Podcasts about Ries

Why the best leaders treat uncertainty as a chance to learn, not a failure to avoid.Most companies are built to grow. Far fewer are built to stay true to their purpose as they do.Eric Ries is an entrepreneur, creator of the Lean Startup movement, and author of Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great. For Ries, innovation starts with a simple reality: nobody can predict the future. “If you're going to do something fundamentally new,” he says, “how are we supposed to forecast” what success will look like? Instead of relying on certainty, leaders should focus on learning. “If you cannot fail, you cannot learn.”In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Ries and host Matt Abrahams explore how leaders can communicate through uncertainty, turn setbacks into valuable insights, and build cultures rooted in trust. From the power of the build-measure-learn feedback loop to the importance of making “deposits” in a company's culture bank, Ries shares practical strategies for creating organizations that innovate, adapt, and stay true to their values as they grow.To listen to the extended Deep Thinks version of this episode, please visit FasterSmarter.io/premium.Episode Reference Links:Eric RiesEric's Book: IncorruptibleEp.56 Lean Messaging: How Simple Messages Really StickEp.54 Leadership and Ethics: How to Communicate Your Core Values  Connect:Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart PremiumEmail Questions & Feedback >>> hello@fastersmarter.ioEpisode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart WebsiteNewsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.ioThink Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTubeMatt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction (02:21) - Lean Startup Fundamentals (04:03) - Business Plans vs. Reality (06:31) - Learning from Failure (08:11) - Why Companies Go Bad (10:49) - The Culture Bank (13:51) - The Final Three Questions (22:05) - Conclusion ********Thank you to our sponsors.  These partnerships support the ongoing production of the podcast, allowing us to bring it to you at no cost.Unleash your Superhuman potential with AI that meets you where you work. Learn more at superhuman.comJoin our Think Fast Talk Smart Learning Community and become the communicator you want to be. 

Eric Ries is the author of Lean Startup (millions of copies sold), serial founder, ex-EIR at Harvard, and author of a new book: Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great.Why is this relevant? Most climate startups optimize for growth and capital, not governance. That's how mission-driven companies get sold, diluted, or pointed in the wrong direction over time.From the book summary: “Drawing on two decades of work with founders, CEOs, investors, and institution builders, Ries shows how these failures arise predictably, and how they can be prevented. He reframes corporate governance not as bureaucracy or compliance, but as a creative and strategic act at the heart of building enduring, mission-controlled companies.”Why it mattersMost climate founders focus on product, capital, and growth. Almost none design governance early. That's how companies built to solve climate problems end up owned by actors working against them.In this episode:The Lean Startup breaks at mission scale – MVPs and rapid iteration work early. But mission-driven companies need a long-term philosophical foundation to survive the “flat part of the curve.”Success creates a dangerous new asset: trust – Mission-driven companies generate outsized trust with customers, employees, and society. That trust becomes exploitable as companies scale.The system is designed to extract, not protect – Delaware C-Corps are legally oriented toward shareholder value maximization. Over time, this pressures companies to trade mission for liquidity.The Revlon Doctrine is the forcing function – Once a company is for sale, boards must choose the highest bidder. Even if it destroys the original mission.Real example: mission failure at scale – A UK therapeutics company was sold to a tobacco firm offering a slightly higher bid. Within ~3 years, ~$900M in value was wiped out.Quick fix most founders ignore – Converting to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) can be done with a simple filing. It allows balancing mission and shareholder value. Only ~5–10% of climate companies have done this.Advanced structures for long-term control -  Foundations, trusts, and employee ownership models preserve mission across decades. Data across ~54,000 companies shows better growth, retention, and resilience.Investor objections are often weak - “It's unusual” or “others won't like it.” But climate investing is already a non-consensus bet. Governance should be, too.--Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs. See if you're a fit → entrepreneursforimpact.comJoin 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read. → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

The Trombone Corner Podcast is brought to you by Bob Reeves Brass and The Brass Ark.  Join hosts Noah and John as they interview Harry Ries and Markus Leuchter.   About Harry: Harry Ries is a Dutch trombonist and early music specialist, born in 1947 in Kerkrade, Netherlands. After completing his studies in The Hague, he built a distinguished orchestral career, serving as principal trombonist with both the Limburg Symphony Orchestra in Maastricht and later the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne. In 1978, he was appointed principal trombonist of the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, a position that further established his reputation as a leading orchestral musician. Alongside his orchestral work, Ries became deeply involved in historically informed performance, collaborating with many of Europe's most prominent early music ensembles. His credits include performances with groups such as Hesperion XXI, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, La Petite Bande, and Concerto Palatino, working with leading figures in the early music movement. In addition to his performing career, he has been an influential educator, teaching trombone and chamber music at the conservatories of Maastricht and Aachen. Over time, his artistic focus increasingly shifted toward early brass instruments, particularly the sackbut, contributing to the revival and evolution of historical trombone performance practice.   About Markus: Markus Leuchter is a German trombone maker specializing in both historical brass instruments and modern trombones. His workshop is located in Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany. Markus apprenticed with the renowned trombone builder Heribert Glassl in Nauheim, and has collaborated with trombonists Harry Ries, Christoph Schwarz, and Noah Gladstone on a variety of models and instrument designs. He is particularly well known for his alto, bass, and contrabass trombones, as well as his work in historical brass. He maintains a small workshop near his home, where he handcrafts each instrument from start to finish. His instruments are used by professional performers in early music as well as players in leading radio and symphony orchestras across Europe.  

