Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 2/17/2025
Recency bias is the overemphasis on recent experiences. For example, I never really noticed pickup trucks. I saw them, but couldn’t tell one brand from another, figured they were used by contractors. But my wife suggested that we buy a pickup truck to haul the dogs around to the vet, their grooming, and local trips they enjoyed, and also to use for her garden needs and holiday decorations, and so forth. Suddenly, I saw pickup trucks everywhere and started to understand the differences! I was astounded at how many there were and the varieties and options. (The best-selling vehicles in the US are the Ford F-series pickups.)
When someone coughs during an otherwise quiet symphony or theatrical performance, others start coughing, as if reminded that they need to do so, even though they hadn’t been coughing before. (One famous conductor in New York—where else?—stopped a performance and told everyone who had to cough to do so now, because if it happened again he would leave. In a Broadway preview I watched an actor, Patti LuPone, stop the show and admonish the audience: “Okay, that’s enough of that!”)
We sometimes meet with a prospect or go out with friends without a tabula rosa, in that we are under the influence of something we’ve recently heard, seen, or otherwise experienced. Yet, these days, that information we ingest is often incorrect, not validated, and can ruin the encounter.
“Trust but verify” is a Russian proverb made famous when a Russian expert mentioned it to President Reagan (and he deliberately used it against them). It’s pretty good advice. I didn’t just buy that pickup, I hired a “car concierge” who was expert in pickups to help me.
Recency bias also takes the form of listening to and deciding upon the last thing you hear about the subject. Just as there are bosses about whom we hear, “Don’t bring up anything after lunch” (because they tire or drink or just get ornery) there are others about whom we hear, “Get their ear at the very last minute.” This is a common political tactic, and it may be the peculiar reasoning behind those people at the polling places kept 25 yards away (like wild animals) screaming at you to vote for their candidate.
Don’t be swayed by what you hear late in the game, especially if you have your checkbook in front of you and your pen in your hand….
There’s no bias when it comes to facts, and there’s no bias when it comes to decency. —Jake Tapper
I think unconscious bias is one of the hardest things to get at. —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Fortunately for serious minds, a bias recognized is a bias sterilized. —Benjamin Haydon
I heard it through the grapevine. —Marvin Gaye
Master Master Class 2025: I’m happy to once again offer the unique Master Master Class in 2025. It will be in the exquisite Newport area on March 25-27, 2.5 days of learning, experimenting, and building new collegial relationships. We will achieve:
- New offerings and IP for a volatile, No Normal® world.
- A consistent “voice” of expertise in your market—a “go to” magnetism and attraction.
- The identification and evaluation of your existing “body of work” to be repurposed and exploited for passive income.
- A book idea—commercially published or self-published, hard copy or electronic, written by you or “ghosted”—that will establish and perpetuate your stature. • The HOV lane for advisory work with high fees and low labor.
- The confidence and presence to deal successfully with anyone at any time in any environment. (Very special role plays.)
This will be all new material from prior Master Classes. The fee will be $15,000 which includes lodging and most meals and a reception. (This will probably be the last Master Class I conduct in person, on site. No, I’m not kidding.) I have three people already attending simply by hearing me discuss this informally. My limit is a dozen people. It will not be recorded, but you may attend by Zoom, although I caution you on the intrinsic disadvantages of so doing. Attendees may record the session on their own.
The fee will be $15,000 which includes lodging and most meals and a reception. (This will probably be the last Master Class I conduct in person, on site. No, I’m not kidding.) Write me to apply: https://alanweiss.com/
Thought Leadership Quarterly: This is a Zoom series based on my popular Thought Leadership Workshops. I’ll be presenting ideas, based on current events and predictions, that will propel you to the forefront of recognition in your “public square.” This will be highly interactive and questions are welcome in advance. This will be 90 minutes and repeated twice to accommodate various time zones, once at 8 US eastern time and once at 5 US eastern time the same day.
