The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Transformation Economy by THRESHOLD

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.

Ron and Ed welcome their first five-time Guest to the show, VeraSage Fellow and Professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Dr. Reginald Lee. The conversation will surround his new book, Project Profitability: Ensuring Improvement Projects Achieve Maximum Cash ROI. (Full disclosure: Ed wrote the Foreword.) In Project Profitability, Reginald explains why opportunities are not realized and offers a framework that will guarantee your teams identify projects that align with your strategy, calculate cash savings appropriately, and realize these cash savings upon implementation.

Join Ed and Ron for a tribute to one of the greatest satirist and humor writer, P.J. O'Rourke. We will explore P.J.'s books, and other stories from all the tributes that have been written about him recently. P.J. was one of a kind. Would it be possible to have another P.J. in today's woke society?

From time to time, Ron and Ed like to review the state of the subscription economy especially as it pertains to professional firms, but they will weave in some other stories as well. Have you heard that Ed subscribed to a vacuum cleaner and salami? We will also talk price increases and what they got right and WRONG about their own subscription.

Ron and Ed welcome author Meriel Schindler whose book The Lost Cafe Schindler they both highly recommends. When her father, Kurt, died in 2017, he left behind piles of Nazi era documents related to their family's fate in Innsbruck, Austria, and a treasure trove of family photo albums reaching back to before World War I. Meriel was forced to confront not only their fractured relationship, but also the truth behind their family history.

Making his fourth appearance on The Soul of Enterprise is Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC. Ron and Ed ask him how he scaled his practice from one to know three offices and what the implications are for his subscription model. In addition, we ask what regulatory barriers to providing care this way should be removed.

One of Ron's number one books of 2021 was Vivek Ramaswamy's Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam. An incredible read, with some very innovative ideas for how to push back on the wokeism that is infiltrating corporations. Join Ed and Ron for wide-ranging discussion of one of the most important books written in a long time (in Ron's opinion, we'll have to see what Ed thinks!).

Ron and Ed welcome Chris Edwards to the show to talk about two recent reports he has authored for The CATO Institute. In How Wealth Fuels Grown, the role of wealth in the economy is the focus. In this recent study Chris examines wealthy individuals as "angel" investors, who fund startup businesses. Angel investors provide a unique source of support for America's entrepreneurs, particularly in leading-?edge industries. In Entrepreneurs and Regulations: Removing State and Local Barriers to New Businesses, Chris writes about how the U.S. economy was damaged by the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. Output plunged and unemployment spiked. Mandated shutdowns, social distancing, and altered consumption patterns resulted in many businesses closing permanently and laying off workers.

"You don't have to get people to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." (Ray Bradbury, Sci-fi Writer). Join Ed and Ron as they discuss the best books they read in 2021.