Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 01/22/2024
Wealth had once been solely represented by land ownership. The more property one owned, the more the wealth. The land could be rented out to tenant farmers, or used to raise livestock, or to create rental housing. This is why we heard of the “landed aristocracy” and, below them, the “landed gentry.”
This led to the power of labor, the human resources that could manually till the land, or build structures, or raise animals. The Church grew its wealth and power through huge landholdings and low-cost labor. (“Celibacy” of the clergy is neither theological nor a theme from the Bible. It was created by church leaders to prevent the local church’s assets from passing on to a wife in the event of the clergyman’s death.) As nations developed into the 18th, 19th, and even 20th Centuries, labor was a key aspect of wealth, and the current “first world” countries had a surfeit of available, employable labor for domestic and military use. Today, however, morbidity is exceeding fertility among nearly all those countries, and the large possessors of future, free labor will be in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, and similar countries.
The leverage of labor has been manifest in the rise of labor unions to combat the exploitation of labor, and the abomination of slavery to try to maximize that exploitation. Automation, however, has lowered the value of physical labor. (And AI might lower the value of intellectual labor.)
The next sources of wealth were capital and equipment: railroads, mines, steel, textiles, construction, and so forth. The Luddites constituted an attempt to halt modernization and automation, which eliminate the need for human labor and move the wealth to the people who had the capital to invest in industry. They were singularly unsuccessful, of course, and with the exception of emergencies (such as war), labor’s contribution and value began to diminish. Henry Ford’s assembly line instantiated this trend.
While all of these forces led to increasing disparities in income, as late as post-World War II, growth in income disparity (have/have not) was relatively small for about three decades or so. But it is increasing substantially now, and my analysis is that the current great factor behind this is knowledge disparity. We are not offering equal access and equal opportunity for everyone to benefit from quality primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. It’s not that college is a requirement for success, but the point is that education and knowledge are.
We are in constant contingent action dealing with poor education. In my view, this is caused by militant teachers’ unions which do not see the parent or child as their “customer”; by improper funding, using property taxes locally that guarantee wealthy communities with a lot of tax money create the best schools while the poorest communities cannot; and a lack of political will to fight these entrenched obstacles.
“Have/have not” has become about cognition.
Increasing knowledge disparity, if not checked and reversed, will be fatal. In the modern world, this doesn’t mean giving anyone land, or capital, it means giving them an education that will improve and hone cognitive skills. For every child who experiences a poor education, we have a potential future liability: homelessness, drug addiction, criminal activity, mental health issues, poverty, suicide.
The great issue today isn’t climate, or abortion, or immigration, important as they may be. It’s about providing every child (and adult) with the ability to learn from quality sources and to have the opportunity to apply that learning to earn whatever their talent and hard work merits. The American Dream is about believing you have a chance to compete and to advance, no matter what your current situation.
But if that chance is denied because society refuses to provide the opportunity to do so, then we have an American Nightmare.
Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society. —Sonia Sotomayor
I speak not for myself but for those without a voice…those who have fought for their rights…their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated. —Malala Yousafzai
Just Created: Using Contemporary Events to Generate Uniqueness and Extreme Value to Buyers
One day I was forced by my buyer at a St. Louis hospital to attend a board reception before my speech. I simply could not get out of it, so I began to “mingle.” I met a man who owned the largest trucking firm in Missouri and the eighth largest in the nation. I said to him, “How does the bankruptcy of consolidate freight affect you?” (I had read that in the Wall Street Journal on the plane.) He spoke for 15 minutes and asked if we could talk again later. He became a client.
Are you aware that supply chains are being “shrunk” in order to be less dependent on foreign sources and intervention? Do you appreciate the fact that use of telehealth has increased by a factor of 38 since the pandemic and is expected to grow almost 25% annually from its current $100 billion in revenues? There are 32 million small businesses in the US, small business comprise 99.9% of all global businesses, and 50% of all of them fail in the first five years due to clearly preventable factors.
Two bad service experiences prompt about half of your customers to quit the brand.
This will run on March 4 at 10:30 US eastern time, on Zoom, and will be recorded for distribution later. My birthday is the prior day, Sunday, March 3, and so your gift to me is $900. Includes recording Bring your own coffee. https://alanweiss.com/
NEW: The Maximally Productive Week: God didn’t rest enough—He rushed things in six days You arise Monday morning with great energy and vision to accomplish a vast amount of things. You take a deep breath, shut your eyes…..and it’s Friday afternoon and you haven’t done a damn thing. The week has been absorbed with unexpected requests, failure work, presumed “opportunities” that didn’t pan out, family issues, writer’s block, and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse: guilt, fear, stress, and obligation.
Join me for 90 minutes which will change your life view and expand your business results immediately:
- Learn the techniques for setting priority amid tumult in the No Normal®
- Master methods to create “instant IP”
- Move from “to do” lists to “results” lists
- Drop the unimportant without guilt or shame
- Adopt Alan’s rare self-disciplinary approaches
- Enlarge meaningful discretiona
ry time
January 30, 10:30 US Eastern Fee: $695 https://alanweiss.com/growth-
NEW: Alan’s five keys to guaranteed consulting success for the next two years It’s not easy being green, but it IS easy pulling down the green if you know where to look
There are huge opportunities created by the turmoil of our times, the No Normal®. I call these the “New Realities.” But how do you know which are best for you? Is your expertise sufficient? Should you develop additional expertise? Are you in the right market? Do you possess the correct resources? We are moving toward a society and business culture where competence will trump credentials and results will rule. Sample key: Key #1: Transitioning is vital to survival.
Join me on February 13, 10:30 US Eastern $450 https://alanweiss.com/st
If you join both of the above you can do so for $1,000 in total, over a 12% savings: https://alanweiss.com
Master Master Class III The first two were sold out, hence this third one, with all new material, past “grads” are welcome back. Maximum 12 people. Learn and apply key marketing and creative techniques to reduce your labor and improve your profits. This is a live program but you may attend remotely, as well. This will be in Newport, RI March 19-21. The fee is $6,000, $5,000 for past attendees. Breakfast, lunch and favorable room rates are included. https://alanweiss.co
