Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®

Healthcare

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

• We’re seeing huge changes in healthcare. •  About 25% of patients used telehealth last year, far exceeding the 5% who accessed care this way ...

How to Improve Your Profits

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

• Cut your expenses: virtual assistants, subscription software, subcontracting (even in the Philippines). • Move work to the client. • Focus on ...

Overdone

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Lowering Higher Education

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

•The American Council on Education reports that 33% of universities and colleges have female presidents. • In the Ivy League it’s six of eight....

Profanity

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 la...

Cultural Curiosities

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wondered about how other people might see this society? The proliferation of “tip jars” when virtually no service is performed; the ...

Devolution

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The opposite of evolution is devolution. Merely moving forward in time chronologically doesn’t guarantee higher standards, better performance, or im...

True to Yourself

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Higher Education

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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, t...

Screed Part Three

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What are the major concerns of leadership in the near future? • Managing the transient worker • Metrics for true performance and not “presence”...

Immediate Gratification

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

• Gratification is pleasure • Immediate means done at once • Why do we seek this: ° To avoid delay in important matters personally/professional...

Overhead Overboard

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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, ...

Bonanza

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

The Second Smartest Guy in the Room

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Second Smartest Guy in the Room by Alan Weiss

A Conversation with Barry Banther

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 cre...

Virtue Signaling

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is an economically disadvantaged kid better off because of an insistence on how many black film editors, or baseball executives, or executive chefs re...

A Conversation with Jeff Herman

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeff has been representing me for over 30 years, and was responsible for acquiring publishers (McGraw-Hill, Wiley, Macmillan, AMACOM, et. al.) for my ...

Proportionality

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Censorship

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

I'm Old Fashioned

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The Bridge

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 onl...

Breathing Space

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 performa...

Unsolicited Feedback

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 wh...

A Conversation with Seth Magaziner

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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-part...

Meaning

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 Conversation with Tony Estrella

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

No Benefit, No Doubt

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

A Conversation with Randy Gage

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

A Conversation with Guido Quelle

01 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 bo...

Graduation Day

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 th...

Generations

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

50s: Constancy, GI Bill, Levittown, Sputnik, Korean War, Univac, DNA discovered, Joe McCarthy, Hungarian uprising, Montgomery bus boycott 60s: Kenned...

A Conversation with Chris Kolenda

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 wit...

LinkedOut

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 sp...

Microaggressions

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 the...

A Conversation with Lee Duckworth & Larry Dooley

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s seldom that you can receive uncomplicated answers about the economy and the impact of these turbulent times. Ask five “experts” and you’l...

Internecine Strife

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We are largely in conflict with ourselves. This is assured to be destructive to everyone. One person complains that their sixth grader saw the great ...

A Conversation with Suzanne Bates

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I’ve known Suzanne for about 20 years. She is the relatively rare example of the founder of a boutique firm who successfully built up its valuation,...

First Impressions

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why is it that I trust the doctor when he simply says, “You look healthy, don’t worry, you’re not sick”? The first 90 seconds of your speech ...

A Conversation with Steven Gaffney

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Steven and I have known each other for over a decade. He’s an expert on a widely-studied field—teams—and a field not studied enough—honesty. ...

Observations

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In dealing with a global community of thousands—and hundreds of thousands who have read my books—I’m able to keep my finger on the pulse of the ...

A Conversation with Connie Dieken

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Connie is a former anchor on two major networks. She has moved from broadcasting to coaching, consulting, and speaking with remarkable ease. She’s c...

ChatGPT (or not)

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Well, is this a further step in the dehumanization of civilization, or a Jonestown Kool Aid romp, or another Y2K flop? When you put a variety of docu...

A Conversation with Rebecca Hubbard

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I’ve been staying at the Lotte Palace Hotel in New York City since it was solely “The Palace” and run by the legendary Leona Helmsley. It’s id...

Homelessness

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I recall walking out of a church in the twilight in San Diego and thinking it was horrible that store owners and residents had left their garbage on t...

A Conversation with Jonah Berger

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I became aware of Jonah Berger after reading his books Invisible Influence and Contagious (and later, The Catalyst). Somewhat ironically, he was and i...

Are You Coachable?

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You can’t help people who don’t want to be helped. That includes those who just want to be validated without making changes. That includes those...

A Conversation with Lou Heckler

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lou has been speaking professionally for over 40 years, during which he also logged time as a newscaster and talk show host. He and I met in the late ...

Sustainability

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We often think of sustainability as having to do with the environment: food, clean air, power generation, and so forth. But a different kind of sustai...

A Conversation with Gene Valicenti

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Gene and I lived in adjoining towns in New Jersey but met here in Rhode Island decades ago. (He calls our origins “the old country.”) He’s won ...

Southwest Air

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What Herb Kelleher had brilliantly created has come apart at the seams. The aerodynamics of the company don’t work anymore. But, what do you expect ...

In Conversation with Willie Jolley

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I met Willie Jolly about 30 years ago at a meeting of the National Speakers Association. We were both new to the organization and he was a great “fo...

The Unwoke

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ironically, in these very liberal times we’re experiencing the greatest restrictions on free speech I can remember: in the media, on social media, i...

In Conversation with Noah Kagan

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I first “met” Noah a couple of years ago when he asked to interview me on one of his podcasts. I wasn’t familiar with him but he was very person...

Fixing The Schools

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Here are my suggestions for fixing our public schools so that every student is respected, educated, and supported. 1. Stop electing amateurs to schoo...

In Conversation with Clark Hoyt

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are the community newspapers doomed to extinction? Are the major newspapers truly objective or biased in their reporting? Are we really talking about ...

