Episodes

  • On the Cheap

    On the Cheap
    Sep 10 2026
    SHOW NOTES: • Plastic cup lids that pop off and spill all over you. • Cheap plastic water bottle with tiny, cheap caps that you twist, squeeze the bottle, and it squirts all over you. • European bottle caps that are connected and hit you in the nose or the eye. • Cheap straws that rip or break up. • European insanity about air conditioning. • Only 43% of US households participate in recycling where it's available, and only 21% of potential is actually recovered. Bottom line, only 5-9% of residential plastic recycling potential is actually recycled, and the rest remains as plastic waste. • Drucker's rule about laws resulting from a single person's actions. 8Electric battery fires are extremely hard to extinguish. • They card me for a beer at Fenway Park. • When my wife's metal knees trigger the alert, even after she tells them, they check her for gunpowder residue. • The CYA of banks ignoring their best customers and making them to conform to limits on remote deposits, ID checks with tellers, etc. • Entering a theater they peak into bags which could still be hiding a bomb or hand grenade. • No matter how great your chef is, you can't make a bad cut of cheap meat into a legitimate $50 entree.
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    7 mins
  • Political Realities

    Political Realities
    Sep 3 2026
    SHOW NOTES: •Influencers have been found (by the NYT) to be changing their tune from objective recommenders to shills for politicians. Josh Green and Carlos Eduardo Espina and Avery Cyrus are singled out for accepting substantial amounts of cash, Mr. Espina alone over $400,000. •We're just talking about another form of political graft. •But many of you are also following "influencers" for clothing, vacation, and relationship advice, as well as absolutely frightening medical advice. •We've lost our faith in our judgment to the extent we're not even using Astrology or Ouija boards but simply charlatans looking for money without any particular expertise or authority—or even candor. •We have the media stars and politicians who have been caught making invidious racial, ethnic, homophobic, transphobic, and religious slurs who then informs us, "That's not who I am." •There are the hard-to-believe retreats into institutions to "rethink" their lives and addictions. •There are the ridiculous excuses, placing the blame askew: Remember Kevin Spacey actually declaring his sexual prowling habits were caused because he was a gay man coming out of the closet? •Ronal Reagan said, "Trust, but then verify." With the people who now occupy the media spotlights, I'd edit that admonition to, "Don't trust, verify, and then verify again, and then doubt." •I've received no pay for my comments here, but my dogs continue to provide me with unconditional love (although in return for housing, food, health care, and recreations—let's not kid ourselves).
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    4 mins
  • Return on Taxation

    Return on Taxation
    Aug 20 2026
    SHOW NOTES: Two major sentiments about how the US (and most countries) treat the citizenry and how to finance and provide the funding. Every person deserves a minimum quality of health care, safety in the streets, educational opportunity, and access to employment. The corollary is that we need the opportunity and support to help people to innovate, create, and build organizations that provide that employment, further advancement, and significant taxes. Do we do this through "tax the rich, occupy Wall Street, millionaire taxes"? Or do we do so by reducing excess spending and reallocating resources toward such basic human needs. Rhode Island is 8th highest in expenditure per student, yet our reading proficiency is only 34% in math 30% in English. No high school in the state is in the top 150 nationally, despite that high expenditure. What's the cause? Politicians don't talk about it. The current US debt is $40 trillion. Our gross domestic product in $30 trillion annually. Who pays most of the taxes? The top 1% pay of earners pay 40% of federal taxes, the top 5% pay 60%. About 35% of all adults in the US pay zero taxes. We need to end the entitlements created to gain votes, the costs of which have doubles in the past ten years from $24 trillion to $4.4 trillion. We need to end the boondoggles created to gain votes. California's attempt at a high speed train created a $100 billion funding gap, yet no train exists. Mississippi clean coal gasification cost $75 billion and was abandoned. Fraudulent pandemic claims cost hundreds of billions according to the government, which failed to monitor the disbursements adequately. Bankruptcy: It's not taught in school, where we don't teach civics or personal finances. That's because we've apparently forgotten how.
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    7 mins
  • The Self-Absorbed

    The Self-Absorbed
    Aug 13 2026
    SHOW NOTES: Signs of the self-centered: •Every conversation is turned back to themselves. •They pause to discuss the play in the middle of the theater exits. •They stop to look around at the bottom of descending escalators. •They never signal for a turn or lane change. •They will wear a hat in any seating arrangement, not caring if others can't see. •They talk over you. •They make noises in public when they yawn, stretch, or belch. •They start sentences with, "Let me explain to you...." •The constantly exaggerate, "I have the best doctors in the world," "We had the best meal imaginable," "My blood pressure is perfect." •They turn to talk to someone else while a person is in the middle of a story. •They will spoil the punch line of someone else's joke. •They inflate experiences: "This had to be at least a two-star Michelin restaurant" (it actually had no stars). •They never discuss or converse, they lecture. •They don't have the most expensive car in the lot because "they really didn't want it." •If they can't have something that others have, they deride it: "Coach gets there the same time as first class," or "Your kid was accepted into Cornell? I assume that was her backup school?" •They ask people to come to the bar to have a drink, but once a crowd has developed and before the bill is presented, they disappear. •Everything their kids do is "gifted": "Did you see how he blocked the ball with his head? That's a gifted move." •They point out that great success of others are basically from luck, or connections, or sexual favors granted. •They constantly critique the government, but don't bother to vote.
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    3 mins
  • The Courage of Your Talent

