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Episode #423: Interview with Chris Vanover

Chris Vanover is a founder of AuditClub, a group of former audit partners with a unique and valuable mix of Big 4, regional, and local firm experience. AuditClub provides flexible access to a seasoned team of Chief Auditors and specialists who bring more than 100 years of combined professional experience to their CPA Firm members, helping each of them succeed through better focus, better quality, and better results. They have a unique set of elements in their subscription pricing model.

About Chris Vanover

Chris is a Certified Public Accountant with over two decades of unique public accounting experiences, including distinctive auditing, regulatory, and educational roles with international and regional firms, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”), and multiple universities. Chris currently serves on the leadership team and as a Chief Auditor for AuditClub, the Audit Service Center for CPA Firms (www.auditclub.cpa). With a mission to make public accounting better, AuditClub provides fractional chief auditors and audit specialists for on-demand AICPA & PCAOB support to Top 10, regional, and local CPA firms throughout the United States. By offering instant talent, deep expertise, and the power of collaborative consumption, AuditClub’s innovative membership model and passes are transforming how CPA firms deliver audits and simply how they get stuff done.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

  • So what exactly is the AuditClub of which our guest, Chris Vanover, is a co-founder? It’s an audit service center for CPA firms.

  • Initially, the go to market strategy for AuditClub.cpa was to establish relationships with auditing partners at different firms. Eventually, those partners started to ask, “What type of work do you do?” and AuditClub became a fractional audit service.

  • They started out with a subscription model in the early days but the market wasn’t quite ready yet. Chris acquiesced and, unfortunately, started selling buckets of hours. That didn’t last long :)

  • Points of inspiration for Chris and his business model were the experiences with his family. Places like Disneyland and how they handle large groups helped shape his thoughts. 

  • The AuditClub.cpa model is so attractive that Chris and his team are NOT having a hard time finding more team members. This seems to be the exact opposite of every other CPA firm today.

Segment two:

  • What was attractive about the subscription model to Chris? It frees his team up to focus on solutions instead of tracking hours and trying to fill out time sheets.

  • “You can have access to our team and as long as we have the knowledge and competency, we will do it for you guys. It is all part of the contract.” —Chris Vanover, co-founder AuditClub.cpa 

  • Look for a big announcement from Audit Club next week regarding their WEEKLY SUBSCRIPTION PASSES for audit services. You heard it here first on The Soul of Enterprise.

  • What kind of KPIs do they use at AuditClub.cpa? Many of them are focused on staff betterment. What is the team doing to better themselves is one of the biggest questions they ask internally.

  • “CPA firm clients don’t understand the role they have in creating a successful outcome. Too often the CPA firm ends up being the victim of that.” —Chris Vanover, co-founder AuditClub.cpa

Segment three:

  • Chris Vanover of Audit Club has a GREAT article up on @cpapracadvisor called “The Parallel Problems of Public Accounting & Major League Baseball”. We are 25 days away from players reporting so here’s the link! https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2023/01/18/the-parallel-problems-of-public-accounting-major-league-baseball/75940/ 

  • The baseball/accounting comparisons continue for Chris Vanover on the show today, “There’s so much data in baseball and there’s so much data in accounting but you don’t see the same level of analysis in accounting and that’s an important distinction.”

Segment four:

  • The incentive structure at a lot of the Big 4 firms stifles innovation. There is lots of innovation at lower levels but if you follow the incentives you will see why innovation seems to be stifled at the top.

  • Younger business generations understand subscription and they understand that businesses can be run in fundamentally different ways.

  • We talked baseball today on the live show and Ed was REALLY EXCITED about the fact that Sage is now an official partner of Major League Baseball! More info here https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-sage-becomes-official-partner-of-mlb-in-tech-brand-s-first-north-a @SageUSAmerica

  • That’s a wrap! A big THANK YOU to Chris Vanover of AuditClub.cpa for joining us today! Did you miss us live? Subscribe here https://link.chtbl.com/TSOE 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #422: Best books of 2022

An annual favorite going back to 2015, Ron and Ed talk about the best books they read each year. Sometimes there is overlap, other times none. (I suspect overlap this year!) Let’s start with a quote: “One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.” —Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

Segment two:

  • Here are the show notes from episode number 395 featuring Father Robert Sirico: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/395

  • Number 4 on Ron’s list AND number 3 on Ed’s list is Wild Problems by Russ Roberts! https://amzn.to/3vZ9ktB (Folks….this is a surprise to both Ron and Ed each year as they do not share lists until the show goes live)

  • Number 3 from from Ron is called Fossil Future and has a great subtitle, “Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas--Not Less” https://amzn.to/3QGOV5R 

  • Our Patreon channel is at Patreon.com/TSOE where you will find commercial free and bonus episodes. It is sponsored by @90Minds. Need a mind? Find one at mind at 90Minds.com

Segment three:

  • Ron’s number 2 pick for best books of 2022 was a very close number 2. It is deeply uncomfortable and absolutely profound. It is “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life” https://amzn.to/3H3xdq4 

  • Why is this book deeply uncomfortable? Ron talks about it during segment three of the show today and it has a lot to do with the FACT that we all face cognitive decline later in life. It’s one of those books Ron wishes he read in his 20’s.

  • Ed’s number 2 pick for best books of 2022 is by two guys you’ve probably never heard of, Ron Baker and Paul Dunn. It’s Time’s Up! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119893526?tag=verainst-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1 

  • Chapter 5 is Ed’s favorite chapter. It’s called, “This could be the most important business question ever”

  • Ed’s favorite quote from Chapter 5 of Time’s Up is, “Questions can change the future before the answers even arrive.”

Segment four:

  • It a rare turn of events, both Ron and Ed picked the SAME BOOK as number 1 in their best books of 2022 list. It is Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet https://amzn.to/3ZwKPRT

  • Marian Tupy’s second appearance on The Soul of Enterprise was focused on Superabundance. Here are the show notes: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/409 

  • Gale Pooley also joined us in 2022 to talk about Superabunance. Here are the show notes: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/418 

  • That’s a wrap! Next week is Chris Vanover, CPA from AuditClub to talk about his subscription business. See you in 167 hours!

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #421: 2022 - The Year in Review

One of two recap shows we do each year (the other will be next week's Best Books of 2022), Ron and Ed take a look back at trends (business and otherwise), highlights, and lowlights from the year just past. We review our favorite shows as well as the fan favorites and pay homage (or disparage when appropriate) those who crossed to the other side of the river in 2022.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

Segment two:

Segment three:

Segment four:

Here is a quick list of The Soul of Enterprise “best of” for 2022 based on various data points:

Listened to episodes

  1. #61 - Pricing on Purpose: Price Sensitivity Factors

  2. #393 - Interview with Brian Terrell

  3. #64 - Famous Last Words

  4. #217 - The Subscription Business Model

  5. #175 - The Laws of Systems Thinking

Released in 2022 - SquareSpace

  1. #393 - Interview with Brian Terrell

  2. #400 - Tackling Objections to the Subscription Pricing Model

  3. #381 - On David Maister's book - True Professionalism

  4. #378 - Subscription Economy Update - February 2022

  5. #418 - Interview with Gale Pooley - Superabundance

Released in 2022 - Chartable

  1. #395 - Fifth interview with Fr. Sirico

  2. #381 - On David Maister's book - True Professionalism

  3. #378 - Subscription Economy Update - February 2022

  4. #373 - Best Books of 2021

  5. #388 - The Problem with CPE

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #420: CPA Comedian Greg Kyte

Ed and Ron discussed the controversies surrounding behavioral economics—including some of Dan Ariely’s research. And with Greg, you never know where the conversation will go. What you do know, is it is entertaining, hilarious, and possibly even educational. Greg Kyte is one of the funniest CPA/MBA comedians out there, and Ron’s hero!

About Greg Kyte

Greg Kyte is the G. Robert Newhart Non-value-added Fellow at VeraSage Institute. In 2016 I started Exposure Drafts, a cartoon series for the accounting profession. My cartoons have been featured on GoingConcern.com, and I've created custom cartoons for Intuit and the Thriveal CPA Network. My cartoons are also available as holiday cards from RuBook Creative (rubookcreative.com). I've been performing stand up comedy since 2002, and I've brought that experience, energy, and humor to the stage as the emcee for Xero's Xerocon and Thriveal's Deeper Weekend conference, and this October to Gusto's Gusto Next conference. My experience as a comedian and as a teacher (I taught junior high math for ten years in a former life) have allowed me to create entertaining, engaging, NASBA-certified CPE content. Literally tens of thousands of CPAs have attended my fraud and behavioral ethics courses on the CPA Academy and Encoursa platforms. I've also created custom CPE content for Gusto and Xero. I'm also a licensed CPA in the State of Utah where I'm the controller for a group of medical office buildings.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

  • Our Patreon members (Patreon.com/TSOE) have paid good money to NOT hear the Greg Kyte commercials. Today, they get an entire hour of Greg! Welcome @gregkyte as our guest for episode 420.

