Episodes

It is with heavy hearts that Ed and Ron share the news of Dr. Reginald Lee's passing on March 8, 2023. He was a dear friend, a mentor, a teacher, and a maverick who was fearless in challenging the conventional wisdom of cost accounting. We were privileged to know him and be able to spend time with him. We will also keep his teaching and his legacy alive. Join us to celebrate the life and work of this dear friend, who leaves behind the imperishable crown of a good name. Read more tributes to Regi...

Back in October of 2016, Ron and Ed interviewed Professor Timothy Chou of Stanford about his books Cloud: Seven clear business models and Precision: Principles, Practices and Solutions for the Internet of Things. This time around we are pleased to get an update on his work and talk a bit more about AI and the recent explosion of interest around ChatGPT.

Ron and Ed welcome Hector Garcia to the show. We will talk about the business model for professionals and all things technology including AI. Hector is a long-time listener and has put many of the idea we talk about into practice at his organization Quick Bookkeeping of Miami LLC, a family owned practice that has been helping small business with their tax and accounting needs for over 13 years in Doral and all over the world. His YouTube channel has over 222,000 subscribers.

Ron and Ed welcome patent attorney and advocate for abolishing intellectual property, Stehan Kinsella to the show. We will explore what is (and is not) intellectual property and then have a conversation about why Stephan thinks these forms of property should not exist and why the world would be better if they did not. If you have any questions that you would like Ed and Ron to ask Stephan, please shoot us an email at asktsoe@verasage.com or hit us up on Twitter at @asktsoe.

In his book, The Cloud Revolution, Mark P. MIlls explains how the conventional wisdom on how technology will change the future is wrong and lays out a radically different and optimistic vision for what’s really coming. According to Mark, a convergence of technologies will instead drive an economic boom over the coming decade, one that historians will characterize as the “Roaring 2020s.” It will come not from any single big invention, but from the confluence of radical advances in three primary t...

Ron and Ed once again take the show on the road. For the third time, they are honored to appear at the Meeting of the Minds. Aside from taking questions from the attendees, they will have a conversation about an Harvard Business Review article from Joe Pine et al entitled, The “New You” Business. - https://hbr.org/2022/01/the-new-you-business

Inspired by A. J. Jacobs when he appeared on Russ Robert's great podcast EconTalk (and Curly from City Slickers), Ron and Ed have each been keeping a One Thing journal for the last few years. They first shared from this journal back in October 2021, but the time has come to share some more of their best One Things. If you tweet your one things, be sure to include #asktsoe and #OneThing.

Ed and Ron are honored to welcome Natasha Lance Rogoff to The Soul of Enterprise. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the timing appeared perfect to bring Sesame Street to millions of children living in the former Soviet Union. With the Muppets envisioned as ideal ambassadors of Western idealistic values, no one anticipated just how challenging and dangerous this would prove to be. In Muppets in Moscow, Natasha Lance Rogoff brings the story to life. Lance Rogoff, a young A...

Rock climbers call certain boulders “problems” and the toughest part “the crux.” Richard Rumelt, in his new book The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists, uses this term to describe a three-part strategic skill: 1) judgment about what is important and what’s secondary; 2) judgment about the difficulties of dealing with these issues; and 3) being able to focus. Join Ed and Ron as they discuss the essentials of strategy.

Ed and Ron are honored to have Dr. David D. Alfery on the show. He is the author of Saving Grace: What Patients Teach Their Doctors about Life, Death, and the Balance in Between. We loved this book, because it will resonate with any professional. From the Introduction: “Many individuals, of course, have professions in which they are privileged to interact with others and to profoundly affect their lives. I was fortunate to be one of them. For all good doctors, the kind you want looking after you...

Ron and Ed are overjoyed to bring back to The Soul of Enterprise Dr. Kimberlee Josephson, associate professor of business at Lebanon Valley College, to talk about some of her more recent work on reputation vs regulation, why work won't love you back, and an update on her thoughts about the ESG movement. If you have questions, please feel free to send them in to asktsoe@verasage.com.

Ed and Ron are honored to host Dr. Jay Baruch, author of Tornado of Life: A Doctor’s Journey through Constraints and Creativity in the ER. When a patient comes into the hospital with cardiac arrest or a compound fracture, doctors know what to do. The problem is evident, and the solution is practically algorithmic. Dr. Baruch contends that the biggest challenge and the biggest part of an ER doctor’s work is often caring for people who come in with not just problems with their body, but also socia...

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.

An annual favorite going back to 2015, Ron and Ed talked 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

One of two recap shows we do each year (the other will be next week's Best Books of 2022), Ron and Ed will take a look back at trends (business and otherwise), highlights, and lowlights from the year just past. We will 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.

Ed and Ron are supposed to discuss the controversies surrounding behavioral economics—including some of Dan Ariely’s research—and we probably will. But with Greg, you never know where the conversation will go. What you do know, is it will be entertaining, hilarious, and possibly even educational. Don’t miss this episode with one of the funniest CPA/MBA comedians out there, and Ron’s hero, Greg Kyte.

Ron and Ed always enjoy taking the show on the road and on this weeks episode we will have some of that live energy from the crowd in Austin Texas. They will talk subscription, of course… as well as other ideas relating to technology consulting. As usual, it promises to be the fastest hour of the week.

Ron and Ed are 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...

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 will speak with Professor Tony Gill about his ideas around Rethinking Scroogencomics and some of his other wr...

Ron and Ed welcome to the show James Geraghty. As a biotechnology executive, Jim has been a passionate participant in the orphan drug revolution since its inception. We will talk 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...

George Gilder was unable to make it. So instead 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?

Ron and Ed welcome to the show one of the co-authors of the new book Taxes Have Consequences. 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...

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

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.