    The Courage of Your Talent
    Aug 6 2026
    SHOW NOTES: I've consulted with, coached, and advised a huge diversity of people over the decades. They include executives, entertainers, politicians, athletes, military officers, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists. The most successful of them, both at the outset and after development, had the courage of their talent. Let me define the term which I coined several years ago and which has developed into an entire book. Courage is not fearlessness, but rather the ability to accept fear and/or pressure and nevertheless perform at the top of your game. Talent includes the innate traits, abilities, and behavior which help us to master challenges and to lead. Some are highly relevant (for a consultant, communication skills) and some are irrelevant (for a consultant, perfect pitch). Psychologists call this "efficacy." The best performers are able to focus as much and as many of their talents as possible on their "callings," and might provide for the rest in hobbies and personal interests. When people can't apply the preponderance of their talents on a job or career and receive recognition—both monetary and interpersonal—for them, they become frustrated, resentful, and less productive. This dynamic is often mistakenly cited as a "toxic workplace" as though the organization is always at fault. But in reality, high performers find callings that embrace their talents and reward them handsomely. We have more power to accomplish this than we think. I began my career at Prudential Insurance, realized that the work bored me, merit wasn't necessarily promoted, and I wasn't about to become an executive anytime soon. I then took a job with a consulting firm in Princeton, learned that profession, but after leading the major profit centers was weary of the politics and infighting. From there I obtained the presidency of a consulting firm in Providence, but was fired by the owner when we starkly disagreed on his attempts to inject his ideology into the business. Finally, I founded my own firm which is still without other employees, after 41 years. I have the strongest solo consulting brand in the world, and I love doing this. We need to control our lives in a world which, both purposely and accidentally, is trying to deny us control, to remove our power, to enforce often inappropriate normative pressure. It's absurd to abide by "influencers" who have no real motive except to make money. We need to be our own "influencers." There's no secret here, no "12 steps," no weekend retreat. It's as simple as this: •Identify what you love doing and are great at •Determine how best to market and monetize it •Rejoice in the courage of your talent You don't need the Wizard to give you courage, as he did for the lion in The Wizard of Oz. Because what the Wizard actually did was to show the lion the courage and talent already resident in his heart and soul. Find yours. Alan Weiss is a global, award-winning consultant, coach, speaker, and author—with 57 books, and 16 additional editions in 15 languages. He's the only non-journalist in history to have received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Press Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, and an inductee in the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame®. His newest book is The Courage of Your Talent (Taylor and Francis, 2026). Advance purchases: amazon.com/Courage-You-Talent-Self-Esteem-Constantly/ebook-dp/B0GXRNT7DY
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    4 mins
  • The Hangar

    The Hangar
    Jul 30 2026
    SHOW NOTES: The Bishop of Fall River, MA, told me an interesting story recently in Nantucket. It seems he was present during a memorial service held in a huge airplane hangar for families who lost loved ones in a terrible airplane crash off the coast. People were grieving and forming small groups to offer each other consolation. There was even some laughter among the tears as they exchanged stories about loved ones. Clergy from varying faiths, along with psychologists were there to provide clinical help. One woman among the hundreds was notable because she was weeping uncontrollably, not staying with any groups, but going from one to another. Finally, a priest took her aside and asked if he could help. Listen to the podcast to hear what she said and think about her reply.
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    3 mins
  • The Wrong End

    The Wrong End
    Jul 23 2026
    SHOW NOTES: In professional services (and even in most product companies) trying to "raise the price" is the wrong place to start. You need to begin by raising perceived value. Value is the improvement in the customer's/client's condition. Perceived means they can identify it. "Lead magnets" and "loss leaders" are from the 50s. Go watch Soupy Sales. You need to build value and tell them and show them that value. It's often in what the product or service does (tax returns, wrenches) but usually is what it creates (saving money, more efficient construction). A luxury is a luxury until you use it the second time when it becomes a necessity. Value consists of new ideas, better practices, new interpretations, reframing—not solutions on the spot. Not obvious events. You need to become an "object of interest" so that they want you around. If your brand is strong, they want to brag about being a part of it. Just ask Bentley.
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    5 mins