Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 11/12/18
I’m writing this on a 777 ten hours out of Dubai and two hours from Adelaide. This follows my trip of about similar length from Boston to Dubai.
This is my 18th trip to Australia since the 70s when the country was part of my management “domain” running from Tokyo to Sydney. I calculated at one point that I was responsible for 36 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. (Maybe that included depth.)
I’m arriving to spend two days with my Pacific Rim Growth Cycle group, and then present my Super Best Practices Workshop for the final time, following London and San Francisco. Fifty people are attending, which isn’t a bad “draw” halfway around the world!
I guess I’m truly a globalist. I was an exchange student at 17 and have now landed in 61 countries, not counting California. My observations are that all of us, from Singapore to Santiago, from Bora Bora to Budapest, are far more alike than different. It’s much easier for me to understand people—and to like them—having met them on their own turf. Few places are parlous, few trails perilous.
There are people here in Rhode Island who have never been to New York. Whether countries, states, or neighborhoods, we need to get around and appreciate what’s out there. Otherwise, we lead lives spent breathing our own exhaust and only believing what others tell us.
Where is your next trip?
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.
—Mark Twain
Alan’s Riff
I’m inviting you to join me monthly in 2019 for Alan’s Riff, a semi-improvisational hour with me during which I’ll discuss combinations of the following:
• Current political and social trends and events
• The economy and financial options
• Business trends, interpretation, and predictions
• The current headlines
• The arts and entertainment
• Ideas and provocations that challenge you intellectually
I’ll take any questions in advance and also during the calls via computer. Every call will be 60-90 minutes and recorded for your ongoing use.
My intent here is to enable you to:
• Become a well-rounded, informed, object of interest
• Understand how to view and dissect issues
• Develop as an engaging conversationalist
• Ask questions that you can’t ask elsewhere
• Improve your sense of self by being better “educated”
• Take better advantage of opportunities around you
• Improve your critical thinking skills
• Stand out in a crowd
Fee: $1,200
Prior to Nov. 15: $950.