  • “I’m not going on a blind date with some accounting nerd.” That’s how Greg’s relationship with Jason Blumer (@jasonmblumer) started. And ultimately it led to ThriveCast! https://thriveal.com/thrivecast/  

  • Today, Greg does "Oh My Fraud" — an irreverent podcast with Greg and blogger/former CPA Caleb Newquist (@cnewquist) https://ohmyfraud.com/ 

  • Also by Greg…Drunk Ethics is a limited edition podcast on @EarmarkCPE with MBA and comedian @adambroud. The trailer is all you need to see to get excited about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dybYTgoRjEY  

Segment two:

Segment three:

  • Back to this story about fraudulent data. Did you know about the fraud triangle? Greg talked about this today: opportunity, pressure, and rationalization.

  • Ron mentioned The Economist and their pricing models during the show today. Here is an article that talks about it (keep in mind that The Economist no longer uses these pricing options so…..did they work???) https://cxl.com/blog/pricing-experiments-you-might-not-know-but-can-learn-from/ 

  • Do you like what you hear on the show today? Do you hate what you hear? Doesn’t matter! We read all reviews on the air and it only takes you 15 seconds at this link: RateThisPodcast.com/TSOE

Segment four:

  • 1/2 Ron loves this from Deidre McCloskey: Other recent neobehaviorist fashions, such as neuroeconomics and behavioral finance and happiness studies, are dubious—or, they treat creative adults like a flock of little children. 

  • 2/2 [continued…] We need, they say, merely to “observe their behavior,” omitting for some reason linguistic behavior.

  • “Let’s smoke some marijuana and have an out of body experience.” —Greg Kyte’s closing statement for episode 420. Folks, he’s a comedian and he’s freaking hilarious! Check out more of him here: https://www.instagram.com/gregkyte 

  • A big THANK YOU to Greg Kyte for joining us today. Check out his newest podcast, Oh My Fraud!, with @cnewquist https://ohmyfraud.com/

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #419: LIVE from the ITA 2022 Fall Collaborative

Ron and Ed always enjoy taking the show on the road and on this episode we had some of that live energy from the crowd in Austin, Texas. We talked subscription, of course… as well as other ideas relating to technology consulting. As usual, it was the fastest hour of the week!

Our Featured Guest

Brian Terrell founded BTerrell Group in 1991 and oversees management and strategy for this Dallas based provider of Sage Intacct financial management software. Sage Intacct is the only accounting application ever to be designated by the AICPA as their Preferred Provider of Financial Applications. In addition, BTerrell’s experienced developers tailor the application’s business functionality to exact customer requirements, when necessary. Born in Plainview, Texas, Brian grew up on a farm where he learned the importance of a strong work ethic and conservative principles. From there, he received his Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University before starting a career with Arthur Andersen & Co. In February 1991, Brian and his wife Nancy began practicing public accounting with Terrell & Terrell, CPAs. Within a year, the firm refocused all professional services exclusively on accounting software and business automation and eventually rebranded as BTerrell Group in 2008. Brian rides 125 miles a week as an avid cyclist and ride leader for the Plano Bicycle Association. He and his wife Nancy live in Dallas and recently celebrated the birth of their third grandchild.

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #418: Interview with Gale Pooley — Superabundance

Ron and Ed were honored to welcome Gale L. Pooley to The Soul of the Enterprise to discuss his 2022 book, co-authored with Marian L. Tupy, Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. We interviewed Marian Tupy on the book back on September 23, 2022 (Episode #409). This is a groundbreaking book, a new way to measure standards of living, economic dynamism, innovation, growth, and resource abundance. It's certainly in our Top 5 books for 2022. You don't want to miss this discussion.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio

Segment one:

  • The more people, the more wealth we create. In summary, of course :) Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley, co-authors of Superabundance, most definitely celebrated the arrival of the 8 BILLIONTH person on the planet recently. https://www.superabundance.com/

  • Using the ideas in Superabunance, you can go to any place on the planet, at any time, with any currency and figure out the time price. This can then be compared to the time price of today which is a more accurate measurement compared to others.

  • Time inequality is dramatically decreasing. People enjoy more time to themselves today than at any time before. If you think in terms of time instead of dollars this becomes an excellent starting point for Superabunance.

  • In Superabundance, Marian and Gale want us to move beyond “atoms and money” to knowledge and time. This is knowledge stacking and here’s a snippet from the book that speaks more to this https://bit.ly/3XUYP76

Segment two:

  • “This universe is finite, its resources, finite.” —Thanos, Infinity War. Well…the first part of Thanos’ statement is true. However, resources are a function not of atoms but a function of knowledge. We are not limited in the discovery and creation of knowledge.

  • A piano has 88 keys. Here’s a trick question: How many songs are in a piano? Zero. There are no songs in a piano. The songs are in the minds of human beings.

  • Here’s the Superabundance analogy: The size of a slice in pizza is your individual personal resource abundance. The size of the entire pizza is when you put all the individuals together. Both the slice AND the pizza are getting bigger.

Segment three:

  • “Ants don’t innovate.” This is easily the best thing Gale said today during the show. It makes a LOT of sense if you read the first chapter in Superabundance. More at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Superabundance-Population-Innovation-Flourishing-Infinitely-ebook/dp/B0B196K1XT

  • An increase in knowledge is non-rivalrous. As we increase our knowledge individually, everyone benefits.

  • For those that already own the book Superabundance, one of Ed’s favorite graphics from the book is box 8.4 labeled “Calculating the calculation costs”. Enjoy!

  • There are two significant categories in which products are becoming LESS abundant. One usually involves the government on the supply or demand side and the other is typically a status product (in which less abundance is the point).

Segment four:

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode Reprise — Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays

[Editor’s Note: Some things are just too good not to share again. While our most ardent listeners are familiar with Episode #22, Scroogenomics, many may not be familiar with this specific show. This past Friday was Black Friday in the United States which means it’s time - once again - to talk about why you shouldn’t buy presents. Bah, humbug!!!]

[Additional Editor’s Note: Coincidentally, this year the replay of the Scroogenomics episode pairs quite well with last week’s episode featuring Professor Tony Gill in which we discussed the benefits of gift giving in the broader economy. Two shows, two different perspectives.]

On Black Friday, and right before Cyber Monday—the biggest shopping days of the year—Ed and Ron thought it would be fun to discuss the interesting, funny, and thought-provoking book by Joel Waldfogel: Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays.

The author makes the case that the deadweight loss to the economy from gift giving, in 2007, totaled $12 billion, out of approximately $66.5 Billion spent (about 12%). Citizens Against Government Waste would classify Christmas as a wasteful government program.

Gift giving severs link between buying decision and item’s value to its user—the transaction actually destroys value. To add insult to injury, we are obliged to pretend to be grateful!

His complaint is not the level of spending or the consumption, but the waste.

We discussed the four ways you can spend money in the economy:

 

Former Congressman Dick Armey pointed out how difficult spending is in Category II (Gift), let alone Category IV (Government):

Every year, I worry and fret select the right birthday gift for my wife, Susan. Every year, try as I might, I manage to choose the wrong thing. If I can’t figure the needs and desires of the one person who is closest to me in the world and who I deeply love and care for, how can we expect the government to do a better job?

Three groups spend other people’s money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need parental supervision.

Hierarchy of value of gift giving

  • Aunts & uncles & grandparents = 75%

  • Parents = 97%

  • Friends =91%

  • Siblings =99%

  • Significant others = 102%

Further, we spend approximately 2.8 billion hours shopping in December. To put that number in context, the old USSR—before it imploded—spent 35 billion hours annually standing in line for everyday products and services.

Infographic from Deloitte’s 2018 annual holiday survey

Economist Ian Ayres said this about Waldfogel’s book:

Joel Waldfogel is one of the smartest and funniest economists on the planet. I think of him every time I start to unwrap a present. Buy Scroogenomics for your friends and family. It makes the perfect Christmas gift.

Episode #417: Interview with Tony Gill

Waaay back in Episode 22, Ron and Ed detailed the ideas behind Joel Waldfogel's book, Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays. Waldfogel makes the case that the deadweight loss to the economy from gift giving, in 2007, totaled $12 billion, out of approximately $66.5 Billion spent (about 12%) and that we should all give cash rather than presents. In this episode, we spoke with Professor Tony Gill about his ideas around Rethinking Scroogenomics and some of his other writings.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

  • Political science, sociology, and economics? Tony wanted to be a lawyer for about 1 week, was interested in politics, and was interested in economics. That doesn’t sound TOO far fetched now that Tony Gill has shared his background with us.

