Segment One
Ron and Ed discussed memorable guests and show topics they had on during 2016.
It’s nearly impossible to choose favorite guests, since they are all good! But we asked each other, so here are our choices for 2016, which encompass shows #74 through #122, including the link to the archived show:
Ron’s Choices
Daniel Susskind (#74)—because of the chain reaction his book kicked off, The Future of the Professions.
Colonel Rick Searfoss, #91, Astronaut
Steven Landsburg, #106, economist
David Friedman, #117, economist
Dr. Reginald Lee, #112, author of Lies, Damned Lies, and Cost Accounting
Baruch Lev, #101, author of The End of Accounting
Ed’s Choices
Daniel Susskind, (#74)— because of the chain reaction his book kicked off, The Future of the Professions.
Mark Koziel, (#75), VP of Firm Services & Global Alliances at the AICPA, with his reaction to the Susskind’s book, and the state of the accounting profession.
Paul Kennedy, VeraSage Institute colleague, told his compelling OBK story (#84).
Rabbi Lapin (#86), our first two-time guest returned in 2016.
Doug Sleeter, (#96) + (#99), for being Bitcoin and Blockchain obsessed.
Gregory LaFollette, (#104), for his views on technology and the future of the accounting profession.
We also did our #100th show.
Favorite Show Topics
Ron: Trashing the Timesheet, #109
Ed: A Check for Everyone? The Basic Income Idea, (#95)
Thank You to Our Audience!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, to our Audience! You are the reason we are here, and we will strive to continue to add value by bringing you leading edge guests and ideas.
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LizCPAWriter on December 19, 2016 writes: “Always Though Provoking - I Always learn something new on this podcast. Ron and Ed bring in fascinating guests with interesting points of view. Yes, they are opinionated, but they are firmly committed to the survival of accounting and business advisory work as viable careers. The world is changing and so must we if we are to continue providing value.”
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Segment Two: Favorite Books from 2016
Ed’s selections
The Scandal of Money: Why Wall Street Recovers but the Economy Never Does, George Gilder
Precision, Timothy Chou
Ron’s selections
The Scandal of Money: Why Wall Street Recovers but the Economy Never Does, George Gilder
John Tamny, Who Needs the Fed?
Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World, Don and Alex Tapscott
The End of Accounting, Baruch Lev, Feng Gu
Lies, Damned Lies, and Cost Accounting: How Capacity Management Enables Improved Cost and Cash Flow Management, Dr. Reginald Lee
A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the 20th Century, James Rosen, editor. A compendium of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s eulogies. Beautifully written about interesting historical figures of the 20th century.
Ron’s Best Book of 2016
The Kingdom of Speech, Tom Wolfe. Here’s some thought-provoking excerpts:
“The most fundamental questions about the origins and evolution of our linguistic capacity remain as mysterious as ever”
“Speech is not one of man’s several unique attributes—speech is the attribute of all attributes!”
“One hundred and fifty years since the Theory of Evolution was announced, and they had learned…nothing…in that same century and a half, Einstein discovered the speed of light and the relativity of speed, time, and distance…Pasteur discovered that microorganisms, DNA, 150 years’ worth of linguists, biologists, anthropologists, discovered…nothing…about language.”
“Darwin had an even bigger problem: a huge gap in evidence when it came to language, which set humans far apart from any animal ancestors.”
“He couldn’t find one shred of solid evidence that human speech had evolved from animals…seemed to have just popped up into the mouths of human beings from out of nowhere.”
“Darwin had fallen into the trap of cosmogonism—the compulsion to find the ever-elusive Theory of Everything…”
Ed mentioned research being done on evolution and consciousness, video interview with Donald Hoffman
Insert video interview with Donald Hoffman
Also, a speech by George Gilder at the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Discovery Institute: “Leap Before You Look: Reflections on the Mission and “Evolution” of Discovery Institute,” from December 2, 2016.
Segment Three: R.I.P.
First Lady Nancy Reagan
John Glenn
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, from Monroeville, Alabama
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Thomas Hayden, 60s radical and former husband of Jane Fonda
Janet Reno
Arnold Palmer
Boxing champ Muhammad Ali
Florence Henderson
Robert Vaughn
Doris Roberts
Gene Wilder
Patty Duke
Abe Vigoda
Carrie Fisher
Debbie Reynolds
Garry Shandling , he was 66 (not in his 50s as Ron said)
George Michaels
David Bowie
Prince
Merle Haggard
Songwriters Leonard Cohen and Leon Russell
Article by economist Steven Horwitz predicting that we will see an acceleration of death of famous people, as the Baby Boom generation starts to age.
Special Mentions
Ed’s mentor’s mentor: Steven Geske is “Walking on.” We had Howard Hansen (Ed’s mentor) and Steven Geske on show (#11). They are the authors of a great book, Healing Leadership.
Fidel Castro, whose funeral car had to be pushed. There were some great Tweets about this, such as, “Even Hell is rejecting him,” and “Who says the embargo didn’t work.”
Ron mentioned a quote from the Talmud, but got it backwards. It is actually a celebration of those who have passed. Here it is:
In a harbor, two ships sailed: one setting forth on a voyage, the other coming home to port. Everyone cheered the ship going out, but the ship sailing in was scarcely noticed. To this, a wise man said: “Do not rejoice over a ship setting out to sea, for you cannot know what terrible storms it may encounter and what fearful dangers it may have to endure. Rejoice rather over the ship that has safely reached port and brings its passengers home in peace.
And this is the way of the world: When a child is born, all rejoice; when someone dies, all weep. We should do the opposite. For no one can tell what trials and travails await a newborn child, but when a mortal dies in peace, we should rejoice, for he has completed a long journey, and there is no greater boon than to leave this world with the imperishable crown of a good name.
–The Talmud
Segment Four: Miscellaneous
Ron’s topic
Hat tip to John Chisholm (our VeraSage colleague) and listener Bryce for passing along this excellent article from December 21, 2016, in The Guardian: “Why time management is ruining our lives,” by Oliver Burkeman.
Here are some interesting tidbits from the article, which we highly recommend:
Merlin Mann of “Inbox Zero” fame, which the New Yorker said was “halfway between Scientology and Zen,’ while the NY Post called it “Bullshit,” is discussed.
The better you get at time management, the less time you feel you have.
The article lays waste to Frederick Taylor, the founder of “Scientific Management,” which was also the theme of our very first show on The Soul of Enterprise.
Creativity requires more slack, says Tom DeMarco.
Time management and efficiency is really nothing more than the fear of death: to die with the sense of nothing left undone: it’s nothing less than the promise of immortality by other means.
But a gift of being alive is never to be done.
Ed’s topic
The new Star Wars movie, Rogue One, has a controversy. Peter Cushing has been dead since 1994, but another actor plays him, with Cushing’s face CGI’d on him, so who gets the royalty?