Episodes
May 31, 2019
Free-Rider Friday, May 2019
In the glorious tradition of afternoon naps and Taco Tuesday, we are fast approaching the last Friday of the month which can only mean one thing…Free-Rider Friday! As many know, our typical show is “topic” driven. We dive dee...
May 24, 2019
Team Member Compensation
Join Ed and Ron as they discuss the thorny issue of team member compensation. The tradeoff between creating an incentive for firm-wide profit and contributing discretionary effort, and engaging in politics to move up the ladd...
May 17, 2019
Prices, Profits, and Fairness
Why is an oil or pharmaceutical company condemned for earning windfall profits when market conditions change, while an individual homeowner who realizes a tidy profit off of a hot real estate market is applauded? Popular movi...
May 10, 2019
Lessons Learned From Our Subscription Economy Workshop
On April 30th and May 1st, Ed and Ron taught their first workshop in Chicago on the Subscription Economy Business Model. The advantages of this model are many, including: Predictable revenue; not selling services, but creatin...
May 3, 2019
Interview with Economist Tyler Cowen
Ed and Ron are honored to interview Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University, blogger at Marginal Revolution, and author of many books. Tyler’s podcast, Conversations with Tyler, is one of our favorites....
April 26, 2019
FRF: Millionaires, Marxists, and Minimum Wage
In the glorious tradition of afternoon naps and Taco Tuesday, we are fast approaching the last Friday of the month which can only mean one thing…Free-Rider Friday! As many know, our typical show is “topic” driven. We dive dee...
April 19, 2019
The Million-Dollar TIP: Using a TIP Clause
One of the most innovative pricing strategies that should be in every firm’s pricing stack is the TIP clause. Most feedback that firms receive on pricing is negative (“Your price was too high”). Or it is ambivalent: “Your pri...
April 12, 2019
Interview with ADP's Chief Behavioral Economist Jordan Birnbaum
Ed and Ron are honored to interview Jordan Birnbaum, VP and Chief Behavioral Economist with ADP. Ron met Jordan recently and heard him speak on some of the behavioral economic ideas that guide how we make decisions. Join us f...
April 5, 2019
ET HORA LIBELLUM DELENDA EST
In ancient Rome, during the Punic Wars, Cato the Elder is said to have ended every speech he delivered before the Roman Senate with the phrase, “ET CARTHAGO DELENDA EST” (and Carthage must be destroyed!). He did this without ...
March 29, 2019
Free-Rider Friday, March 2019
In the glorious tradition of afternoon naps and Taco Tuesday, we are fast approaching the last Friday of the month which can only mean one thing…Free-Rider Friday! As many know, our typical show is “topic” driven. We dive dee...
March 22, 2019
How to Fire a Customer
What happens when your firm becomes filled with too many “C,” “D,” and “F” customers? How should you fire a customer? There are many strategies, some more effective than others. Join Ed and Ron as they discuss essential strat...
March 15, 2019
Pricing at Starbucks
Ed and Ron will discuss a blog post by Kent Hendricks, 6 psychological tactics behind the Starbucks menu. If you're interested in behavioral economics and how it intersects with pricing choices, you don't want to miss this sh...
March 8, 2019
Free-rider Friday - February 2019
In the glorious tradition of afternoon naps and Taco Tuesday, we are fast approaching the last Friday of the month which can only mean one thing…Free-Rider Friday! As many know, our typical show is “topic” driven. We dive dee...
March 1, 2019
LIVE from the Meeting of the Minds
Ron and Ed are jazzed to be doing the show live from the 90 Minds annual conference, The Meeting of the Minds in San Diego. The Meeting of The Minds brings our membership of consultants, resellers, and software providers toge...
Feb. 22, 2019
Interview with Tien Tzuo
Ron and Ed are honored to have Tien Tzuo as a Guest on the program. Tien currently serves as CEO of Zuora (NYSE:ZUO), a company he co-founded in 2007 and took public in 2018. Under Tien's leadership, Zuora has emerged as the ...
Feb. 15, 2019
Incumbents Hate Competition But Customers Love It
All business people live the ultimate contradiction. They pray at night for supernormal profits and spend their days driving down those profits by competitively supplying customers with more of what they want. As the economis...
Feb. 8, 2019
Memorable Mentors: Richard Feynman
According to Wikipedia, Richard Feynman [May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988] was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics...
Feb. 1, 2019
Free-Rider Friday, January 2019
The last Friday of every month Ed and Ron will do “Free-Rider Friday.” Most of our shows are “topic” driven, where we dive deep into one subject. Free-Rider Fridays are designed to be “event” driven, whatever issues are in th...
Jan. 25, 2019
A Priest and a Rabbi
Ed and Ron are honored to have back on the show for the third time, and at the same time, Father Robert Sirico and Rabbi Daniel Lapin. Join us for another fascinating conversation with these two mentors, covering issues from ...
Jan. 18, 2019
The Real Monopolies: Occupational Licensure
Customers are best served and protected when they have many competitive alternatives. We don't like self-serving monopolies. Of course, as sellers we all want to be monopolies, with little competition, ability to charge high ...
Jan. 11, 2019
The Best Books We Read in 2018
Thousands of books are published each year. Some are worthless, fewer still have lasting value, but a handful possess the ability to transform your business (and possibly, your life). Yet with today’s busy and demanding sched...
Jan. 4, 2019
2018: Year in Review
Ed and Ron will discuss some of their favorite shows and guests from 2018, comment on the notable people we lost, as well as some other topics.
Dec. 28, 2018
Free-Rider Friday, December 2018
The last Friday of every month Ed and Ron will do “Free-Rider Friday.” Most of our shows are “topic” driven, where we dive deep into one subject. Free-Rider Fridays are designed to be “event” driven, whatever issues are in th...
Dec. 14, 2018
The Subscription Business Model, Part II
The Subscription Economy: The idea is to turn customers into subscribers. As the world moves from experiences to access and transformations over ownership and deliverables, customization, not standardization, and constant imp...