The Prime Question
The title of this blog is "Contrarian Consulting." Let me offer you the prime contrarian idea in this profession, which really shouldn't be contrarian at all: First ask, "What is in the client's self-interest?" The answer to that question should readily
Lights, Camera, Little Action
My wife and I watched four movies over the past couple of days: Moonlight: This won the Oscar for best picture, and I wouldn't even recommend watching it on a 16-hour plane ride unless you needed help sleeping. It's unbearably slow,
Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 04/17/17
Buddy Beagle passed away peacefully at home a few weeks ago after a full and rewarding life. We did what I advise all dog owners to do—we obtained a puppy to continue the spirit and keep Bentley company since dogs
If It Hurts When You Do That, Stop Doing It
Small businesses usually don't fail because of poor products or services (in fact, the owners usually work themselves to exhaustion). They fail because of stupidity. My air conditioning guy, with whom I've spent thousands and to whom I've sent referrals, never
Failure Work
"Failure work" is work, as I define it, that's being done because the original attempt was wrong, unsuccessful, or didn't work. We all experience it, from the minor toils of recovering something we dropped to the major hassle of retracing
Oversold
Talking to the Priest before the procession last night when I was the reader for Holy Thursday services, he told me that, on Easter, he would announce: "We're unexpectedly having some more clergy join us, and we're oversold, so the ushers will
Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 04/10/17
To some, this is counterintuitive, though it shouldn't be: Competition opens markets. Wendy's builds burger shops across from McDonald's because they know people are showing up to buy burgers. The same holds true for jewelry stores, casinos, and auto showrooms. In
The Critic
We just got around to seeing Moonlight, the Oscar winning film, and I found it tedious and self-indulgent. It's as if someone found unfinished notes and published them as a book, not bothering to make connections, meaning, or dramatic tension.