Social Proof
Social Proof
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
•This is an almost subliminal technique to create normative pressure psychologically.
•It's pointing out what others are doing, or not doing, or what events, prove your point.
•It's the use of profound analogies.
•Listen to my examples about Amtrack's infrastructure, or the fallacies around Kodak.
•If pictures are worth a thousand words, social proof is worth a thousand pictures.
•Learn who was more important, Brady or Belechick.
• Understand how breaking the rules can save lives.
•Understand why coach does not arrive at the same time that first class does.
•Use these techniques for assurances and probabilities.
•Use them to accelerate your conversations toward your goals.
•But social proof demands that you be well-informed.
To learn how to develop and use Social Proof, go to my website or read below:
The Proof Behind Social Proof
Has anyone ever asked you, “Give me an example of your point?” and you suddenly forgot how to speak? Or have you said, “Let me give you an example…,” and then immediately gone into brain freeze without any ice cream?
“Social Proof” comprises pragmatic examples that others can readily relate to which reinforce your point instantly.
When you “open the hood” on social proof, beneath is actually a psychological dynamic which creates normative pressure assuring that the actions of others are appropriate and should be imitated. A desire to “fit in” is created.
While testimonials and endorsements are a type of social proof, they are not as powerful as citing a headline, a major incident, or a famous example. (One problem with quotations, for example, is that for each one there is an opposite, equally true: “Haste makes waste” but “He who hesitates is lost.”)
Many people use “false social proof.” Kodak was not hiring chemists while digital photography was taking over. Their executives simply thought they could wring a couple of more years of already-projected profits and underestimated the speed of the digital takeover.
Join me for 90 minutes and fill your conversations, narrative, and collateral with social proof that will build your brand and fill your bank account.
People ask what research I invest in for my success. I don't. Then they ask what my investigative habits are. I don't have any. “So what DO you do?” They ask.
I look around.
Learn how to look around to dominate conversations and close business:
October 14, 2025
10:30 to noon, US eastern time
Video and Zoom notes included
Fee: $350 until and including Sept. 30, $500 thereafter.
REGISTER HERE: https://alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/the-proof-behind-social-proof/
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
