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Balancing Act®: The Newsletter(No. 304, November 2024) |
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Balancing Act® is our registered trademark. You are encouraged to share the contents with others with appropriate attribution. Please use the ® whenever the phrase “Balancing Act” is used in connection with this newsletter or our workshops. NOTE: To change addresses, or to unsubscribe, use THIS LINK Balancing Act® is in four sections based on famous quotations: Follow me on Twitter. Every day I provide 3-5 brief, pithy pieces of advice for growth. Join the thousands who read these “quick hits” every morning. Over 9,000 followers! Why aren’t you among them? And find me on Facebook. Listen to my free Podcast Series on Apple Podcasts or on ContrarianConsulting.com: Alan Weiss’s The Uncomfortable Truth®. And watch A Minute with Alan® daily on all social media and my blog. |
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Buddy Cianci, the colorful, long-time mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, convicted felon, and later radio host was fond of saying, “I’m not a member of the ‘lucky sperm club.’” By that he meant that he wasn’t born into inherited wealth or even much privilege. Like most of us, he had to work for a living and, like some of us, became very successful. I was born poor, to the extent that my parents were constantly called by bill collectors, the rent was often very late being paid ($45), and there were holes in the cardboard inside the holes already in my sneakers. But we were all poor in our neighborhood, so we didn’t feel unlucky or downtrodden and played the hand we were dealt. I don’t believe that money makes anyone smarter, kinder, or better than anyone else, just as I believe that writing a book doesn’t make you an expert and reading one doesn’t make you adept. The ending of “legacy” admissions at many universities makes sense to me. Why should someone have an advantage to gain entry merely because their parents or grandparents attended? There’s no excellence or competitive assessment (grades, standardized testing, community service, innovation, etc.). There’s just bloodlines (Buddy’s “lucky sperm”). In an age when competence and not credentials is becoming much more pragmatically important, and college degrees aren’t the “gold standard” they once were, and placing a dozen initials after your name just creates ennui, shouldn’t we be looking at character and accomplishments and accountability? Perhaps I’m a cynic, but I’ve always wondered about driving over long bridges that were erected by the lowest bidder. I’m not sure I want an accountant or an attorney or a doctor whose main claim to fame was that he or she graduated at the bottom of a class they were able to get into because their parents attended that school. If that’s the case, and you want to do my taxes, or represent me in court, or operate on my knee, then call your parents. Let’s deal with the source. |
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I was sitting next to an airline pilot for United on a United flight to California on a 747. We felt a bump, and I asked, “What was that?” “Just turbulence,” he said, “but don’t worry, this plane can fly on only three of its engines.” “Really?” I said, somewhat amazed at this giant aircraft doing just fine missing 25% of its power. “In fact, it can fly on just two engines.” “What?!” I said, truly astounded. “Listen,” he said, “I can fly this on just one engine.” “Is that true?” I asked skeptically. “Yes,” he said, full of The Right Stuff, “but I couldn’t land it on one engine.” “Then it doesn’t count!” I said, and we both went back to our reading. |
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Alan Weiss’s Balancing Act® Newsletter is a registered trademark of Alan Weiss and Summit Consulting Group, Inc. You are subscribed as: _email_ |