Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 9/8/25
We’ve just turning a completed book to our publisher, entitled The “Hidden” Drivers Behind Every Successful Project (co-written with my client, Kursten Faller). Our emphasis is mainly on human behavior and judgment.
On Saturday I went to our local bank where I keep personal and business checking accounts. I saw men outside laying sod, as part of the bank’s beautification project. I told the tellers, whom I know well, that the sod looked pretty bad.
“Oh, that’s because it died and they’re pulling it up to put down new sod,” they explained. I assumed it was poor original installation until they explained the following, which I am not making up.
Originally, the grass in front died because it was never watered. So the bank put down sod with an irrigation system. That sod died because the irrigation system was never connected to a water supply. When a new company was hired to pull up that sod and replace it, they saw the old water outlets and assumed a working sprinkler system. However, that system would not work and could not be fixed. In came another company, and up came that sod.
This newest sod also died because while the irrigation system was new and connected, no one was in charge of monitoring it, it was believed to be automatic, and it was never triggered. As you can predict, that sod died, and is the sod I saw being removed on Saturday. New sod will follow today, Monday, as you read this.
I am not placing bets on its longevity. And I do not have any of my investment accounts with this bank. Project management: behavior and judgment. Don’t keep replacing the sod in your life because you’re inadvertently killing it!
When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. —Warren Buffett
Failing to plan is planning to fail. —Alan Lakein
The planning fallacy is that you make a plan, which is usually a best-case scenario. Then you assume that the outcome will follow your plan, even when you should know better. —Daniel Kahneman
The Fishbowl: In January I’ll be starting a year-long, monthly, “live” coaching session whereby one member of the group will be coached by me for 45 minutes on a current issue of theirs, we’ll deconstruct what happened, and then have 45 minutes of Q&A. This is a variation of the very popular “fishbowl” technique I ran a few years ago.
You may volunteer to be the person coached or simply watch. You needn’t attend every session and I will provide video to everyone afterwards along with written commentary. This should build your coaching prowess considerably.
This will be $500 for the year and I’m offering it to you, here, first, because I’ll obviously have limited participation. My offer to you is $400. (An hour of my “situational coaching” on my site is $2,500, so this is a hell of a deal if you choose to be coached or even just observe.)
You can register here: https://alanweiss.com/store/quick-pay/
I’ll cut off registration in December, but if you wait and we’re filled, I can only put you on a waiting list. If for any reason I don’t run it, you’ll receive a full refund prior to the end of this year.
The Proof Behind Social Proof
Has anyone ever asked you, “Give me an example of your point?” and you suddenly forgot how to speak? Or have you said, “Let me give you an example…,” and then have immediately gone into brain freeze without any ice cream? “Social Proof” comprises pragmatic examples that others can readily relate to which reinforce your point instantly.
When you “open the hood” on social proof, beneath is actually a psychological dynamic which creates normative pressure assuring that the actions of others are appropriate and should be imitated. A desire to “fit in” is created.
Join me for 90 minutes and fill your conversations, narrative, and collateral with social proof that will build your brand and fill your bank account. People ask what research I invest in for my success. I don’t. Then they ask what my investigative habits are. I don’t have any. “So what DO you do?” they ask.
I look around.
Learn how to look around to dominate conversations and close business: October 14, 2025. 10:30 to noon, US eastern time. Video and Zoom notes included. Fee: $350 until and including Sept. 30, $500 thereafter. https://alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/the-proof-behind-social-proof/
BOOK SPRINT begins Nov. 3, 60-minute weekly call to create a completed, professional book proposal in the following 60 days. I have an 80%+ record placing these books with publishers for the last five years. I will introduce the proposal to agents and publishers (and so can you) and provide an additional 30 days of support for the book. The fee is only $4,500. Stop procrastinating and produce your first (or next) book, which is how I’ve attracted well over 90% of my business over the years. Register here and I’ll send the simple prep work: https://alanweiss.com/store/quick-pay/