"Goodness is Giving to Others Selflessly" - Interview with Jeff Weiss

July 9, 2024

By Bessy ADUT

Jeff Weiss is an experienced corporate training specialist focusing on call center customer service and customer care. His learners work with customers who are experiencing higher levels of stress. Teaching empathy and emotional self-control receives equal emphasis as learning technical skills. He is also an art, nature, and music enthusiast.

Where are you currently residing?

North Hollywood, California

What are your current projects?

I'm working on a project documenting the history of baseball in Los Angeles County as told through ephemera with the goal of writing a book or blog on the history.

Please share how you got started and got to where you are today...

It has been a meandering path to my current career at the Automobile Club of Southern California. Many years were spent in the music business. I wrote many album reviews, and marketed independent music to a narrow market, combining it with a web-based retail store. During my meandering career, I was a partner in a company that created contest content for radio stations. The great recession of 2008 had an impact on my entrepreneurial adventures which led me to AAA, more as a lifeline than a career change. 15 years later I am still at AAA.

Has it been a smooth road?

My career path has never been smooth. I started or partnered in several businesses over the year. Some were successful and provided long-term stability while others, like many new business ventures, suffered quick deaths. It has always been interesting, sometimes exciting and fulfilling, and other times anxious as I searched for my next thing.

Tell us more about your life and career...

I was born in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles. It was idyllic. The Valley, as it is known, was transitioning from agricultural to a sprawling suburb of tract housing and mini-malls. That sweet spot allowed for the freedom to explore the valley on bicycles without adult supervision. The neighborhood was multi-cultural. Many cities still had rules in place that forbid Jews and other minorities from buying property in certain neighborhoods. Many families moved to the Valley not only for lower prices but also because they could buy there. In retrospect, it demonstrated how people from very different backgrounds could share space with minimal racial or religious intolerance. It was foundational and has been a guiding light for how I treat others and expect to be treated.

I went to college at California State University Northridge on a business major. My thoughts were always on starting and owning a business, something I picked up from my father who was a proponent of being your own boss. This led to an early exit from school as I ventured into the world of entrepreneurs.

What do you think goodness is?

Goodness is the choice we can make on how we view others and the world. My family has always been active in social justice. We went to protests, boycotted companies that valued profits over treating employees with dignity, door knocked for progressive candidates, and engaged in discourse with people of opposing opinions. Goodness is a code of ethics, treating others with respect, and helping those in need. My grandmother was a refugee from Eastern Europe after being menaced for being Jewish. She could have been angry about her treatment. Instead, she always found the best in people. She instilled this on her children and then her grandchildren. We were raised to selflessly give to others. That's goodness.

Who are you outside of your professional life?

I have been with my wife for nearly 40 years. We are big fans of art and spend much of our free time going to art galleries and museums. We currently have two dogs, both rescues. We hike the local mountains, spending much of that time at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Music is huge in my life. I have been a passionate fan since my late teens. I am a music snob. I search for the most moving and interesting music across many genres. The last several years have been an exploration of jazz. Several years before that were focused on country and country-related music. A big part of my curiosity about the history of baseball in Los Angeles, is fueled by baseball cards and related ephemera.

Are you interested in environmental issues?

When I was growing up my elementary school showed public service announcement films. One that stuck with me focused on how air pollution was devastating health in hard-hit communities. My social commitment includes protecting the environment. My nieces and nephews and their children deserve a healthy environment. I contribute to that when I can.

Do you think the world is not a good place right now?

The world is not in a good place right now. We are spasming towards an election that will determine the future of our fragile democracy. Wars in Ukraine and Israel are destabilizing significant parts of the world. Climate change is wreaking havoc. There are unrelenting attacks on minorities. It's a scary place. I lived through the Vietnam War which was a hugely unsettling time that was followed by the illegalities of the Nixon administration. We've survived attacks on our democracy and will, hopefully, do it again.

How do you make the world a better place?

Participation is important. Now is not the time to sit back and accept that we are powerless. History shows us that a motivated public can make the change. Acting with civility; and adopting a willingness to understand and be understood will go a long way towards restoring decency.

How can we all make the world better?

You don't have to take on all of the issues that will make the world a better place. Pick one of two issues that you are passionate about and get involved.

How can science and spirituality coexist?

That has always been difficult for me to rationalize, because of the friction between the foundation of the two. Science is pursuing the secrets of the universe. Spirituality explores the human spirit and soul. Because it requires some suspension of disbelief, I have a hard time with that as I am firmly rooted in the provable. However, there are many scientists who also embrace the spiritual, mostly as a tool for explaining the unexplainable. I think most spirituality and science can co-exist, though I personally continue struggling with that co-existance.

If you could go anywhere, where would you go (and why)?

I want to travel Europe and see the artworks of the grand masters. A current interest is going to Madrid to see Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, a triptych that depicts Eden, the garden of earthly delights, and Hell.

23 July

“Normal” Lives That Suddenly Explode

“One grandmother was hidden in the cellar of two Catholic women in Belarus for 630 days and nights. When she was liberated she had to relearn to walk, and to speak out loud. My other grandmother boarded a ship full of Polish orphans during the beginning of the war and went to Palestine, where she had to start her life over without her family, at age 9”

"Goodness is Giving to Others Selflessly" - Interview with Jeff Weiss

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