I recently came across a book that's been out for over 10 years by an exceptional and tenacious researcher and an engaging writer, Lodewijk Petram. His book, The World's First Stock Exchange , might be the first to explore how early investors first bought and traded shares of the VOC of this next stock exchange. The founding of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1602 marked the beginning of Amsterdam’s rise from a modest market town to a global financial powerhouse. The Company’s in...
Mar 02, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 241
When I think of the CFO's role, a few questions emerge: What will we invest in and reinvest in? How will we finance those investments? What about risk management? And what is the role of corporate governance in these activities? Not only does Don Chew answer those questions in his new book, but he also gives a name to all of his answers - corporate finance. In this conversation, Don Chew explains why he wrote The Making of Modern Corporate Finance and how it's different from old-fashio...
Feb 22, 2025•52 min•Season 1Ep. 240
A financial executive no longer loved Mondays until a health scare changed his mindset a few years ago. Ron Monteiro is a financial expert who coaches other leaders. His book is Love Mondays: A Proven Process to Bring Joy Back into Your Work Week and Life . Ron teaches us four simple steps to becoming Monday Mavericks. He then outlines seven clever tactical steps for leaders in developing Monday Mavericks. The book ends with a dozen stories about Monday Mavericks....
Feb 14, 2025•40 min•Season 1Ep. 239
When John Rossman is not busy delivering keynote addresses to large audiences or consulting with brands we recognize, he still finds time to write. John is making his third appearance on the show after our conversations about two of his other books: The Amazon Way and Big Bet Leadership . John's newest project is a 54-page manifesto entitled The Pig, The Lipstick, and The Playbook of Champions . It shows organizations how to escape their self-created world of mediocrity....
Feb 10, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 238
One book critic has asked readers of The Money Trap to imagine Michael Lewis as the President of a multinational investment holding company. Instead, Alok Sama is that person after working for Morgan Stanley for sixteen years. In this sometimes lighthearted but philosophical tome, occasionally sprinkled with dark humor and cleverness, Alok shares his most interesting stories while working next to one of the wealthiest men in the world. It's a story that includes investing insights, a smear ...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 237
David is a dermatologist whose practice can't seemingly make the money it should be. David meets a great accountant named Graham. Graham is a TOC bottleneck specialist for all types of businesses, not just manufacturing. He speaks and teaches his clients in a way that is easy to understand and can quickly implement the ideas. That's the storyline of Practice Makes Profit by Graham Scott. This book answers four questions: 1) why the money we spend on improvements rarely improves operati...
Jan 25, 2025•49 min•Season 1Ep. 236
When I think of Dave Ramsey, the elimination of debt and whole life insurance policies quickly spring to mind. In addition to his demonization of universal policies, were you aware of his 8-12 rule for retirement? David McKnight joins the show to discuss the 4 percent rule for retirement, annuities, and cash-basis insurance plans based on math, pragmatism, and wisdom. These topics are key themes in David's newest book, The Guru Gap . He has also written other best-selling books, including T...
Jan 10, 2025•44 min•Season 1Ep. 235
What would happen if a business-minded Encylopedia Brown entered the busy line of movie patrons waiting impatiently for soda and popcorn? This perspective guided Clarke Ching in writing his latest book, The Bottleneck Detective. It offers a straightforward and enjoyable reading experience, focusing on identifying bottlenecks and understanding their subsequent effects on bottleneck detection. Mark explores Clarke's FoCCCus framework and whether bottleneck detection is a learned skill or an i...
Dec 21, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 234
Are you fan of Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, or Richard Thaler? Have you enjoyed books like Fooled by Randomness, Factfulness, or Thinking in Bets? If so, you may want to read Jaime Lester's new book, Pause to Think , about cognitive biases. Jaime's concise book is engaging, memorable, and accessible. It features over thirty mental and conceptual models. This discussion explores some of these concepts, including fast and slow thinking, sunk costs, satisfaction, and randomness. Health Su...
