Difficult Conversations
Difficult Conversations
Meet Your Host, Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker, and author and mean it.
His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on several boards of directors in various capacities.
His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 60 books, including his best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting (from McGraw-Hill) now in its 30th year and sixth edition. His newest is Your Legacy is Now: Life is not about a search for meaning but the creation of meaning (Routledge, 2021). His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, and the Wharton School of Business, and have been translated into 15 languages.
Get to know AlanShow Notes
There is a great deal of work being done today around what's called “difficult conversations.” I think the work is important and needed.
In my experience, I've witnessed, been part of, and had to deal with more poorly done performance evaluations than good ones. I've had to help people gain the courage and proper language to talk to colleagues, let alone customers and prospects.
The basic issue is that we don't want to endure the “pain” of dealing with a tough or sensitive issue: performance, relationships, behavior, lies, failures. So we live with a long-term ache instead of facing the short-term pain. It's like avoiding the dentist and the needle and drilling to cure a toothache, and instead living with the discomfort endlessly.
Of course, the same applies to people in long-term, very unhappy marriages, who dread the pain of divorce. Divorce IS painful, but it's temporary, and horrible, continuing bad marriages can destroy your health and your soul.
Pain is temporary, suffering is voluntary. Don't avoid the difficult only to create the debilitating.
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth® is a weekly broadcast from “The Rock Star of Consulting,” Alan Weiss, who holds forth with his best (and often most contrarian) ideas about society, culture, business, and personal growth. His 60+ books in 12 languages, and his travels to, and work in, 50 countries contribute to a fascinating and often belief-challenging 20 minutes that might just change your next 20 years.
Introduction to the show recorded by Connie Dieken