  • Adam Smith called himself a moral philosopher. This makes sense for Tony given his interest in both economics and religion.

  • What was the trigger for Tony’s interest in the Austrian school of economics? Paraphrasing his response: Being interested in both religion and economics already makes you a bit of an outcast so the Austrian approach made some sense.

  • Tony is a proud member of the Mount Pelerin society. It’s founders include Friedrich Hayek, Frank Knight, Karl Popper, Ludwig von Mises, George Stigler and Milton Friedman. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Pelerin_Society

  • Related to Scroogenomics, Tony Gill wrote an article called “Gift Giving Is Better for Society than Economists Think” and you can read it here https://www.aier.org/article/gift-giving-is-better-for-society-than-economists-think/

  • Gift giving creates deadweight loss. Yes. But if the economy is so efficient why is gift giving persistent for so long? This is the root of Tony Gill’s argument discussed on the show today.

Segment two:

  • You have to overcome a burden of trust in order to successfully trade. One of the ways we do this is by giving up a resource up front. Some would call this gifting which is really important for building trust in society.

  • Why do stores decorate for Christmas? They want to be a part of the community and are willing to invest resources to show their commitment. This could even be true of business owners who do not celebrate.

  • Sumptuary laws (taxes) are seen a lot throughout history. They are taxes on consumption above and beyond what is considered necessary such as fancy clothes or expensive food. Tony asks, “Is Wokeness the New Sumptuary Laws?” at this link: https://www.aier.org/article/is-wokeness-the-new-sumptuary-laws/

  • At a certain level of Patreon membership - Patreon.com/TSOE - you can get a shout out like Blake Oliver did! Check out Blake’s podcast and earn CPE credits for listening. https://earmarkcpe.com/

Segment three:

  • Inequality has been ubiquitous throughout society and is usually examined at a national level. Where you tend to see it at a much more salient level is locally…in your neighborhood and at your job, for example.

  • Paraphrasing from Tony today: While studying inequality at the national level can be helpful, rarely do we stop and look at people in their local neighborhoods and determine what they are doing to solve common problems.

  • “No, the Business Roundtable Did Not Repudiate Capitalism” from Tony Gill was discussed today during segment three. Tony mentioned that he is rethinking it a little bit but you’ll need to listen to the show for the details. https://www.aier.org/article/no-the-business-roundtable-did-not-repudiate-capitalism/

Segment four:

The bots are coming for us!

For a few weeks now, we have been experimenting with a new feature from Otter.ai. Many of you will know that some of the current AI solutions have caught Ron and Ed’s attention during the bonus episodes. We let Otter.ai loose on the audio version of this show and here is what it (he? she? they?) came up with:

  • Copyright claim on every episode. 2:33

  • Welcome to the show. 7:02

  • Anthony Gill’s bio. 8:43

  • What is the Mont Pelerin Society and how did it start? 14:36

  • Why do we give a diamond engagement ring? 21:00

  • Gift-giving as a way to generate discussion. 23:54

  • What are the sumptuary laws and how does Wokeness fit into that? 30:30

  • Anthony Gill’s thoughts on inequality in the US. 37:32

  • Where do you see inequality at the local level? 40:02

  • Trade is about human interaction and relations. 46:11

  • The role that religion is playing in the war in Ukraine. 51:54

  • We need to engage with people before transactions. 58:28

Episode #416: Interview with James Geraghty

Ron and Ed welcomed to the show James Geraghty. As a biotechnology executive, Jim has been a passionate participant in the orphan drug revolution since its inception. We talked about his book, Inside the Orphan Drug Revolution, The Promise of Patient-Centered Biotechnology, which is in part a history, with eye-witness accounts of advances as they occurred and portraits of the pioneering scientists and physicians, tireless activists, and visionary business leaders who made the revolution happen. And it tells deeply personal stories of patients and parents willing to risk new, untried therapies.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

Segment two:

  • Abbey Meyers is considered the mother of the orphan drug revolution. She is referenced in Jim’s book and also on the FDA website at this link: https://www.fda.gov/industry/fdas-rare-disease-day/story-behind-orphan-drug-act

  • The 1983 Orphan Drug Act completely changed the face of therapeutics for rare disorders. By 1990 FDA had designated 370 products for orphan status, and of these 49 were approved for orphan indications.

  • Initially, President Reagan was going to veto the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. He was not in favor of government intervention. Mothers who knew Nancy Reagan worked in the background to help President Regan see the benefits. Ultimately, he signed.

  • Every year there are hundreds of drugs passed for orphan diseases. Patients today who benefit are in the millions. This has been a global revolution with patients who benefit all around the world.

Segment three:

  • Ceradase was the initial orphan drug developed by Genzyme. In the initial trial of 7 patients, 6 showed no improvement. “That’s an anecdotal case and you can’t build a company on it.” Well, they did. And it worked.

  • Our understanding of genetics continues to explode in large part due to the human genome project. Science has come to understand DNA and RNA and much of our understanding about mRNA was developed in the pursuit of treating rare diseases.

  • In the context of orphan drug development, “N of 1” is an important concept. An N of 1 trial is a clinical trial in which a single patient is the entire trial. They are a single case study.

  • Can we get to a point where the FDA can approve a broad platform and then patients can be treated as individuals who have ultra-orphan diseases? Jim certainly hopes so although we are not there yet.

Segment four:

  • International rare disease day is on February 28th. This is closely tied to Jim’s book, “Inside the Orphan Drug Revolution”. Learn more at this link: https://www.rarediseaseday.org/ @rarediseaseday

  • Even in countries with universal health insurance, they have other ways to block orphan drug treatments and make it difficult to obtain for those in need.

  • A big THANK YOU to Jim Geraghty for joining us today to discuss his book! “Inside the Orphan Drug Revolution” is available at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Orphan-Drug-Revolution-Patient-Centered/dp/1621824683

The bots are coming for us!

For a few weeks now, we have been experimenting with a new feature from Otter.ai. Many of you will know that some of the current AI solutions have caught Ron and Ed’s attention during the bonus episodes. We let Otter.ai loose on the audio version of this show and here is what it (he? she? they?) came up with:

  • Casa Bonita updates. 0:00

  • Why didn’t Trey Parker invest in that? 2:21

  • Cannibal the Musical –. 3:20

  • Introduction to James Garrity and his book. 8:19

  • What is an “orphan drug”? 13:00

  • Drug pricing as a problem for patients. 18:30

  • Jim’s favorite story from the book. 21:40

  • The Orphan Drug Act of 83. 27:03

  • What is the term “n=1”? 31:44

  • How the FDA is understaffed and underfunded. 36:33

  • N equals one technology and pandemic preparedness. 41:25

  • What is an ultra-orphan disease? 45:51

  • How do we make these things affordable for all of these patients? 49:09

  • Jim talks about the challenges of orphan drug access in the developing world. 52:53

  • What is the full-loaded cost of gene therapy? 57:04

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

This past week was bonus episode 416 - It's all about payments. Here are some links discussed:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #415: Stack of Stuff

It’s a stack of stuff. Despite the weekly bonus episodes in which Ron and Ed go through their stack, things can build up over time. What better way to talk through the Twitter ownership change and how morticians are putting the fun in funerals?

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

Segment two:

Segment three:

  • Ed shared a great article from the WSJ today. It’s called, “How Morticians are Putting the Fun in Funerals” and it very much feels like the start of a subscription funeral. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-funeral-industry-plots-a-rebrand-were-fun-11667486178

  • 1/2 We did a show called “Generational Astrology”. It’s episode number 142 and is linked here: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/142

  • 2/2 As a follow up to that show, Ron has been thinking a lot about Ronald Reagan’s book, “The Creative Society”. It is a series of speeches Reagan gave starting in the late 50s until the time he was elected Governor of California.

  • “Some people describe the early days of my administration as a honeymoon. If it was a honeymoon, I was sleeping alone.” —President Ronald Reagan

  • Permacrisis: The Collins Dictionary word of the year (with a full list of the others at the link) https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Segment four:

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #414: Interview with Brian Domitrovic

Ron and Ed welcomed to the show one of the co-authors of the new book Taxes Have Consequences, Brian Domitrovic. Ever since 1913, when the United States first imposed the income tax via constitutional amendment, the top rate of that tax has determined the fate of the American economy. When the top rate has been high, as in the late 1910s, the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1970s, the response of those with money and capital has been to curtail real economic activity in favor of protecting assets and income streams. Huge declines have come to the economy in these circumstances.

