Episodes

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 ladder.

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 movie stars, directors, and entertainment companies can earn above-normal profits without so much as a whisper of public protest. Premium ice creams and chocolates are very expensive and yield profit margins that would have made the “robber barons” of yesterday blush. Very few o...

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 creating annuities with a lifetime value that far exceeds whatever you paid to acquire them; collective knowledge of your customers, which is a competitive advantage that cannot be duplicated; one-to-one marketing; not pricing a product or service, but rather customer transformatio...

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. Tyler is an original and thought-provoking writer, exploring a wide range of topics with an economist’s eye that makes you see the world in a new way. Join us for what is sure to be a fun and interesting conversation with one of the world’s leading economic thinkers.

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 deep into one subject for the length of the show, usually with a guest or two. Free-Rider Fridays are designed to be “event” driven, whatever issues are in the news that we (or you) find worthy of commentary. In economics, free riding means reaping the benefits from the actions...

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 price was just right.” No customer ever discloses how much money your firm left on the table. Innovative pricing strategies, such as the TIP clause, are outward focused and attempt to capture more of the value created for customers, in extraordinary engagements. Having more acc...

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 for what will surely be an interesting and wide-ranging discussion about how behavioral economics can be applied to businesses of all kinds.

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 regard to the subject of his speech. It is in this spirit that we present ET HORA LIBELLUM DELENDA EST which, loosely translated, means, “and the timesheet/billable hour must be destroyed!” Enjoy!

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 deep into one subject for the length of the show, usually with a guest or two. Free-Rider Fridays are designed to be “event” driven, whatever issues are in the news that we (or you) find worthy of commentary. In economics, free riding means reaping the benefits from the actions...

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 strategies to deploy to fire customers with dignity, professionalism, while maintaining the goodwill of your firm.

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 show.

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 deep into one subject for the length of the show, usually with a guest or two. Free-Rider Fridays are designed to be “event” driven, whatever issues are in the news that we (or you) find worthy of commentary. In economics, free riding means reaping the benefits from the actions...

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 together to celebrate our powerful community. For two-plus days, they share, listen, learn, and challenge perceptions. They celebrate expanding their community through the renewal of relationships and building new alliances. The investment grows all year through online collabora...

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 leading evangelist of the Subscription Economy -- the idea that all industries are shifting to a customer-centric, subscription-based business model. He is also the author of SUBSCRIBED: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company's Future - and What to Do About 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 economist Joseph Schumpeter so poetically phrased it, entrepreneurial innovations make up the “perennial gale of creative destruction,” whereby entire industries have been eliminated due to this dynamism of free markets. Buggy whip manufacturers didn’t invent the automobile and slid...

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, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics for which he proposed the parton model. For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichiro Tomonaga, r...

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 the news that we (or you) find worthy of commentary. In economics, free riding means reaping the benefits from the actions of others and consequently refusing to bear the full costs of those actions. This means Ed and Ron will free ride off of the news, and each other, with no...

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 economics, liberty, freedom, truth,autonomous vehicles, and a host of other topics.

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 prices, bar entry to competitors, and not have to perform the difficult job of constant innovation where value is determined by customers, not industry standards, credentialism, or ineffective regulations. Heavily regulated industries aren't hot beds of innovation. The histo...

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 schedules, do you feel you don’t devote enough time to reading and absorbing new ideas? Then this show is for you. Ed and Ron will explore the best books they read in 2018.

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.

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 the news that we (or you) find worthy of commentary. In economics, free riding means reaping the benefits from the actions of others and consequently refusing to bear the full costs of those actions. This means Ed and Ron will free ride off of the news, and each other, with no...

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 improvement, not planned obsolescence, will be the new normal. McKinsey reports that the subscription ecommerce market has grown by more than 100% a year for the past 5 years. Subscription-based companies are currently growing eight times faster than the S&P 500 (17.6% vs. 2.2%...

Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1898 – May 21, 1983) was an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, The True Believer (1951), was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that The Ordeal of Change (1963) was his finest work. Hoffer was born in 1898 in The Bronx, New York, to Knut and Elsa (Goebel) Hoffer. His parents wer...