The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Transformation Economy

Ed and Ron are honored to have Joshua Gilder on the show. As former President Ronald Reagan’s senior speech writer, his first speech for the President won acclaim for the line “Go Ahead, Make My Day!” He co-authored two State of the Union addresses and contributed to many of the President’s televised speeches from the Oval Office. He wrote Mr. Reagan’s highly regarded 1988 Moscow Summit address to students at Moscow State University, which opens our show. He has served as a consultant and advisor on numerous Presidential primary and general campaigns, including Reagan ’84, Bush ’88, Forbes ’96, Dole ’96, Forbes '00, and Giuliani '08. His novel, Ghost Image, was published in 2002 and his scientific history of the dramatic collaboration of Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, Heavenly Intrigue, (co-authored with his wife, Anne-Lee Gilder) was published in 2004. Like our conversation with Peter Robinson, another Reagan speechwriter, this is living history in the making.

We all talk about how professional firms are in the relationship business. But is this just lip service? Do our business models reflect this relationship value, or do they reflect a transactional value? Even Value Pricing can focus us on the wrong understanding of what it is the customer truly values. Join Ed and Ron for a discussion of relationship value and how it is often unobserved and underpriced in today’s firms.

Ron and Ed welcome to the show the author of Ed's favorite book of 2019 The Case Against Reality, Professor Donald D Hoffman. (Or do they.) Donald is a cognitive psychologist and popular science author. (Or is he.) He is a professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, and the School of Computer Science. (Seriously, he is.) (And you are going to love this episode!)

Ron and Ed welcome author, columnist, and TV personality, Gene Marks to the show. Gene Marks appears regularly on MSNBC and Fox News as well as The John Batchelor Show and SiriusXM’s Wharton Business Channel where he talks about the financial, economic, and technology issues that affect business leaders today.

Ron and Ed welcome the author of The Automatic Customer, John Warillow. John's work has been a staple of the presentations that Ron and Ed have given on subscription-based pricing since the beginning. His nine models for subscription businesses lay the foundation for almost all subscriptions you will encounter. Join us for what promises to be an enlightening conversation.

An annual favorite, Ron and Ed will talk about the best books they each read in 2020. Sometimes there is overlap, other times none. What will it be this year! If you have any guesses let us know on social media at @asktsoe on Twitter or https://www.facebook.com/asktsoe on Facebook.

Ron and Ed are honored to welcome Virginia Postrel, author of The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World. Virginia is also a columnist and speaker whose work spans a broad range of topics, from social science to fashion, concentrating on the intersection of culture, commerce, and technology. Writing in Vanity Fair, Sam Tanenhaus described her as a master D.J. who sequences the latest riffs from the hard sciences, the social sciences, business, and technology, to name only a few sources.

Ron and Ed are pleased to welcome to the show, Anne Janzer, the author of Subscription Marketing, and four other books on writing. In addition to being an award-winning author, Anne is an armchair cognitive science geek, nonfiction author coach, marketing practitioner, and blogger. She’s on a mission to help people spread important ideas through writing.

Ron and Ed welcome economist Art Carden, co-author of Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, with three-time Guest Deirdre McCloskey to the show. He is a Professor of Economics at Samford University’s Brock School of Business. In addition, he is a Senior Fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research, a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics, a Senior Fellow with the Beacon Center of Tennessee, and a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute.

Ron and Ed welcome fellow with National Review Institute and National Review’s roving correspondent, Kevin writes “The Tuesday,” a weekly newsletter. His latest book, Big White Ghetto: Stone Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Wooly Wilds of the ‘Real America,’ was published in October.