A bit more about Brian Domitrovic…

Brian Domitrovic is an intellectual historian interested in the history and development of supply-side economics. He is the author of six books, beginning with the now standard history of supply-side economics — Econoclasts (2009) — and extending to the history of the income tax — Taxes Have Consequences (2022 and co-authored with Arthur B. Laffer and Jeanne Sinquefield). He has been a professor at institutions in Texas and Colorado and is the Richard S. Strong Scholar at the Laffer Center in Nashville. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

  • Adam Smith in 1776: “High taxes, sometimes by diminishing the consumption of the taxed commodities, and sometimes by encouraging smuggling, frequently afford a smaller revenue to government than what might be drawn from more moderate taxes”

  • Who remembers this amazing scene with Ben Stein featuring the topic of Voodoo Economics? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_wHBlouFSc

  • That same clip also makes reference to the Laffer Curve. Who needs a refresher on that phrase? Link is here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/laffercurve.asp#:~:text=The%20Laffer%20Curve%20is%20based,in%20increased%20total%20tax%20revenue.

  • From Brian on the show today, “The Laffer Curve is a simple representation of the tax rate against tax revenues”.

  • As tax rates go up, the wealthy shelter more money and earn less income. The consequences are severe and detailed in Brian’s book, “Taxes Have Consequences” — Link is here: https://www.amazon.com/Taxes-Have-Consequences-Income-History/dp/1637585640

Segment two:

  • Ron opened segment two today with a point from Brian’s book. It doesn’t matter what you call it, aren’t all taxes effectively income taxes? From consumption taxes to investments to gifts to wealth. Shouldn’t all taxes be called income taxes?

  • Brian’s effectively lays out the argument that WWII did not end the Great Depression. Tax cuts in the 1940’s did. After hearing him speak today, it’s hard to argue against that.

  • President Wilson raised the tax rate to an unconscionably high 77% in 1918. As a result, all sorts of businesses were starved for capital.

  • The autobiography of Thomas Mellon might be Brian’s favorite business book of all time. Link is here: https://www.amazon.com/Judge-Thomas-Mellon-Founder-Fortune/dp/0300167148

Segment three:

  • Wrap your head around this: In the 1970’s in Great Britain, tax rates were upwards of 98%! I’m sure those taxes had consequences. Oh, wait. There’s a book about that. Link is here: https://www.amazon.com/Taxes-Have-Consequences-Income-History/dp/1637585640

  • “A tax system with distortions is automatically inefficient.” —Brian Domitrovic

  • Warren Buffet is very admirable in many important ways. His opinions on tax returns are public and well known. Does his secretary really pay a higher tax rate? He had $62M in income in a year when his net worth increased by billions (with a B). In short, it’s a bit more complicated than a tax rate.

  • Government based digital currently is a bad idea. Brian has never seen a soft power quite like Bitcoin.

Segment four:

  • State and local tax collections were 80% of all tax collections in 1932. The Federal government only represented 20%. This caused the housing foreclosure crisis and the banking crisis.

  • It’s amazing that we lionize the 1950s as a decade of high tax rates and prosperity. The corporate tax rate was 52%. The progressive tax ladder goes all the way to 91%. Top executives avoided taxation as a national pastime in the 1950s.

  • The official IRS figures state that 84% of taxes owed are collected. They concede that 15% of taxes are not collected. Taxes have consequences and that’s the title of Brian’s book https://www.amazon.com/Taxes-Have-Consequences-Income-History/dp/1637585640

  • A big THANK YOU to Brian Domitrovic for joining us today. “Taxes Have Consequences” is the new book and you owe it to yourself to read it. https://www.amazon.com/Taxes-Have-Consequences-Income-History/dp/1637585640

The bots are coming for us!

For a few weeks now, we have been experimenting with a new feature from Otter.ai. Many of you will know that some of the current AI solutions have caught Ron and Ed’s attention during the bonus episodes. We let Otter.ai loose on the audio version of this show and here is what it (he? she? they?) came up with:

  • Who coined supply-side economics? 0:04

  • The CFO revolution of the ’80s. 11:13

  • The Laffer Curve. 13:21

  • What about tax rates in relation to spending? Is spending really the problem? 21:53

  • The correlation between high tax rates and income inequality. 25:32

  • The idea that taxes don’t influence behavior. 29:08

  • The myth that World War 2 ended the Great Depression. 32:14

  • What caused the Great Depression? 37:55

  • What should be the ideal system of taxes? 43:31

  • The argument that we need taxation to compete with other countries. 48:06

  • Brian’s thoughts on government-based digital currency. 54:31

  • The causes of the Great Depression. 58:09

  • How tax evasion was widespread in the 1950s and 60s. 1:03:35

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

This past week was bonus episode 414 - Only people pay taxes. Here are some links discussed:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #413: Interview with Dr. Reginald Lee

Ed and Ron welcomed back Dr. Reginald Lee for the 6th time! He joined us for a free-wheeling discussion on a variety of topics.

A bit more about Dr Reginald Lee…

Business Dynamics & Research was co-founded by Dr. Reginald Tomas Lee in 1994 using cash-based business models he created. An engineer with a passion for business and math, Reginald is a pioneer in debunking the validity of accounting information for managerial purposes. As a replacement, he developed Business Domain Management, a mathematically sound operations and cash business framework that provides significantly more accurate and effective managerial and cash-based data and information than accounting. His work has proven valuable in helping leaders see, understand, and manage their operational and cash performance. In addition to his work at BDR, Dr. Lee is a professor at Xavier University's Williams College of Business. Previously, he has worked for a number of major global brands including EY, GM, IBM, and Oracle. In addition to teaching business at Xavier, he has also been a professor of industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, and business at other schools, most recently, Miami University's Farmer School of Business. Dr. Lee is the author of five books, Project Profitability: Ensuring Improvement Projects Realize Maximum Cash ROI, Strategic Cost Transformation, Lies, Damned Lies, and Cost Accounting, Essentials of Capacity Management, and Explicit Cost Dynamics. He has two books under contract: Essentials of Managing Capacity, and Engagement Economics: Planning and Managing Engagements to Improve Cash Profitability

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

  • “Lies, Damn Lies, and Cost Accounting” is still the best title of any accounting book. Let’s all thank Dr. Lee for it! Link is here https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Damned-Cost-Accounting-Management/dp/163157065X

  • A question posed recently: “Without time sheets, how do we know we did it profitably?” What we really need to answer is how are we defining profit? 1) Did I make money? Or 2) From an accounting perspective did revenue generated exceed the costs?

  • Dr. Lee looks at capacity as being a key component to managing cash — people, labor, materials, space, technology, and so on. When doing work, you should be able to estimate the consumption requirements in order to deliver the work.

  • In the book, “Strategic Cost Transformation”, Dr. Lee breaks down business into two domains: the operations and cash domain AND the accounting domain. More here: https://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Cost-Transformation-Business-Management/dp/1631578790

  • “Accounting costs are arbitrary.” —Dr. Reginald Lee. There’s no relation between what you pay a person and the work that they do.

Segment two:

  • Accounting profit is a dangerous metric. If you think profit is money, then you might rationalize the wrong things in your business.

  • If you create incentives through inter-departmental allocations for orgs to not work with each other then what are the negative ramifications? How is that good for doing business? It makes it easy from an accounting business but might not be right for the actual business.

  • During segment two of the show, Dr. Lee asked how regulations are working out for us and if it helps to improve business. He wondered (with chilling effect), how many companies just give up?

Segment three:

  • Another recent question: “How do we manage staff utilization when we can’t see them?” That’s like trying to find a gas tank on a Tesla. Managing the staff isn’t the issue. The issue is getting the required output.

  • “With benchmarking, how I choose to calculate the benchmark metric and the data I use to calculate the metric is going to be different company by company.” —Dr. Lee

  • It’s no fun to do benchmarking or look at best practices (which is just copying). Let’s figure out the best way to do business and be better than everyone else.

  • The Theory of Constraints was mostly derived from a book called “The Goal” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. More here: https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0884271951

Segment four:

  • As a professor, what is Dr. Lee’s perception about his student’s overall attitude towards business? His experience has been pretty positive and it excites him. There is a level of curiosity that he helps to grow.

  • What does Dr. Lee think about Six Sigma? It has its place but people think it’s place is much bigger than it really is. Things go sideways when focusing on things like cost savings based on Six Sigma team successes.

  • People come up with huge savings using SS but if you go back and question if they really saved $40M in operational costs as a result, the answer is probably no.

  • A huge THANK YOU to Dr. Lee for joining us today! Check out his many books here: https://www.amazon.com/Reginald-Tomas-Lee/e/B001HCWBO8/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

The bots are coming for us!

