Peregrinations
Peregrinations
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
Many people in Rhode Island have never been to Boston, let alone New York. I’ve coached a very successful entrepreneur who has never been to New York and doesn’t wish to go. Most people can’t locate Bolivia or Laos (or Nebraska) on a map.
When Americans in a survey were asked the three most famous Japanese they could think of, it was Bruce Lee, Yoko Ono, and Godzilla. Or not?
Through my travels abroad, I learned:
- To eat “European style.”
- People are far more multi-lingual than we are.
- Computers in foreign airport restrooms tell you how many stalls are available, and you can rate the cleanliness.
- Floating markets of Thailand (and the Cayman).
- The immensity of the Great Wall (some of which can’t be fixed today).
- The Acropolis uses the same machinery today to repair it as was used to build it.
- The exquisite wines of Chile don’t travel well.
- The modernized airport immigration systems.
- There is better first class (Emirates, Air Singapore).
- Some lamps are older than our country.
- The timeless artistry (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rodin, Mozart, Vivaldi).
- Bikes, scooters, motorcycles, and trains are used for everyday commutes.
- People in the US are stagnantly Americentric.
We see the world through distorted lenses: US TV, US papers, US social media friends. If it’s truly a global economy, we ought to be a global people. Diversity goes beyond borders.
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
