The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Transformation Economy

Ron and Ed are excited to be doing the show live from the 90 Minds annual conference, The Meeting of the Minds in Huntington Beach, CA. The Meeting of The Minds brings a membership of consultants, resellers, and software providers together to celebrate our powerful community. For two days, these consultants will share, listen, learn, and challenge their perceptions. We are thrilled to be a part of all of those things.

Join Ed and Ron for a deep dive on the problems with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, or lack thereof. ESG has replaced the Triple Bottom Line and began to receive global attention due to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) report, and is seen as a means for advancing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SEC is now proposing regulations that will force public companies to disclose environmental risk factors, at tremendous cost. What could go wrong? Quite a lot. Metrics for ESG are completely subjective, nor grounded in empirical reality as demonstrated when three different ESG watchdogs rated Tesla: Best, Worst, and Middling. How helpful. If an oil company is rated, it is automatically Worst (unless it is Gazprom in Russia, which received a very high ESG rating before the Ukraine invasion), even though oil companies saves countless lives every single day. For all these reasons and more, we dissent from the hokum being pushed by advocates of ESG.

Belying the episode title there is more than one problem with continuing professional education (aka CPE). Ron and Ed will be joined this week by two innovators in the professions Blake Oliver of Earmark and Michael Kravshik of LumiQ to talk about not only the problems, but how they are trying to help solve it. If you have any questions you would like Ron and Ed to ask them, please send us an email at asktsoe@verasage.com.

Dr. Jules Goddard from London Business School discusses the characteristics of a maverick leader and how they can make a positive change in the world. They explore the importance of individuality, the dangers of conformity, the decline in creativity as people get older, and the concept of 'successful crash' in business.

Back in January with spoke with Chris Edwards about how wealth fuels economic growth. We welcome Chris back to talk about his other area of expertise - US tax policy. Join us on Tax Day (well sort of, it was extended to April 18 this year), for what will be a lively and wide ranging conversation about this topic that effects everyone.

Two fan favorites from 2021 return to join Ron and Ed in what no doubt will be a spirited conversation about Social Entrepreneurship, Kimberlee Josephson (Episode 360) and Sam Staley (Episode 367). Kimberlee is an Associate Professor of Business, Associate Dean for the Breen Center for Graduate Success at Lebanon Valley College; Sam is the director of the DeVoe Moore Center at Florida State University. Ron and Ed will (mostly) be along for the ride on this one as two of the foremost thinkers in this area will share (and maybe even spar a little about) their ideas surrounding social entrepreneurship. Don't miss this one!

Ron and Ed have had so many Guests in the past few months that certain housekeeping items have gone neglected. In this episode they will rectify that and answer listener email and, of course, talk about subscription stuff. If you have question or comment for them, send that email to asktsoe@verasage.com and they will work it in.

Ron and Ed welcome Michael Tanner of the CATO Institute to engage in a conversation about The Project on Poverty and Inequality in California which builds on Michael's most recent book, The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America’s Poor, a comprehensive look at the ways government contributes to poverty in the United States.

In his The Tuesday column this week, Kevin Williamson writes, I do wonder what it would take to turn Russia around. I suppose it would start with a Russia that wanted to be turned around, or at least a critical mass of Russians who want that. Ron and Ed will talk with him about Russia and Ukraine as well as his participation in the upcoming NR Institute's Seminar entitled Creating Opportunity: Making the Moral and Practical Case for Free Enterprise.

The influence of David Maister's work on professional firms continues to this day despite the fact that he retired in 2009. While Ron and Ed have some problems with his reliance on efficiency and metrics, his book True Professionalism: The Courage to Care about Your People, Your Clients, and Your Career stands out for its insight into what it really means to be a professional. In this episode, we will explore this book and share our thoughts about what Maister did and did not get right.