• Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®

  • By: Alan Weiss
  • Podcast
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth® cover art

Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth®

By: Alan Weiss
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  • Summary

  • 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.
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Episodes
  • A Great Education

    A Great Education
    May 2 2024
    I was required to engage in a “liberal arts” education at Rutgers. That meant that I had to have credits in languages over two or three years, science every year, history for two years, and English for two years. Although I majored in Political Science, because I thought I was going to law school (!), these other classes were required. The length and amount of education is far less important than the quality and depth of education. A lot of people attend school (sometimes for far more than four years) and simply get their “ticket stamped.” I sat next to a great many students who were no better off leaving school than they were entering it except that they had more job prospects. In these times, with competence more sought than credentials, that might no longer be true. Airlines are looking for qualified pilots whether or not they have a college education. We have a shortage of air traffic controllers. Do they need college educations? An electrician doesn’t. We tend to focus on business books and the “idea du jour.” I had a client who wanted to change her Fortune 100’s organization every time she went to a new seminar or read another book. It is okay to be the smartest person in the room—someone has to be. It’s not okay to try to be the second smartest. You’ll earn what that means when you listen to the podcast. You’ll also hear my two key criteria to determine intelligence. See if you pass my test.
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    9 mins
  • A Conversation with Al McCree

    A Conversation with Al McCree
    Apr 25 2024
    Al McCree is a former fighter pilot who has flown 196 missions! He is an executive in the music business and has managed all kinds of talent. He’s also worked with top business executives. We talk about the differences and similarities of combat flying and the competition of the music business and the challenges of changing hearts and minds in a business setting. Ironically Al thinks music can be a distraction at work, even though we see so many people with ear buds in all kinds of workplaces. I challenge Al a bit on his belief that DNA and genetics are important for success. We both reflect on the wonderful, developmental feedback we obtained at the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation (and why he can play a musical instrument and I can’t, authoritatively validated). We fondly recall Jeanne Robertson, a brilliant speaker and storyteller who, in a beauty contest, enthralled the judges with her “talent” of twirling an invisible baton, which she lit on fire and had it descend on the judges’ heads. The role of luck is analyzed in any pursuit, and Al feels it’s a stronger factor than might be realized. But what is luck, really? And before we end we discuss how to exemplify what will make your kids successful, especially if they’ve led a privileged life and may not have the parents’ “hunger.”
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    30 mins
  • How I'd Change Education

    How I'd Change Education
    Apr 18 2024
    Primary and secondary 1 End the “warehousing” of children • Chronology is silly and hundreds of years old • Socialization is important, but not at this cost • Move kids as they learn • Measure learning by outcomes: application, tests, etc. 2. Stop defaulting to college educations • Prepare for a range of employment opportunities • I sat next to too many duds in college • Teach life skills: civics, account management, do-it-yourself repairs (remember shop and home economics) • Growing tendency to hire competence and not credentials 3. End the teachers’ unions control of schools • Introduce carrots and sticks for teachers • The Rubber Room in New York City • Albert Shanker’s quote • Randi Weingarten’s $600,000 • The customers are the parents and kids, not teachers • Make the job rewarding and also demanding • Recreate school “open houses” • End the mainstreaming of behavioral problems • End the inclusion on non-English speakers • My experience with Tourette’s Syndrome • Teachers have lowest grade point averages and attend the worst academic schools • Former president of URI: People with poor finances and/or grades go to inexpensive and mediocre schools • Get rid of failed progressive nonsense like “new math” • Allow for school choice of all kinds with vouchers 4. Change school financing • The affluent/tax/attraction/more tax trap • Pool money within the state for equal distribution • Create true equal opportunity with equivalent resources, quality, teaching across the state 5. Enforce discipline • Assistant principle might go to jail for stopping a female, black student from heading for a fight, she claimed he physically abused her in doing so. She had threatened the fight. • Mandate school officers. Anyone who says that children are fearful of uniforms and police should understand they’d be more fearful of being beaten up or shot at. 6. Apply common sense and avoid political correctness and the woke • Teachers may not involve themselves with personal, sexual, gender, and similar issues without involving parents, including names kids use, how they dress, and how they want to be addressed. • Teachers’ personal politics, gender beliefs, and religious beliefs are not permitted in the classroom.
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    12 mins
Social Sciences
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