Robert Fripp, Patricia Fripp, Alan Weiss. Who is The Odd Couple®?

Some of Robert Fripp's fans think he and his sister AKA "Sister Fripp" are an odd couple until they hear us present together. 

Another Odd Couple® is with Alan Weiss. We agree and disagree about what matters most to speakers and consultants in our marketing and strategy seminars. They are creatively called The Odd Couple®! Chad Barr who is Alan's website guru said, "I hate to point out you are getting less odd!!"

Perhaps that is because we take some of each other's advice! TOC seminars have been presented every year since 1996.

Here is one of Alan Weiss's answers to an attendee at The Odd Couple.

Q: How do I stand out in the crowd of other consultants and professional speakers?

Alan: “When I started my career, quality circles were very big. I wrote an article called ‘Why Quality Circles Make No Sense.’ Completely contrary. They published it in an instant.

You don’t want to be the 457th person talking about where leaders have high integrity and they’re ethical. You want to talk about the fact, for example, that right now you have two kinds of people in leadership. You have people who are in their 50s and 60s near the top of organizations, who didn’t grow up with diversity, who didn’t grow up with high-tech, who didn’t grow up with instantaneous communications and know nothing about it.

You have a second era of leadership--people in their 30s and 40s--who have never led in down times; they’ve only led in boom economies. Now, given that juxtaposition of these senior people who aren’t used to some conditions and the next level people, you have a leadership crisis.

So, I’ve created a whole new route here. I can do that all day long. I can get anyone interested in what I have to say about leadership; or you name a topic, I’ll make it up. That’s what you have to do.

So, if you want to enter a field, whether it’s team building, or leadership, or priority setting, diversity, whatever it is, come out with your own viewpoint. Read what people have said and then decide how you’ll be slightly different.”

Check out our new service The Odd Couple Community®