Honestly
Honestly
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
My wife wasn’t feeling well, so I went out to eat at 5:30 and brought her something back. When I do that, I bring my iPad and read a book at the bar.
I finished, the takeout arrived in a shopping bag, and I drove home. At 10 pm I thought I’d play some Angry Birds before going to bed but realized my iPad was gone. I used “Find My iPhone” to determine that it was still in the restaurant. Although after hours, they answered the phone.
“We have it right here,” said a manager, after a brief search, “come around to the door by the bar, it’s open. We’re cleaning up.”
They were cleaning up, and the same bartender from five hours earlier came out and handed me the iPad. We chatted, I thanked him, drove home (and played Angry Birds).
That’s the way it’s supposed to work, right? Friendly people, honesty, using technology as a help to solve something.
Yet we keep valuables locked in hotel safes, we’re careful about where we keep our wallets or carry our purses, and some stores don’t accept any cash larger than a twenty-dollar bill. Shoplifting is one of the major expenses for retail stores. We’re advised to use a complex password on our smart phones because thieves are stealing them, cracking simple codes, and cleaning out bank accounts.
It’s a shame when once-common acts of honesty and courtesy stand out because they’re exceptions to our expectations and no longer the rule.
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