The Ignorance of Bliss

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Do you treat others as you would like to be treated? That’s not merely a Biblical injunction, it’s an ethical position. Yet we tend to treat othe...

In Conversation with Patricia Fripp

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Fripp and I met 20 years or so ago at the National Speakers Association (the “NSA” she refers to in her comments). She was in their Hall of Fame a...

War of the Worlds

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Science fiction movies proliferated in the 1950s, all with dire threats for earth, and probably accidental or deliberate metaphors for the nuclear age...

In Conversation with Dan Pink

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I met Dan Pink several years ago when we were both writing books in Nantucket. He is a diligent, “stone mason” (by his definition) kind of writer....

Triple Speak

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

“I didn’t walk in here and I’m not leaving.” That’s an example of paradoxical and misleading language. That was uttered by a drunk colleague...

The Official Lowdown on Sports Officiating with Alan Goldberger

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Somewhere along my journey I met Alan Goldberger who, aside from having an excellent first name, has an extremely interesting career. First, he’s a...

How to Close Business Quickly

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I have traditionally closed over 80% of my proposals using my format of 2.5 pages based on conceptual agreement with the buyer. Many people in my comm...

In Conversation with Joe Zammit-Lucia

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I met Joe over a decade ago when he began a pharma consulting firm with offices in New York, Cambridge (UK), and Tokyo. We worked together immediately...

The Two Deuces or Why Winning Isn’t Everything

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a competitive world, a Darwinian, capitalist world, but I contend that winning can be dysfunctional when pursued merely for the sake of the...

Nancy MacKay’s Global Calling for Inspirational Leaders

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nancy emerged from academia with the intent of finding “game-changers” in her life so that she could become one herself for others. She has built...

An Era's End

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are we in merely another pothole of history or are we actually turning a corner into the unknown? Does western liberalism stand a chance of continuin...

In Conversation with Ali brown

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How many people do you know who coach entrepreneurs making seven- and eight-figures? Ali coaches scores of them and assists with the turbulent times t...

Errors And Omissions

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Mistakes are unavoidable, whether from habit, being ill-advised, or changes in our understanding. They are inevitable and can’t be completely avoide...

Chip Bell and the Customer Journey of the Future

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Learn about the customer journey. Appreciate the “language of the customer” What do luxury brands really try to create? Join the “optimistic ...

Debt

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We explore the need to help those who need help, as opposed to those who simply make irresponsible decisions.

Nido Qubein: Innovative Growth in Academia and Leadership by Example

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nido has raised over $400 million this year for Highpoint University with no formal development effort. In 2022, in US News and World Report, Highpoi...

Greed: Wherein We Examine Why There Is So Much of It

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Alan Weiss reveals The Uncomfortable Truth behind Greed. What is it and why do we have so much of it? Greed is a longing to have thi...

Episode 254 - The Extra Yard

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I don't mind waiting, I do mind being irritated.

Episode 253 - Do-Gooding

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

"An examination of when pretending to help others hurts them and only helps yourself."

Episode 252 - Too Much Good Business

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Turning down good business is like, well, it's not like anything at all intelligent.

Episode 251 - The Grammar Police

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Pull over, your fortay is showing and you were speeding through February

Episode 250- Utter Hypocrisy

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’re not being told the truth and the people not telling us don’t care.

Episode 249 - True Jobs

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

That’s a terribly cynical stance.

Episode 248 - The Good Old Days

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If today is so bright, why are people so dull?’’

Episode 247 - Physician Or Politician Heal Thyself

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How to run for governor with no one mentioning your past crimes.

Episode 246 — HP-Heartily Pathetic

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

HP: Heartily Pathetic: Whereby Hewlett-Packard loses its luster and its customer.

Episode 245 - Radicalism

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On why the center will hold and the blessings thereof.

Episode 244 - Ponzi Schemes

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Level marketing is merely a Ponzi scheme that cheats everyone after the organizers.

Episode 243 - Dishonest Politicians

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Do you still want to defund the police now, or maybe expand the ranks?

Episode 242 - Dumb Ass Stupid Management

02 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How we are surrounded by people stupid enough to think that we're that stupid?

Episode 241 - The Power Of Smaller Numbers

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What "reach" really means and why a whole lot of people are often irrelevant.

Episode 240 - Common Courtesy

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you like this, there you go. If you don't, no worries

Episode 239 - Going Both Ways At Once

12 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Let's go up by going down, trust me.

Episode 238 - The Dog Star

05 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After 10,000 years, why haven't we learned more?

Episode 237 - The Agenda

28 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If I wanted theology I would have gone to church.

Episode 236 - Rejection

21 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Don't be dejected if you're rejected. It happens to me quite frequently.

Episode 235 - Altered States

14 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Perceptions may differ, but there is a common reality.

Episode 234 - Customers Are Always In The Way

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An examination of the best and the worst customer service, and the fallacy of the problem being the Great Resignation.

Episode 233 - What The Hell Is So Important?

31 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Excuse me, I'd like to continue, but I really have to take this

Episode 232 - The Coffee Shop

24 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The difference between excellent and indifferent service is often a matter of who owns what.

Episode 231 - What Is Leadership

17 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I'll define what leadership is and isn't, and you can decide whether you see it or not.

Episode 230 - Ukraine

10 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the horrors of socialism and communism and the fallacies thereof.

Episode 229 - 76

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Wherein I reflect on my life on earth thus far.

Episode 228 - Open Mike

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Where we study the recent "whoops" from Whoopi Goldberg and the sources of "shut up and sing."

Episode 227 - I'll Take The Retroactive Loan Forgiveness, Please

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Wherein we examine why loan forgiveness for student debt is applicable today, but not before, and doesn't apply to those who paid out of their own poc...