Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 2/3/2025
The tragedy at Regan Airport in Washington, DC is quite rare in the US. The last commercial air crash with fatalities was in 2009. Air travel in the US is safer than auto travel. (About 44,000 drivers and passengers killed in auto collisions and 7,400 pedestrians killed by cars last year.)
That doesn’t lessen the severity of this tragedy. There will be a great deal of blame to be cast, but even if the investigations are objectively oriented to cause, the cause will be human error. The chopper was not in the right flight path or altitude. The controller should have given firmer directions to the chopper. The supervisor shouldn’t have allowed another controller to leave, thus leaving this one to direct both aircraft, which is out of procedure that early at night. The FAA and Congress should not have allowed the controllers to be understaffed here and elsewhere. Finally, in this congested airport, members of Congress have special “ferrying privileges” to and from appointments, and refuse to move these benefits to Dulles, 45 minutes away.
So there’s enough “human error” to go around.
It seems to me that AI could readily handle takeoffs and landings at airports with minimum human supervision in the event of emergencies. AI can handle far more aircraft simultaneously, and quickly issue warnings of pilot error or runway problems. Aircraft are capable of landing automatically now with a technology called “Autoland.” I landed in Newark once, in a 707 in the seventies, with the pilot announcing the device had been engaged.
Autoland was invented in the late 1930s, so I’d suspect AI could improve upon it somewhat.
There will always be human error, and in the case of hiring insufficient numbers of controllers, human malfeasance. We will never eliminate these, but we can certainly reduce their presence through new technology.
The Challenger disaster could have been avoided (I met an engineer from NASA who begged management not to launch due to known O-ring problems in cold weather). For that matter, if the Titanic had radar, it wouldn’t be at the bottom of the sea right now. There was no radar then, but there is AI now.
Let’s not settle for finding the cause, let’s focus on eliminating the cause.
People are so busy dreaming the American Dream, fantasizing about what they could be or have a right to be, that they’re all asleep at the switch. Consequently we are living in the Age of Human Error. —Florence King
Humans have 3 percent human error, and a lot of companies can’t afford to be wrong 3 percent of the time anymore, so we close that 3 percent gap with some of the technologies. The AI we’ve developed doesn’t make mistakes. —Walter O’Brien
With spectacular events taking up so much of the available anxiety quotient, we need to be constantly reminded of the more workaday threats to our mortality—threats that, while they may also be functions of human error, have become so ubiquitous that we’ve begun to apprehend them as natural phenomena. —Will Self
February is on Fearlessness! Zoom Workshops 2025: When you join for the year, you receive the past videos, or you can sign up for individual sessions: February 4: Fearlessness. How to be bold and assertive in any situation. March 4: Conversation with a star. A candid conversation with a success in my community. April 8: Creating unsolicited
An Alan Live Experience: Beyond Success: What happens when you’re meeting your aspirations, when your lifestyle is fabulous, and your prospects are excellent? How much is “enough”? Is there a “retirement”? How do you change (or sell) your business and IP? Are philanthropy, volunteering, and service right for you? Are you able to care for family and important others? What will keep you excited and positive—and “youthful”? We’ll explore this and more over two days of intense discussion and exercises in a small group. We’ll get together in Los Angeles for two 9-to-4 days, June 11 and 12, including a reception. As you know, you’ll learn a lot from your colleagues and peers in that room. $7,500. https://
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://
• Links to the sources for the responses that are downloadable.
• The capacity to accept questions and provide responses in virtually any language.
• 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.)