For a few weeks now, we have been experimenting with a new feature from Otter.ai. Many of you will know that some of the current AI solutions have caught Ron and Ed’s attention during the bonus episodes. We let Otter.ai loose on the audio version of this show and here is what it (he? she? they?) came up with:

  • Good day to you, Greg! 0:03

  • Where are they going to put it? 3:30

  • Introduction to this episode. 6:44

  • How do you know if a business is profitable or not? 12:11

  • How can we improve through the after-action review? 17:16

  • The biggest roadblock for entrepreneurs today is dealing with government. 24:05

  • It’s all about free cash flow 28:51

  • What if we know that people are not telling the truth on their times? 32:11

  • How are we in a pro-business type of environment while we’re creating barriers for companies to be able to do business? 35:29

  • How do we manage staff utilization when we can’t see them? 39:34

  • What’s wrong with benchmarking? 45:13

  • What are you seeing with regard to students coming through school with a positive attitude toward business? 52:48

  • When the real world resonates with your students. 57:47

  • How do we organize the work to get it the most effectively through the system? 1:03:08

  • What do you think about Lean? 1:06:25

  • Is supersonic flight going to happen again? 1:12:23

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

This past week was bonus 413 - Green jobs gone. Here are some links discussed:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #412: Interview with John Farrell, The Clock and the Camshaft

Join Ed and Ron for a discussion with John Farrell, author of The Clock and the Camshaft: And Other Medieval Inventions We Still Can’t Live Without.

A bit more about John W. Farrell…

John W. Farrell is a writer and producer working in Boston. He is the author of The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaître, Einstein and the Birth of Modern Cosmology from Basic Books, and The Clock and the Camshaft: And Other Medieval Inventions We Still Can’t Live Without, just out from Prometheus Books. A graduate of Harvard College with a B.A. in English and American Literature, Farrell has written for Commonweal, Aeon, Skeptic, Cosmos Magazine, New Scientist, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Salon, National Review, Forbes and The Tablet of London. His fiction has appeared in Dappled Things, his poetry in Penwood Review and First Things, and he is a longstanding member of Boston’s creative writing community at Grub Street.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

  • So what are we talking about with John today? His new book is called “The Clock and the Camshaft: And Other Medieval Inventions We Still Can't Live Without” https://www.amazon.com/Clock-Camshaft-Medieval-Inventions-Without-ebook/dp/B07P9MQFPS

  • In the case of farming tools, many breakthroughs were “breakwiths”. People would pick up tools nearby and repurpose them in ingenious ways starting with the fall of the Roman Empire.

  • One thing John discovered while researching his book is that humanity had the hand crank for quite some time. Then it sort of disappeared and THEN showed up again a few centuries later. More in his book: https://www.amazon.com/Clock-Camshaft-Medieval-Inventions-Without-ebook/dp/B07P9MQFPS

  • Let’s talk about the evolving camshaft. It was probably used earliest in China and then in the Roman Empire, the camshaft eventually was picked up by a Muslim scientist and continued to spread. The inventor is likely lost to history.

Segment two:

  • John defines technology in quite a cool way: Tools and techniques plus practical skills AND knowledge needed to invent, manufacture, and improve upon things.

  • Watermills were initially put together from pieces of constituent parts used for farming. Not only were the original mills used to power other tools, they were also used to help drive water out into fields for irrigation especially in the Middle East.

  • More often than not, large tools after the fall of the Roman Empire were simply too expensive for an individual and required public investment from the community.

  • While the horse ultimately replaced the oxen, horses required significantly more maintenance. They were initially adopted by feudal lords and monasteries — in other words, those who could afford them.

  • The camshaft is the first example of programming in human history. Depending on the mlll you were developing, the way you positioned the cams allowed you to time the hammers.

Segment three: 

  • Chapter 7 is John’s new book is called “From Greek to Arabic and back again”. It talks about one of the Medieval translation movements and how many of the Classics (such as Aristotle’s works) were almost completely lost. https://www.amazon.com/Clock-Camshaft-Medieval-Inventions-Without-ebook/dp/B07P9MQFPS

  • The fact that everyone could speak Latin along with the return (and translation) of many of the Classics directly resulted in a scientific revolution in Europe.

  • It seems that we had some knowledge of lenses for quite a while but it was some time until we arrived at eyeglasses. For years, people would use a natural ball filled with water as a reading aid!

Segment four:

The bots are coming for us!

For a few weeks now, we have been experimenting with a new feature from Otter.ai. Many of you will know that some of the current AI solutions have caught Ron and Ed’s attention during the bonus episodes. We let Otter.ai loose on the audio version of this show and here is what it (he? she? they?) came up with:

  • Ron’s book orders are up. 0:02

  • Introduction to the show. 4:04

  • What’s next for the podcast? 5:58

  • Introduction to John Farrell. 8:04

  • What are some of the breakthroughs in medieval technology? 11:25

  • The evolution of water-powered mills. 15:42

  • Sponsor: Melio, an accounts payable solution. 22:22

  • How much of medieval technology still comes down to the modern day and how much of it comes from the caveman. 24:38

  • Horses as the primary draft animal in the Middle Ages. 31:12

  • Sponsor: 90Minds.com. 37:46

  • The Re-conquest of Spain. 41:05

  • The dangers of inventing in the Renaissance. 47:47

  • How the Romans were more innovative than the Greeks, and why the Greeks were ashamed of innovating. 52:28

  • The Cathedral Crusade and how it was financed. 59:36

  • John’s other book, Day Without Yesterday. 1:02:57

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

This past week was bonus episode 412 - podcast.ai. Here are some links discussed:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #411: Interview with Nicholas Eberstadt

Current low rates of unemployment, touted by pundits and politicians, are grievously misleading. The truth is that fewer prime-age American men are looking for readily available work than at any previous juncture in our history. Ron and Ed spoke with Nicholas Eberstadt, author of Men Without Work: Post-Pandemic Edition. In addition to the book, they also talked about Nicholas's other area of expertise, North Korea.

A bit more about Nicholas Eberstadt…

Nicholas Eberstadt holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he researches and writes extensively on demographics and economic development generally, and more specifically on international security in the Korean peninsula and Asia. Domestically, he focuses on poverty and social well-being. Dr. Eberstadt is also a senior adviser to the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). His many books and monographs include “Poverty in China” (IDI, 1979); “The Tyranny of Numbers” (AEI Press, 1995); “The End of North Korea” (AEI Press, 1999); “The Poverty of the Poverty Rate” (AEI Press, 2008); and “Russia’s Peacetime Demographic Crisis” (NBR, 2010). His latest book is “Men Without Work: Post-COVID Edition” (Templeton Press, 2022).

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

  • First published in 2016 and then updated post-covid, Nick’s book talks about how American men are suffering depression-era unemployment rates. It’s called “Men Without Work” https://www.amazon.com/Men-Without-Work-Post-Pandemic-Threats/dp/1599475979

  • 7 million or more American men have dropped out of the workforce. This is the biggest distinction between depression-era unemployment and today. You’ve got to look in the shadows to see the effects today because there are no breadlines, per se.

  • The received wisdom has been that unemployment is due to a skills shortage. There’s some truth to that but it doesn’t get at the whole story. HELP WANTED signs are everywhere and they are looking for low-skilled applicants. So it’s not just a skills shortage.

  • So how do 7 million or more unemployed American men sustain themselves? It’s hard to tell directly but definitely includes government assistance in the form of disability programs, family members, and moonlighting gigs.

  • Nick mentioned the “flight from work” today on the show and has a GREAT article at AEI on this very topic. More here: https://www.aei.org/op-eds/whats-behind-the-flight-from-work-in-post-pandemic-america/

  • Nick coined the term “archipelago of disability”. They do not provide for a princely life but do have a negative impact on economic productivity in the United States. More here: https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/opinion-free-expression/the-decline-of-men-in-the-workforce/b2e11b0d-5ec6-4652-a974-5a2ede320760

Segment two:

  • “Watching something” is one of the most common traits amongst the under or unemployed 7 MILLION plus American men we are discussing with Nick Eberstadt today.

  • In Nick’s book — “Men Without Work” — he talks about how the US Government accidentally stumbled upon Universal Basic Income with payments made during Covid.

  • As a measure of GDP and overall economic performance, corn and steel were relatively easy to measure. However, with so many in the service sector now it is much harder to measure “hours worked”.

  • So who are these “Men Without Work”? They are NILFs — Not In Labor Force. They are 25-54. African Americans are overrepresented. Latinos are underrepresented. The less educated are overrepresented. Never married? You are more likely in the pool. The foreign born — regardless of ethnic group — are way underrepresented.

Segment three: 

  • So what if 7 million American men have dropped out of the workforce? America is rich. What’s the harm? The harm is slower economic growth, bigger wealth gaps, more dependence on social welfare, more public debt, more pressure on family, and less trust on our institutions of basic life.