Dec 14, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 233
Glenn Hopper's newest book is AI Mastery for Finance Professionals, but the content is also for CEOs, board members, and all other organizational leaders. We keep the topics pragmatic, applicable, and example-centric in this conversation. We'll also discover what Glenn means by saying, "AI will not replace people. People who use AI will replace those who don't use AI." Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow your dietary supplement D2C eCommerce business. Listen on: Appl...
Dec 07, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 232
One of the best books I've read on leadership in several years is by a former big-company CEO who is now a professor. Willie Pietersen's third book is Leadership - The Inside Story . In this fast-moving conversation, we hear about how Nelson Mandela learned, unlearned, and relearned the central tenets of philosophy and leadership well before his vision of a unified country could become a reality. We also learn how a diamond is formed and how those three forces apply to leadership. The ...
Dec 02, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 231
When I think of HP, three things quickly emerge in my mind: Deskjet and laser printers, the 12C calculator, and David Packard's The HP Way . The HP Way is one of my top 25 books written by CEOs. In this conversation, we're rolling with a book club format with a special guest who writes book summaries on his blog. Dan Lebrero is a software engineer based in Spain, and he'll help us unpack concepts such as MBO, management by walking around, profit-sharing plans, corporate offsites, ...
Nov 23, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 230
Cat Mulvihill is becoming a rising YouTube star with her video content focused on communication and presentation skills, including technology, Zoom, and personal knowledge management systems. This conversation teaches us what sets the best professionals apart from the rest on their Zoom calls. We gain insights on the best mics, videocams, and other technologies to use. We also wrap up the visit with simple ways to kill our filler words. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow your dietary supple...
Nov 09, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 229
If you work for yourself or would like to, have you ever thought about whose shoulders you are standing on, especially if you decide to have no employees? Ben Waterhouse is a professor and faculty director at the University of North Carolina. His research interests include deciphering how self-employment became a key to personal fulfillment, a central topic in his newest book, One Day I'll Work for Myself . In this conversation, we explore some of history's most pivotal stories that le...
Nov 02, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 228
Have you ever wondered how Amazon, Netflix, and Starbucks started their customer personalization programs? What was the starting point? What were the costs? Who was involved? The co-authors answer these questions in the very readable Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI . Mark Abraham and David Edelman explain that personalization is not email or glorified loyalty rewards programs. Instead, this cross-functional activity starts with a few simple questions in their 5 Promises framewor...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 227
If you were to ask me about my favorite book on private equity, I would say The Private Equity Playbook by Adam Coffey. The book is easy to read, the math is simple and impactful, and the stories are based on a former CEO who understands the intricacies behind private equity. Adam has released the second edition of this book, which is about 20 percent longer with new material. This conversation addresses the continued growth of private equity, committed capital, Adam's 70-30 rule, and a fun...
Oct 05, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 226
As a financial leader, I want to know every aspect of business. While quarterbacking my share of ERP implementations, I had only once heard the term PMO (short for Project Management Office). Accordingly, I wanted to learn more. After reading Laura Barnard's new book on PMOs, I quickly realized she is probably the global thought leader on this subject. Laura's new book is The IMPACT Engine: Accelerating Strategy Delivery for PMO and Transformation Leaders . We spend most of our time un...
Sep 29, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 225
Numerous financial blog articles and LinkedIn posts highlight the benefits of a small business owner hiring a portfolio CFO. However, I do not recall these writers commenting on why financial professionals step away from the W-2 world to serve multiple owners as clients instead of sticking to a steady paycheck. Sara Daw may be the first author to articulate why CFOs jump into the gig economy through her comprehensive research, which we can read about in Strategy and Leadership as Service. In thi...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 224
How did Charles Cowlam resort to a lifelong career in crime during the Gilded Age? During this fascinating interview, the author of A Wonderful Career Crime accidentally uncovers several fascinating nuggets of U.S. history that would otherwise remain undetected by well-known historians. Frank Garmon shares his favorite stories of Cowlam's life as a fraudster, bigamist, and swindler. He takes us to the origin of how this micro-history came to be in book form. We also learn how the wisdom of ...
