod. I haven't taken my children because my spouse thinks that "Jaws" was a documentary. •Why so much talk? -Articulating cognitive processes -Buying time -Believing it adds credibility and esteem -Just a bigmouth who loves to hear him/herself talk •Tell people what they need to know, not everything that you know. •Assume intelligent people will ask you questions if needed. •Don't be afraid to stop people from rambling: -What's your point? -What's your question? •Verbosity attempts to hide the point: politicians do it and it probably helped cost Kamala Harris the election. •It dilutes your real power, like planting the Mona Lisa in the midst of a much larger painting. •People forget the major points because they are drowned in minor points. She talked at length about needing ice cream, but I don't remember what flavors she said to avoid at all costs. •Lincoln's Gettysburg Address took about 2.5 minutes to deliver. Can you recall who else spoke that day for hours? •The US Constitution is a couple of pages. The rules of golf are over 600. Is it really easier to run the most successful and powerful democracy in history than to hit a ball with a stick?
    Show More Show Less
    4 mins
  • Profitable Problems

    Profitable Problems
    Aug 21 2025
    SHOW NOTES: People want problems solved, even if you caused them! Learn how Katz's Deli and Mercedes Benz have turned problems into profits. Don't look for blame, look for opportunity. No one is as excited about an expected excellent experience as they are about a disappointing experience turned into an excellent experience. Customers tend to tell a huge number of people about their experiences, at their levels—peer-to-peer evangelism. This is why companies that make it their work to make themselves unreachable (welcome to government agencies) are so foolish. Perhaps, instead of saying, "The problem with you is...." you should be saying, "Let me help you do that even better."
    Show More Show Less
    8 mins