  • Since 2000, labor force participation rates for women have been going down. There is a group of women not in the labor force, not currently married, and not with children at home. It’s not as severe as “Men Without Work” but is growing.

  • There are some feasible solutions: 1) Bulking up on vocational skills, 2) Reinventing our disability insurance system so as not to incentivize helplessness, and 3) Paying attention to the 20M+ ex-cons in America. They want to be back at work and accepted members of society.

  • A great recommendation from Nick Eberstadt today! Charles Murray’s book “Losing Ground: American Social Policy” is a great example of changing politics in a very positive way. https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Ground-American-Social-1950-1980/dp/0465065880

  • At the end of segment three today, Nick Eberstadt told the story of Mollie Orshansky. she developed the poverty thresholds that became the federal government's official statistical measure of poverty.

Segment four:

  • From Nick today: The unintended consequence in the real world of “ban the box” means that employers will assume criminality of those coming from a disadvantaged background.

  • Getting rid of overall occupational licensure requirements “looks like low hanging fruit” to Nick. We need to look at public safety vs collusion and cartel in licensing.

  • Nick is an absolute expert on North Korea. He thinks the NK government is unconditional about wanting to absorb the entire peninsula. Given their economic failure, this requires a nuclear arsenal to drive out the allies of their adversaries.

  • The book is Men Without Work and the author is Nicholas Eberstadt. Thank you VERY MUCH for joining us today and sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience. More on the book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Men-Without-Work-Post-Pandemic-Threats/dp/1599475979

The bots are coming for us!

For a few weeks now, we have been experimenting with a new feature from Otter.ai. Many of you will know that some of the current AI solutions have caught Ron and Ed’s attention during the bonus episodes. We let Otter.ai loose on the audio version of this show and here is what it (he? she? they?) came up with:

  • Introduction. 0:00

  • The tyranny of numbers and consumption. 4:37

  • Introducing Nick Eberstadt. 7:08

  • What is the impact of social welfare on the unworking class? 13:28

  • What’s going to happen to the age for disability? 23:21

  • Is the number of people working from home going to mess with your numbers of hours worked? 30:15

  • Marital status is becoming more important to men than women. 34:27

  • Three areas that society should pay closer attention to in New York. 40:06

  • Are you optimistic about these trends? 45:15

  • You can’t just look at income to determine standard of living, you have to look at consumption. 50:07

  • Would getting rid or modifying the infamous “Have you been convicted of a felony?” checkbox be helpful? 55:22

  • The North Korean government’s only option is a new nuclear arsenal to make Uncle Sam blink. 59:24

  • The world as told by Charles Murray. 1:04:27

  • What’s going to happen in North Korea? 1:09:00

Episode #410: Interview with David Leary

Ron and Ed were thrilled to welcome David Leary, co-host of The Cloud Accounting Podcast to this past week's episode to talk about various and sundry issues facing the accounting profession. We included a conversation (read diatribe) about LEAN Six-sigma and how it ruins companies.

A bit more about David Leary…

David Leary is an innovative and influential force in the small business accounting world. With over 22 years of QuickBooks experience, David has provided many small businesses, accountants, and developers with technical tools, deep industry knowledge, strategy, and solutions. His business sense, vast technical knowledge, and domain expertise have helped bridge the gap between developers, small business owners, and accountants. His unique style and impressive network have influenced and helped shape the new generation of accounting professionals.

  • Named one of the "40 under 40" honorees by CPA Practice Advisor in 2014

  • Named by Accounting Today as a "One to Watch" in their Top 100 Most Influential People 2015 issue

  • Current Top 10 ranking in Avalara's "The Accounting Top 100" social media leaderboard

  • 21+ year career at Intuit

  • Principal Technology Evangelist at AutoEntry

  • President and Founder of Sombrero Apps Company

  • Co-Host of the Cloud Accounting Podcast

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…(scroll a bit further to see what a bot came up with)

Segment one:

  • Thank you to our guest today — David Leary — for being the impetus behind the creation of The Soul of Enterprise Patreon page! He wanted a way to listen without the commercials and we delivered for him. Check it out at Patreon.com/TSOE for the details.

  • David is the co-host of the Cloud Accounting podcast along with Blake Oliver. It is the number one accounting, bookkeeping, and tax podcast in the world!??! It is a summary of the week’s news in the accounting industry. https://www.cloudaccountingpodcast.com/

  • “Hey, the Cloud Accounting Podcast is so valuable. Can I get CPE credit for listening?” That’s when Blake and David started their journey towards Earmark CPE and the answer today is, “Yes. You can get CPE credits for listening to a podcast.” https://earmarkcpe.com/

  • For many, the podcast format is just a better format for learning. There are lots of exciting things happening that will make podcasting even better with the advent of Podcasting 2.0. Here’s an article with some of the details: https://9to5mac.com/2022/06/26/podcasting-2-0/

  • Podcasting has a fascinating backstory that involves one of the very first MTV video deejays — Adam Curry. Read more here: https://internationalpodcastday.com/podcasting-history

Segment two:

  • David worked for a CEO, formerly of GE, who was fanatical about implementing Six Sigma. That company almost died as a result. Name that company? I’ll help you…..Intuit.

  • Six Sigma is largely focused on eliminating waste. That’s great for a manufacturer but what about a knowledge worker in a software environment? “Everybody became very specialized and made decisions for themselves” —David Leary

  • To be clear, Lean Startup is the opposite of (Lean) Six Sigma. It’s almost like the Six Sigma folks co-opted the word Lean to create market confusion.

  • Just like Starbucks, it took a founder to return to his roots in order to help save Intuit from Six Sigma. Incorporating the DNA of the book, Lean Startup, is what helped turn them around.

Segment three:

  • While at Intuit, David knew that the way they launched products was wrong. He just didn’t know what the right way was and that’s when he discovered The Lean Startup http://theleanstartup.com/

  • You iterate, you listen, you fix. Rinse and repeat. That’s the core of what David took away from The Lean Startup when launching new products.

  • David still uses several principles The Lean Startup today. He takes phone calls and talks to customers. He doesn’t rely on a significant budget to launch tests. He recognizes the value of testing LIVE in the app itself.

  • “Six Sigma is designed to take human judgement out of the equation.” —David Leary

  • David does recognize some pitfalls to using Lean Startup principles: It’s a science and an art. There is a formula, yes. But you need to interpret things as well which is where the art comes in. It requires judgement and interpretation.

Segment four:

  • How is innovation going in the accounting space? For David, he sees a need to improve the overall client experience. There is a portal to upload documents, a separate payments system, and various other disparate requests placed on him from accounting firms

  • The biggest challenge facing the accounting profession is talent. “I’ve talked to firm owners and they almost have to solve for employees first over customers just to keep them.” —David Leary

  • What does remote work do for the accounting space? For a decade the whole profession said, “We can’t do remote work.” — and then it changed overnight and nothing fell apart.

  • The biggest opportunity for the accounting profession is customer service. The next generation wants a mission driven company. Your mission can simply be, “Our customers get great service.”

  • A big THANK YOU to David Leary for joining us today. Check out his podcast with Blake Oliver — The Cloud Accounting Podcast — at this link https://www.cloudaccountingpodcast.com/

The bots are coming for us!

So we ran a little experiment with this show and let an artificial intelligence note-taking app create the show notes for us. Here is what it (he? she? they?) came up with:

  • David joins the show at 0:07

  • Introduction to today’s guest, David Leary at 8:54

  • What does segmentation do for the cloud accounting podcast? at 11:54

  • What are some of the new tools that you’re seeing with podcasting? at 16:14

  • David shares a story about how his previous employer was almost killed by a former GE executive who was fanatical about implementing Six Sigma at 23:33

  • Lean is about speed, and 6 Sigma is about quality at 28:45

  • Lean startup vs Lean Six Sigma at 31:06

  • What happened to Starbucks after they lost the founder at 35:07

  • How he got started in tech support at 39:54

  • The importance of listening to your customers at 44:07

  • What are some pitfalls to watch out for when using lean? at 48:30

  • What’s going on in the accounting world at 52:45

  • Why do you need an accountant? at 56:15

  • Next week on The Soul of Enterprise, we have Nicholas Eberstadt at 1:03:12

  • David’s experience with a VW dealership.

Episode #409: Second Interview with Marian Tupy

Even the most casual listener of the show will know that Ed and Ron rail on the billable hour as modern day Marxist thinking. "Time is money!" defenders of the billable hour declare. No, no, no. In his recent book, Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet, this week's Guest, Marion Tupy offered the idea that while time is not money, however, MONEY IS TIME. Get ready for some cognitive dissonance!

