These Are A Few of My Favorite Things
• A woman takes issue with one of my weekly Monday Morning Memos—a FREE newsletter—and tells me that if I don’t write more consistently with her point of view, she’ll cancel her subscription. (She had been reading it for over a year.)
• A man writes a venomous email because I wrote a column in a FREE newsletter about the special nature of my mornings in Nantucket. He wrote that if I can’t provide him with ideas to improve his life, then what good am I, and also threatens to unsubscribe. (That column drew unanimous praise from scores of others who took the time to write.)
• A woman arrives late for a meeting, raises her hand, and asks if I’ll review, in the class, everything she missed.
• A woman arrives late and complains to me during break about her undesirable seat.
• When I reconvene a meeting, men and women stand in the aisles and continue to chat even as I ask that we begin. (In the future I’m going to embarrass them and/or throw them out.)
• When I announce we’re starting the day, at least three women will run to the rest room. That’s AFTER I’ve already announced “two minutes until starting time.”
• Some people don’t take notes and simply take photos of the easel sheets I create. Good luck with that.
• Many people record entire sessions, for an hour, or a half-day, or a full day. To each his own, but that’s a lot of work to review, I don’t care what kind of electronic gadgetry you’re using.
• People make plans to leave early, sometimes missing an entire afternoon. I know there may be good reasons, but it always seems like the same people.
• People commit to do something and when it’s too late to change things they begin to get very selfish. They fly in that morning instead of the night before, don’t attend the networking session, don’t attend the prep sessions, don’t stay after their own segment. I don’t ever use them again.
• The “second smartest guy in the room” has to comment on everything I say, as if it’s important for him to verify and validate my points. This is so transparent that everyone sees through it in 60 seconds. It’s like a gas leak.
• Ms. Exception has to tell me why every point won’t work for her. I have to tell her that it’s therefore silly for her to waste her time, and she should leave.
© Alan Weiss 2016
PS: The first two people I unsubscribed without telling them.
Dennis Snow
Great list, Alan. Another “favorite thing” of mine is when a participant answers their phone during the session and conducts a call as they squeeze out of their row and walk down the aisle to the exit. Unless it’s the Pope calling, I think the call can wait 30 seconds. And the Pope doesn’t usually call any of my participants.
Alan Weiss
Excellent point. Also: People who take their breakfast or lunch into the meeting.