Sep 02, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 223
Strategic planning and real estate companies are not word pairings we are used to hearing. However, Charlie Hewlett is changing that mindset. Charlie is the managing director at RCLCO, a company based in the Washington, D.C., metro area. He co-authored Strategy for Real Estate Companies. Our topics include the definition of a real estate company, a short definition of strategic planning, what strategic planning is not, SWOT, POVs, plan lengths, and who should work on the strategy process. Health...
Aug 14, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 222
What do you know about Jay Gould's life, and how does he compare to the other robber barons of his day? More importantly, is his life worth examining? Mark discusses Gould's upbringing in this book review, which influenced his desire to be rich. Learn about one of the most significant market corners on Wall Street and the man who helped to create America's economic expansion during the internet era of his day. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow your dietary supplement D2C eCo...
Jul 20, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 221
Mark provides five titles in this special CFO Bookshelf episode that inspire and educate. Mark wraps up the show with some financial food for thought - what statement do you present first in a reporting package and why?
Jul 13, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 220
What is a Fractional CFO? That term has become a household name for financial experts who help small business owners in various industries. However, do we have a concise and complete definition for this type of professional services provider? In this special episode, we break down what the fractional CFO is based on their three unique and primary roles to small business owners. We also give the best definition of a CFO you have probably never heard before. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow...
Jul 05, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 219
As I think about our next guest, Jody Grunden, he reminds me of the successful business leader who Mixergy's Andrew Warner should feature. Jody co-founded Summit CPA Group in the early 2000s and decided to focus on financial leadership instead of offering the conventional services many small firms provided. This discussion addresses the accounting shortage, effective accountants, and why accounting professionals have nothing to fear about AI technologies. Health Supplement Business Mastery ...
Jun 28, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 218
When did you start using Excel, and how did you learn it? Jeff Lenning is the founder of Excel University, and he joins us to discuss the biggest mistakes he sees in Excel workbooks, the differences between formal and informal training, and why both are critical. We also walked down memory lane, discussing when we started using Excel and some of our favorite functions inside this powerful application. Finally, we tip our cap to two very famous Excel MVPs and why we do so. Health Supplement Busin...
Jun 21, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 217
What would you be willing to do to feel alive in your work every day? Jack Craven asks executives from all walks of life this question. Jack is the author of Aliveness Mindset: Lead and Live with More Passion, Purpose, and Joy. His book includes more than a dozen tools and frameworks for starting the journey of aliveness. Some topics we hit in this conversation include where aliveness starts, David Robsen's expectation effect, the actual vs. the ideal self, anchoring mindsets, accelerance, ...
Jun 14, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 216
I list the top business books I've read over the previous year each January. At the end of 2024, The Venture Mindset by Ilya Strebulaev and Alex Dang will easily be in my top three and possibly my overall favorite. The Venture Mindset reads fast and reminds me a little of Kahneman, Munger, and books about Buffett. Some of the big ideas we cover in this episode with both authors include roof shots vs. moonshots, betting on jockeys vs. the horses, winning at the piggy bank game, and what we c...
Jun 07, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 215
I had never heard of Edmond Safra until I read Daniel Gross's informative and inspiring biography, A Banker's Journey . For those who knew him and did business with him, he was everyone's favorite banker. His banks never had to write off loans, and many of his early deals were on a handshake. He never needed a government bailout, nor did he ever head to DC complaining about regulations. While his professional and personal story is uplifting, the Shakespearian periods of his life i...
Jun 01, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 214
Our newest guest may not be a best-selling author on real estate yet, but we're already predicting this former World Cup soccer player will soon be a household name in Dave Ramsey's world in a few years. Vaughn Bethell is the founder of REI Junkies based in South Carolina, and in this episode, we learn his unique process of providing real estate investors with a different way to reduce stress and frustration in their investments. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow your dietary sup...
May 24, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 213
One of the best management books ever written is The Effective Executive, by Peter Drucker, published in 1966 . Managing For Results and The Practice of Management are other favorites of this show. Randy Wooton joins us to discuss the big ideas in The Effective Executive . He's a three-time CEO and has held senior positions at Microsoft and Salesforce. He is also the host of The SaaS Expert Voices Podcast and serves as Maxio's chief executive. In this conversation, we address why we st...
May 17, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 212