A bit more about Marian Tupy…

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity and co-author of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well-being, and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. His articles were published in the Financial Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Newsweek, The U.K. Spectator, Foreign Policy and various other outlets both in the United States and overseas. He appeared on BBC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX News, FOX Business and other channels. Tupy received his BA in international relations and classics from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and his PhD in international relations from the University of St. Andrews in Great Britain. He is the co-author of an upcoming book, Ten Global Trends that Every Smart Person Needs to Know: And Many Other Trends You Will Find Interesting.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…

Segment one:

  • Welcome to Marian Tupy, the editor of HumanProgress.org, guest on episode 304, and co-author of a new book — #Superabundance https://www.amazon.com/Superabundance-Population-Innovation-Flourishing-Infinitely/dp/1952223393

  • The resources don’t change. The number of atoms on the planet are always the same. But our civilization is SO much richer than, say, during the cave man times. Why can’t we take this even further and create an even more abundant future?

  • 1/2 Time is an independent variable. It does not change based on the environment and cannot be inflated the way dollars can be inflated. Inflation is a contentious measurement at best. Instead…

  • 2/2 What is the price of a good in the 1850s and what were people making. Compare that to today and form a ratio. That is how Marian approaches the alternative to something like measuring inflation.

  • Time prices are superior to using real dollars or nominal dollars. A real price will only tell you if oil is more in dollars compared to 1960. But time price also tells you how much YOUR income has increases during that same period of time.

  • One of the great reasons that time prices are so cool is that they allow you to see the change in the standard of living between two periods of time. You can compare an American worker in 1850 to an American worker today.

  • Marian Tupy referenced Mark Perry’s chart of the century today during the show. Check out this link for the chart and thank you Mark! https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-8/

  • Did you know that there is a story about Time Prices in Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court”? https://fee.org/articles/the-mark-twain-novel-that-contains-one-of-the-best-and-funniest-economic-lessons-in-all-of-literature/

Segment two:

  • 1/2 Resources can increase at two different speeds: lower than the population rate or higher than population rate. So…

  • 2/2 What is Superabundance? It happens when resources are becoming more abundant at a HIGHER rate than the population. All 18 data sets in Marian’s book fall into the superabundance category meaning we create more than we destroy.

  • A very small fraction of humanity invents or innovates. That’s somewhere around 3-6%. As the population increases, we see more inventors and innovators than ever before.

  • It’s completely intuitive to think that because the number of atoms in the world are finite, therefore a massive increase in population means we will eventually run out of things. But the key here is while resources are finite, they can be re-arranged in different ways.

Segment three:

  • Why is pessimism the default for humans? It’s an overreaction to potential threats. A protection mechanism of sorts. We feel slights and criticisms much more than we feel praise and encouragement.

  • People can do with superabundance whatever they want. With an extra few hours in the day, you can read a book or spend it smoking pot watching a show. It’s up to you.

  • If bushels of wheat and rice are coming down in price then we are all better off given a time price measurement. Raj in India and Ray in Indiana is a GREAT example in Marian Tupy’s book #Superabundance

  • Birth rates in Hong Kong have fallen as much as they have fallen in China under the one child policy. By growing massively, Hong Kong has seen more women enter the workforce and become extremely successful. Free markets work as great birth control.

Segment four:

  • The US employment rate as a percentage of the labor force is headed to 60% which is ridiculous. International statistics around labor force participation rates in Switzerland are around 85% which is a richer country than the US.

  • Why does Marian Tupy measure abundance instead of scarcity? Because there will always be scarcity. This is explored in more detail during segment four of our show with Marian today.

  • Cultural capital explores what your society is like. If Steve Jobs’ father didn’t leave Syria then we wouldn’t have Apple. A culture that doesn’t value human capital will lose compared to countries like the US and Western Europe.

  • A big THANK YOU to Marian Tupy of Cato and HumanProgress.org for joining us today and talking about his book, Superabundance. Check it out at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Superabundance-Population-Innovation-Flourishing-Infinitely/dp/1952223393

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #408: Interview with Scott Lincicome

A bit more about Scott Lincicome…

In addition, to his work at CATO, Lincicome also is a senior visiting lecturer at Duke University Law School, where he has taught a course on international trade law, and he previously taught international trade policy as a visiting lecturer at Duke. Prior to joining Cato, Lincicome spent two decades practicing international trade law at White & Case LLP, where he litigated national and multilateral trade disputes and advised multinational corporations on how to optimize their transactions and business practices consistent with global trade rules and national regulations. From 1998 to 2001, Lincicome was a trade policy research assistant at Cato; he became an adjunct scholar in 2013. During that time, Lincicome authored or coauthored several policy papers, as well as numerous op-?eds on trade and economic issues. He is routinely featured on TV, radio, and print media. Lincicome has a BA in political science from the University of Virginia and a JD from the university’s School of Law.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…

Segment one: 

  • Not only is Scott’s article, The (Updated) Case for Free Trade, fun to read it also LOOKS great. Seriously. Click/tap this link and check it out. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/updated-case-free-trade

  • Government’s don’t trade. People do. Giving the credit to government is the number one fallacy when it comes to trade.

  • Scott says, “Trade is two people wanting to do business together for their own mutual benefit.” How is that for straightforward and simple?

  • Comparative advantage is counterintuitive. In any trading relationship, the parties gain more by cooperating in all circumstances. Even in situations where one party might have an absolute advantage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage

  • WRT Comparative Advantage: The US is the second largest manufacturer in the world. However, the US is focused on high value goods like satellites and weaponry. This leaves the US to trade for lower value goods such as textiles or footwear (as examples).

Segment two:

Segment three:

Segment four:

  • The Foreign Dredge Act is basically an extension of The Jones Act and that’s part of the reason that America’s ports problem is decades in the making. Which is a great title for one of Scott’s articles @CATOInstitute https://www.cato.org/commentary/americas-ports-problem-decades-making #EndTheJonesAct

  • …AND cabotage laws are comparable to The Foreign Dredge Act and The Jones Act. Scott wrote an article about your summer cruise and why it got cabotaged. https://www.cato.org/commentary/summer-cruise-just-got-cabotaged

  • “The Chips Act is about 5 times too big.” Scott let us know today that it includes funding for chip facilities at the low end and also includes funding for chip factories that were already planned in the United States.

  • A big THANK YOU to Scott Lincicome for joining us today. Check out his INSIGHTFUL free trade article on the @CATOInstitute website. Is it smart and also features a truly beautiful design. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/updated-case-free-trade

Episode #407: Interview with Brett Haralson

Ron and Ed welcomed to the show Brett Haralson, director of community at our sponsor Melio. Brett has robust experience as a strategic leader focused on community strategy, and has been integral to influencing business growth while focusing on program development and management. Join us as he shares his thoughts on community (and maybe even talk a little BitCoin.)

brett haralson melio community

A bit more about Brett Haralson…

Brett Haralson has robust experience as a strategic leader focused on community strategy, he has been integral to influencing business growth while focusing on program development & management. As a User Success Expert, Brett has consistently led transformational efforts to drive customer retention through global & cross-functional collaboration. He is well versed in relationship building, critical partnership development, & event management, delivering solutions while managing product life cycles efficiently.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…

Segment one:

  • Brett loves people and communities. He’s basically a huge geek and loves gaming. “Communities are probably the strongest force on the planet.” —Brett Haralson

  • At one point, Brett had 6 or 7 MMOs to play at a time with a large community to support him. He is definitely a huge geek and he’s amongst his kind on the show today :)

  • What is a user success focused community? If someone comes to your company to use your product, it’s a means to an end for them. But there is a community of customers that can help with a much larger conversation.

  • How do you translate online community to success? Ask, “What’s the purpose? What’s the intent?” The best ones have clear and concise goals for existing.

  • What do you love the most about community? “You can create an online environment that suppresses jerks. You can’t do that in physical settings as easily.” —Brett Haralson

  • A HUGE shout out to our sponsor, Melio (and our guest today, Brett Haralson)! Melio is an accounts payable solution that both you and your clients will love. Use this link to check them out: https://go.melio.com/TSOE

Segment two:

  • Business owners and entrepreneurs that are using Melio can rely on the community to find success together. That’s kind of the point of any business community, right? And Melio was smart to bring their customers together like this.

  • What is community really about? “It’s about giving business owners and people tools and access to find all the success they want. Business ownership is a wild adventure!” —Brett Haralson

  • When it comes to Melio’s power users, THEY are the ones who know the most about the software and the platform. The employees know a ton as well but the customers live in it 24/7. That’s why community is so valuable.

  • When you use online spaces, we marketers may think people are searching for something about ACH deposits or checks. But in a community, they use their own lingo and that’s what someone of equal status will recognize and respond to.

