WSE

09/17/2026

The smartest person in the room is often the quietest liar.

I heard Eric Saperston share something Donald Keogh, the President of Coca-Cola, told him early on. Keogh said the thing that separates those who achieve from those who do not is the ability to ask others for help.

It is the inability to say four words. I do not know.

That one landed on me.

I spent years in client meetings performing certainty. A client would ask something outside my lane and I would build an answer on the spot instead of asking a better question. Nobody trained me to do that. The culture just rewards it.

Here is the rule I work by now. If I do not know, I say so, and then I ask.

The strange part is what happened after. Clients trusted me more, not less. Deals got structured better because the right people finally spoke up.

You are not paid to have every answer. You are paid to get to the right one.

Asking for help is not weakness. It is how you borrow every brain in the room.

Eric Saperston not only created "The Journey", he is also a highly sought after speaker and executive coach. Connect with Eric at https://www.ericsaperston.com/..

09/16/2026

The deals that collapsed on my desk did not die from bad terms.

They died because the person on the other side of the table had no clear set of values to stand on.

Thirty years of watching clients walk into rooms will sharpen your read on people fast. Some of them carry a north star into every conversation. Others are guessing and hoping the room does not see through it.

The room always sees through it.

I sat down with Eric Saperston for the podcast. He spent years interviewing top performers at the highest level. Presidents of major companies. Olympic gold medalists. The founder of The Ritz-Carlton standard.

He spent years studying what separated the ones living at the top from the ones still climbing toward it.

He found a rudder.

A defined set of principles that holds your direction when everything outside goes sideways. A boat without one moves wherever the current pushes it. News cycles. Other people's opinions. Whatever happened that morning.

You might have a rudder. Or you might just think you do, which is a more dangerous place to operate from.

Eric has a framework for finding out which one is actually true.

Episode 28 Part 2 drops Thursday.

09/16/2026

09/11/2026

🎶 TONIGHT! 🎶 Music starts at 7:30.
Thinking About Oz is opening for Chander Flint tonight at Chicora Alley in Downtown Greenville!
Come early, grab some great food and drinks, and join us for a night of live music. 🎸✨
📍 Chicora Alley — Downtown Greenville
🎶 Thinking About Oz • Chander Flint

08/31/2026

Eric asked me a question on Episode 27 that I was not ready for.

We were in Maui, sitting down to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Journey, his documentary. I thought I knew where the conversation was going.

Then he said something that stopped me cold. He said the shift from dreaming to doing comes down to one question. Not what do you dream. What are you committed to.

I have worked with athletes, entertainers, and founders for three decades. I have watched people declare the most incredible visions and then disappear inside their own doubt six weeks later. I thought I understood why.

Eric reframed it. He said his whole career, the bus, the grilled cheese sandwiches at rest stops, the governor interview with a duct-taped boom pole, all of it, was not driven by the size of the dream. It was driven by a daily commitment to bridge one gap between young people and wise elders. That is it. The dream got bigger. The commitment stayed the same.

I sat with that for two days after we wrapped.

Because I realized I spend a lot of time helping people clarify their vision. I spend less time asking them what they are actually committed to doing on a Tuesday when nothing is working.

That is the question Eric answered with his life. And I think it is the right one.

And that was before we even got to Jerry Garcia. What Eric took away from that conversation is something I am still thinking about. It is in the episode.

If you are building something right now and the gap between where you are and where you want to be feels overwhelming, I highly recommend you watch The Journey at ericsaperston.com. Then come back and tell me what shifted for you. I read every reply.

08/27/2026

Episode 27 of The Straight Line to Success with special guest Eric Saperston is live right now.

We are in Maui. I flew out to interview Eric Saperston for the 25th anniversary of his documentary film The Journey. Eric drove a 1971 VW bus across the country, sold grilled cheese sandwiches at rest stops to fund gas money, and interviewed some of the most extraordinary people alive. Bernie Marcus, the chairman of UPS, the founder of the Ritz Carlton, Billy Crystal, Henry Winkler, Jerry Garcia. He built something massive with almost nothing.

And what Eric said Jerry Garcia taught him about how to live is worth the listen alone. That one line stopped me cold.

But the moment that caught me off guard was when I told the audience how we actually met.

My brother Daniel pulled me into a bar in Atlanta when I was in law school. Eric was behind the bar raising money to fund his trip. I did not have much, but I pulled out what I had and threw it in the jar. And I told the audience on camera that what Eric was doing that night genuinely changed my life. That it planted something in me that eventually became this podcast.

I have never said that out loud before. Not like that.

If you are someone who has been sitting on a big idea and talking yourself out of it before you even start, this conversation is going to hit you in a massive way.

Eric Saperston not only created "The Journey", he is also an esteemed speaker and executive coach. Get to know Eric at https://www.ericsaperston.com/..

Link is in the first comment.

08/26/2026

The interview is decided before the first question lands.

Thirty years of depositions, deal rooms, and media moments taught me that. And it will teach you too, if you pay attention.

You can walk in sharp and still lose the room in the first ten minutes. Not because you lacked knowledge. Because you built no frame before you arrived.

Before every significant conversation, you decide who you are going to be in that room. You write out the three points you will not leave without making. You say them out loud before you walk through the door. Feels strange. Works every time.

The mental frame matters more than the answers. Answers you can prepare in advance. The frame has to be built before you ever sit down.

I flew to Maui a couple of months ago to sit down with Eric Saperston. Eric Saperston is one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met. He drove across America in a 1971 VW bus and interviewed legends like Bernie Marcus, Jerry Garcia, Billy Crystal, and Henry Winkler. That journey became a documentary called The Journey, won at South by Southwest, played in theaters nationwide, and is now celebrating its 25th anniversary.

I did that exact preparation work before we recorded Episode 27 of The Straight Line to Success. You do not walk into a conversation like that without your frame fully built.

Do that same work before your next high-stakes conversation. Walk in with the ending already written.

More on this very soon.

08/17/2026

Erik Weir uses the same five filters for every major decision. Stocks, real estate, hiring, film.

1. Current performance, no story attached.

2. Is it inside a growing industry.

3. Can management adapt when conditions shift.

4. Is there real earnings or value growth ahead.

5. Is the vision clear.

You are probably weighing something this week. Run it through all five.

That framework came from 30 years of struggle. A brain injury at five, a severe stutter, and a choice to push through every hard conversation instead of pulling back.

The full episode goes much deeper. Worth your time if you have not listened yet.

Erik Weir is a keynote speaker, business growth strategist, and founder of WCM Global. Go to erikweir.com to explore his speaking engagements, consulting services, books, and other resources.

08/13/2026

Erik Weir's speech therapist built him a lemonade stand at five years old.

He stuttered. She wanted him to associate reward with difficulty instead of pulling back from it.

His first day he made eighty two dollars. Six hundred in today's money.

Episode 26 of The Straight Line to Success is live. Go listen.

Erik Weir is a keynote speaker, business growth strategist, and founder of WCM Global. Go to erikweir.com to explore his speaking engagements, consulting services, books, and other resources.

08/12/2026

A brain injury at age five made every sentence a war for Erik Weir.

His speech therapist put him behind a lemonade stand and told him to talk to every customer. He made $82 in a single day. He was five years old.

That same kid built companies across real estate, securities, and film.

I asked him what changed. His answer had nothing to do with confidence, and that is what stopped me cold.

Episode 26 of The Straight Line to Success drops Thursday.