March 18 June 17 September 23 December 18 $2,000 for the series. https://alanweiss.com/
Million Dollar Consulting® for the World: I’ve provided 14 modules with videos from me, from your colleagues globally, slides, and text. They include everything from launch to self-esteem, proposals to fees, closing business to creating a brand. No upsells! It’s only $115. What do you think about a 10,000:1 ROI? We have over 500 people from 47 countries. https://
Million Dollar Consulting® for the World ADVANCED: The new program contains over 60 videos and has 15 modules focusing on what to do in the buyer’s office, overcoming crises, financial planning, and much, much more. https://alanweiss.com/
Million Dollar Consulting® for the World GRADUATE: Another 12 modules with videos by me and your peers on contemporary issues such as Raising Fees Aggressively, How to Be Consistently Interviewed, Maximizing Happiness, and Managing Multiple projects. Join the people from 57 countries who are availing themselves of this inexpensive way to dramatically grow their businesses in any economic times. How does 100:1 ROI sound? https://
• Access 24/7 globally at your convenience.
• Never an “upsell,” full access for one fee, including my copyrighted and trademarked materials: past, present, and future.
Over the past 40 years (this year is my 40th anniversary of solo practice) I’ve developed a body of work in a diverse array of media which, to this point, has been accessible on several of my platforms by choosing pre-established topics, such as “setting fees” or “finding the true buyer.”
But with this new access, you can ask questions such as:
“How do I create credibility quickly with an economic buyer?”
“How can I create speaking opportunities that pay well but also market my professional services?”
“What is the quickest way to establish ‘thought leadership’ within my ‘public square’?”
“What are the most provocative and high-value challenges for business owners?”
“What are the steps to create a book proposal that will be accepted by an agent or acquisitions editor?”
“How do I create fiscal security and real wealth (discretionary time)?”
“I have a meeting with the buyer and two board members tomorrow, how can I best prepare for it?”
“How can I monetize these objectives I’ve developed with the buyer?”
“What do I say when asked ‘How big is your staff?’”
“How do I move things forward now when I’m told ‘the timing isn’t right’?”
There are provisions for providing a proposal outline, book outline, buyer meeting agenda, and much more! This “knowledge library” can help you run your practice every day.
You get the idea. It’s like conferring with me, personally, at your convenience about both contemporary, immediate needs, and longer-term, strategic issues for your business and your life.
This is a one-time, life time purchase: That’s right YOUR lifetime, not mine! As I continue to develop offerings and intellectual property—including my daily, weekly, and monthly newsletters, podcasts, videos, cartoons, and so forth—they will be automatically included. And some day, far away, when I am dealing with St. Peter, arrangements will be well in place to continue to add still more of my unpublished, non-public material to the site.
We’ll update the AI continually as the technology improves. My current four platforms, which rely on people selecting from my pre-determined topics and content by category, have thousands of participants. My belief is that this new approach, enabling participants to specify their particular needs and receive detailed, multi-media responses, is the state-of-the-art for ongoing virtual assistance, the ultimate “high tech/high touch.”
This lifetime member program is going to be available when it is completed for the one-time fee of $950. If you sign up as an early adapter when the access should be partially open, by April 1, the fee will only be $700, and you’ll have limited access immediately, and full access in another 60 days.
BUT if you sign up now, as a charter member, the fee is only $450 until March 15—which is my 40th anniversary as a solo consultant.
You can sign up now here: https://alanweiss.com/
I think this is a breakthrough for real-time help at members’ convenience, immediate help to close business, to find buyers, to create a strong brand, to produce IP weekly. And I don’t think anyone else has a body of work for professional services providers to accelerate growth and prosperity as I have. As a subscriber to Monday Morning Memo, I think you know this to be true.
I’m urging you not to miss out on this absolutely unique opportunity I’m providing for you. For charter membership by March 15: https://alanweiss.com/stor
(Guarantee: If the technical gods undermine this project and it is unworkable, all advance payments will be promptly refunded in full in the same manner in which they were paid.)
If You Read This Far, Surprise: Premium Version of A Minute With Alan: Everything has a premium version these days: Zoom, X, Linkedin, credit cards, hotel floors, liquor. My free A Minute with Alan will continue every weekday. But if you want a personal version that will not be on the web, that will be emailed to you privately, in which I’ll discuss sex, religion, politics, frauds, and no-holds-barred topics, five times a week for a year, send me a thousand bucks here: https://alanweiss.com/