  • How do you build community in a way that encourages those that have knowledge with those that don’t? And what’s the reward for it? These are some of the more interesting questions to be asked about community.

Segment three:

  • In short, you do not need to pay to see value inside of a community. There are gated communities that exist and they work well, especially when focused on an individual’s expertise.

  • Building a community, maintaining it, and nurturing it is an art. It’s difficult to measure and Ron commented that he likes the ambiguity around it.

  • What other technology gets Brett excited? Obviously he loves the innovation that Melio is bringing to the marketplace. Gone are the days that small biz owners have to pay via the method demanded. Get your points and always pay by credit card, for example.

  • What other technology gets Brett excited? Bitcoin and the blockchain. It’s independent. It has its own cycles of innovation. There is no other digital asset that is anywhere to close to this decentralized, unowned tech.

  • TIL that a part of 1 Bitcoin is called a Satoshi. More here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/satoshi.asp#:~:text=Investopedia%20%2F%20Mira%20Norian-,What%20Is%20a%20Satoshi%3F,million%20satoshis%20to%20one%20bitcoin.

  • Bonus episodes, monthly happy hours, and a pre-order community for Ron’s new book. All of this is at Patreon.com/TSOE which is sponsored by 90Minds. Need a mind? Find one at 90Minds.com

Segment four:

  • “For community, Twitter’s best play is to create a way for people to self-identify and congregate together.” —Brett Haralson

  • “You’re never going to solve an argument over Twitter but you do not want to isolate yourself from other opinions which is what a lot of social media has done.” —Brett Haralson

  • “Companies that pay close attention to the communities they can build around themselves — towards a higher goal than themselves — those companies will last longer in the future.” —Brett Haralson

  • A big THANK YOU to Brett Haralson and Melio for being a part of a great conversation today. We geeked out pretty hard and it was amazing!

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

This past week was bonus episode 407 - Apple Cars and QEII
Here are a few links Ron and Ed discussed on the bonus episode:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #406: Interview with Reza Hooda

Ron and Ed welcomed Reza Hooda, a chartered accountant in the UK who transformed his firm and subsequently himself. Back in 2008, he acquired a small firm called Walji & Co after he left his position as an accountant at PwC. He wanted to be his own boss as well as make a noticeable impact in some way to the accounting industry. We are excited to hear his story of how he has done just that. Reza can be found at www.rezahooda.com and is most active on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rezahooda/

A bit more about Reza Hooda…

Reza Hooda is a mentor and coach to ambitious accounting firm owners who want to win higher paying clients, make more money and free up time. He also runs an accounting firm for property owners and content creators/influencers.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…

Segment one:

  • Reza went straight to PWC from graduation and he was there for 5 years. Today he helps to transform accounting firms and the LIVES of those who work there. This is going to be a great show. Miss it live? Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/TSOE

  • The corporate tax deadline in the UK is based on the financial year of the company as opposed to one deadline for all. That’s for our listeners outside of the UK who might not know.

  • Reza introduced timesheets into his small firm from the beginning based on his time at PWC. This was him “being dynamic and forward thinking” :) Fortunately, Mark Wickersham introduced him to value pricing!

  • So obviously Reza learned the hard way on his journey to bury the billable hour. You do not need to learn the hard way because of his experience.

  • On niching down: “When you appeal to everyone, you actually appeal to no one.” —Reza Hooda

Segment two:

  • The value pricing journey for Reza took a few years. He saw immediate success with one-off projects like tax planning where an economic value was obvious. It took longer to adapt value pricing to the recurring work but it wasn’t impossible by any means.

  • One of the most helpful resources in moving away from the billable hour was the Results One Work Environment from @JodyROWE (a fantastic resource and former guest!)

  • Paraphrasing from Reza: How well you use the intellectual capital in your firm is the key to success….NOT how long it takes you to do something.

  • Profitability is quite simple. Maximize your top line and minimize your costs. Your positioning is really important. If you try to appeal to everyone you don’t differentiate and are seen as a commodity. Commodities do not command higher prices.

  • “It’s your strategy and positioning that dictate the pricing. It’s not the other way around.” —Ron Baker

  • Reza has a great model for accounting firm transformations: Pricing, Positioning, Process, and People are the 4 pillars to a more successful profitable accounting firm.

Segment three:

  • Is there resistance to burying the billable hour amongst Reza’s clients? Yes, but it is primarily around the idea of positioning and niching down. They still think that the doors should remain open to everyone as a generalist.

  • Some questions to consider around niching down: Who do you enjoy working with? What is the segment in your client in which you get value and they get value? This is what Reza calls profit, passion, and value.

  • This is a great quote on niching down: “Go narrow and go deep.” —Reza Hooda

  • In Reza’s experience, there are three ways to niche down. You can niche by industry, lifecycle or activity.

  • Pricing doesn’t come from costs. Pricing is simply taking a share of the value you are creating. If this resonates with you then it is a MUST that you listen to our interview with Reza Hooda. Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/TSOE

Segment four:

  • “The value we provide is the peace of mind that we give a client.” Access to you is value.

  • Reza has a pricing model that caters for various sizes of businesses. The parameters and variables he has identified allow for the pricing to change as businesses grow. He spoke in great detail about this during segment four of the show.

  • A big THANK YOU to Reza Hooda for joining us today! Check out more of his work at https://www.rezahooda.com/

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

This past week was bonus episode 406 - Timesheets kill
Here are a few links Ron and Ed discussed on the bonus episode:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #405: Interview with Pano Kanelos - Founding Trustee UATX

Ron and Ed welcome Pano Kanelos, a founding trustee of UATX, a nonprofit dedicated to founding a university. It is currently in the process of applying for accreditation of the institution and its programs. The University will be devoted to the unfettered pursuit of truth as the cornerstone of a free and flourishing democratic society.

A bit more about Pano Kanelos…

Pano Kanelos is a founding trustee of UATX, a nonprofit dedicated to founding a university. Previously he served as the President of St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. Kanelos holds a Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought at University of Chicago, a M.A. in Political Philosophy and Literature from the University Professors Program at Boston University, and a B.A. in English from Northwestern University.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio…

Segment one:

  • The idea for UATX really started to move forward about one year ago during a conversation about the state of American universities and the dangers associated with allowing them to continue to move forward in their current direction. “We should start a university.”

  • A good friend prodded Pano, “If people like you don’t step up, who’s going to do it? What are you waiting for?” For starters, we haven’t seen great American universities built in over a century.

  • How does it feel to go head to head against the status quo when starting an American university today? “Oh, it feels great!” — Those were the words of Pano WITH excitement. He’s deadly serious.

  • What does success for UATX look like to Pano? “Success for me is when we have dozens of competitors who are pushing us to be even better.”

  • “There’s a reason we call it higher education. We should be aiming for what’s higher. We should be aiming for what’s transcending.” —Pano Kanelos

Segment two:

  • Pano and the team have had about 5,000 faculty at other institutions reach out about jobs and the employment process for UATX. FIVE THOUSAND!!!

  • The price point of higher education has risen precipitously and it’s not because more money is being channeled into classroom instruction. That has remained flat. Pano wants to try and undo some of the habitual spending practices.

  • Ed mentioned the South Park episode that spoofs the NCAA. For those that are fans, check it out: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1932265/

  • What would it look like if all graduate students could apply for a startup grant the moment they graduate? That’s an example of the kind of creative thinking that can be done today when you are creating a university from the ground up.

  • If institutions become responsible for the results of their graduates post-graduation, institutions will ensure those graduates have optimal results.

Segment three:

  • “The age of the college major is ending.” —Pano Kanelos of UATX. The statistics are clear. Over 70% of the people working today are working in a field unrelated to their college major.

  • UATX will have centers for academic inquiry instead of traditional major based schools within the college. Students will be taught by people who have studied deeply and also those that have worked — as examples — for the Federal Reserve or opened their own business.

  • Rather than have a traditional major students will become junior fellows within their centers for academic inquiry as they learn through example and participation regarding how to get things done in the real world.

  • “Politics should be studied at universities. Politics should not be the operating system of universities.” —Pano Kanelos

  • “What we need to find is the HIGHEST common denominator. Not the lowest. We are truth seeking creatures.” —Pano Kanelos

  • The Forbidden Courses 2022 summer program at UATX brought together undergraduates to cultivate the habits of civil discourse. There were 80 spots and 40,000 students reached out about it. https://www.uaustin.org/forbidden-courses

  • A big THANK YOU to Pano Kanelos of UATX for joining us today and talking about THE FEARLESS PURSUIT OF TRUTH. Great stuff!

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention. 

This past week was bonus episode 405 - Student Loan Forgiveness
Here are a few links Ron and Ed discussed on the bonus episode:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.