Ed and Ron will explore Marc Andresseen's The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. It's a thought-provoking piece that we largely agree with. You can find the Manifesto at: https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/

Ron and Ed welcome Hitendra Patil, President of the Global Finance and Accounting Outsourcing Services of Datamatics Business Solutions, Inc. and author of Rise of The Aiccountants: The What, Why, and How of Artificial Intelligence for Accountants. AI is way more than an amusement gimmick. At its core, AI is a powerful tool that can make accounting firm operations, analytics, decision-making, and client services more efficient, impactful, and insightful resulting in clients getting more delighted and, importantly, firm staff more productive, engaged, and happier. Unfortunately, other than starting to use publicly available AI tools, firm leaders who want to professionally leverage artificial intelligence often don’t know where to start. AI journey can feel overwhelming—as it requires firms to analyze existing processes, make new choices for software solutions, decide the priorities for applying AI automation and prepare every part of the firm for the transition.

Ron and Ed once again share entries from their One Thing journals, so this episode is a bit random, but contains nugget after nugget on curated wisdom for the reading and listening habits of the hosts. As you listen, please feel free to share your One Thing from the past day or week. Don't forget to take #asktsoe or @asktsoe.

This week Ron and Ed welcome Mathew Kerbis, aka The Subscription Attorney to talk about, you guessed it, subscription-based lawyering. His firm, Subscription Attorney LLC was founded in 2022 and is a modern law firm offering legal advice starting at $19.99/month, to help provide affordable access to legal advice for small business owners, freelancers, and everyday people. As usual the conversation with be mind-bending.

Ed and Ron can’t wait to interview Kathryn Mayer and Greg Glasgow and discuss their brand new book, Disneyland on the Mountain, released September 13, 2023. If you are a Disney fan, you won’t want to miss this episode!

This week Ron and Ed welcome William Donaldson, author of Simple_Complexity to the show. Every business leader knows a business is a system, yet very few have studied systems thinking or system dynamics. This is a critical oversight, one that Simple_Complexity remedies. Simple_Complexity reveals the fundamental system archetype at work in your enterprise and prescribes new and exciting ways to reinvigorate your management thinking.

This week, Ron and Ed welcome accounting thought leader Max Emma, CEO and Chief Bookkeeping Officer of Booxkeeping Franchise. BooXkeeping is a nationwide provider of affordable outsourced bookkeeping services to small and medium-sized businesses. We will talk to Max about his business model and why outsource bookkeeping will continue to grow. Booxkeeping Franchise is a low-cost and easy-to-operate bookkeeping business solution for aspiring entrepreneurs. As the CEO of BooXkeeping Franchise, Inc., They find potential franchisees and offer them a turn-key opportunity to join the BooXkeeping family and benefit from our innovative accounting services, proven systems, and ongoing support. Their goal is to offer franchising opportunities in all 50 states by 2025 and to bring new life to one of the world's oldest professions.

This week Ron and Ed return to the work of literature for some inspiration. They will delve into the page of the Roald Dahl short story, The Great Automatic Grammatizor and Robert R. Updegraff's Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman. Both are available on the website that rhymes with Shamazon if you want to read them ahead of the broadcast. Send your questions and comments to [email protected] or tag us on X @asktsoe.

This week Ron and Ed literally explore the boundaries of AI by conducting an interview with an AI incarnation of Peter Drucker. Using ChatGPT and Speech Synthesis from ElevenLabs, Ron and Ed ask the questions and ChatGPeterD provides the answers. Topic range from knowledge workers, to annual appraisals, to AARs, to consulting in a hot tub.

Ron and Ed welcome Seth David from Nerd Enterprises, Inc to talk about his work with accounting professionals and customers. Seth's superpower is communicating complex financial concepts in easy-to-understand terms. Going beyond accounting, he delves into the intersection of business and technology, recently authoring a piece on why the internet browser experience is long overdue for an overhaul. If you have any questions that you would like us to ask Seth, please hit us up on X at @asktsoe.