“I don't look to companies to be moral guides. I want them to be good companies. When you invest in the stock market, you want them to be growing fast and making profit. That's it. There's nothing more to it.” — Keith Teare If it's Saturday, it must be our weekly tech show. Before we went live, That Was the Week publisher Keith Teare told me it wasn't a big news week. He was wrong, of course (as he often is). The really BIG news this week, which Keith conveniently missed, is that Anthropic overtook OpenAI as the world's most valuable AI startup. Dario Amodei's AI startup raised $65 billion this week, putting its valuation at $900 billion, way ahead of OpenAI's last round at $730 billion. Keith says, without any proof, that they've cooked their numbers. Which makes this week's news even tastier. The more interesting story, for Keith at least, is Sam Altman's latest pivot: that humans need stakes in the AI platforms whose wealth they help create. Rather than Patagonia-style moral corporations (which Keith says would make him “throw up”), it should be the responsibility of the state or government to make capitalism more moral. But even slippery Sam got outpivoted this week by Anthropic, who sent a co-founder to Rome to do a deal with the Pope. Leo XIV's new encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” is Anthropic's papal pivot. It's the smart model for value investing in the AI age. Five Takeaways •       Anthropic Tops OpenAI — But the Numbers May Be Wrong: Anthropic raised $65 billion this week at a $900 billion valuation, overtaking OpenAI's last round at $730 billion. The VCs backing it — Green Oaks, Sequoia, Altimeter, Dragoneer — are credible. Andrew's argument: they've seen the books. Keith's counter: the VCs are playing a different game. They expect two to three times their money at IPO and they'll probably get it — not because the revenue numbers are solid, but because the only way is up right now. The real test: the S-1, which requires audited accounts. Keith's prediction: the revenue numbers will look different when the SEC sees them. •       Dario's Credibility Problem — But Claude 4.8 Is Fantastic: Keith has consistently characterised Dario Amodei as “slightly juvenile” and has long been sceptical of Anthropic's public positioning. This week he cites Om Malik and the All In podcast in support of the revenue numbers critique. But he is careful to separate the man from the product: Claude 4.8, released two days ago, is “fantastic.” At SignalRank, Keith's firm, Claude rebuilt an entire agent valuation workflow in an hour that would have taken days manually. Andrew's observation: Andrew is now Anthropic's newest fan. He has replaced Spurs with Anthropic as his team. •       Altman's Pivot: From UBI to Ownership: Sam Altman has shifted his public narrative on AI and labour. Previously: UBI — universal basic income — as the answer to mass unemployment. Now: ownership. Humans need to own stakes in the AI platforms whose wealth they help generate. Not welfare. Not redistribution. Ownership. Keith's verdict: it's an interesting and significant move. More interesting than Amodei's continued fearmongering about AI devastation. Andrew notes that Altman seems to have genuinely grown up in the last two months. His tone is markedly different. •       Patagonia Capitalism Would Make Keith Throw Up: The week's interview of the week: Eric Ries on Incorruptible, arguing that great companies stay great by choosing a higher moral purpose — the Patagonia model. Keith's response: it would make him throw up. He doesn't want companies to be moral guides. He wants them to be profit machines. Moral guidance is the job of politics. And politics, he acknowledges, is massively disappointing. He does agree with Ries on one thing: Sundar Pichai, as an individual, should care about the future. But Google's job is to make money. That's it. •       Where Does Moral Guidance Come From? The Populists: Andrew's closing question: if not corporations, not politicians, not the pope — where does moral guidance come from? Keith's reluctant answer: the populists. Because the people care. They care about the future. And in the absence of politicians they can trust, they go elsewhere. Keith sees this as inevitable rather than desirable. Populism is the unintended consequence of political failure. The people filling the gap that broken institutions left. It's not a solution. It's a symptom. About the Guest Keith Teare is a British-American entrepreneur, investor, and publisher of the That Was the Week newsletter. He is a co-founder of TechCrunch and Andrew's regular TWTW co-host. References: •       That Was the Week by Keith Teare. •       Om Malik, “The Copy and the Guru” — the post on Anthropic's revenue numbers referenced in the conversation. •       All In Podcast — referenced for the Anthropic S-1 revenue discussion. •       Episode 2921: Eric Ries on Incorruptible — the interview of the week discussed in the show. •       Episode 2915: Keith Teare on capitalism and AI — the preceding TWTW, referenced at the opening. About Keen On America Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States — hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,900 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting. WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters: (00:31) - Introduction: ten days since the last TWTW (01:01) - The big news: Anthropic tops OpenAI at $900 billion (01:53) - Keith's reaction: both true and BS (02:22) - OpenAI is further ahead on IPO filing (03:15) - Om Malik and the revenue numbers: what does misleading mean? (03:41) - The All In podcast and Dario's credibility (04:21) - Anthropic's $65 billion raise: the VCs' game (04:42) - But Claude 4.8 is fantastic: the SignalRank story (06:16) - Dario vs Sam: who's more grown up? (07:00) - Altman's pivot: from UBI to ownership (08:00) - Keith admits he was wrong about OpenAI's dominance (09:47) - What did Keith get wrong? (10:36) - Corporate vs consumer AI dominance (15:00) - Agentic AI: the big theme in Keith's newsletter (20:00) - The pope: Leo XIV and AI (25:00) - Moral cap...

Eric Ries's The Lean Startup method is undeniably one of the most influential writings published on entrepreneurship in the last decade. It gave a whole generation of founders a new way to build - and made 'pivot' a household word. Now he's tackling an even harder subject: why do so many great companies eventually betray everything they stood for? And what can founders do to stop it? In his new book Incorruptible, Ries argues that governance is the most powerful and most underappreciated force in business. In this conversation with Carlos, they get into why shareholder primacy destroys brands, why the tools to resist that pressure already exist, and why most founders give away the thing that matters most.

In questa puntata partiamo dal Piano casa, con il decreto entrato in Parlamento e il nodo degli emendamenti su canoni calmierati, investimenti privati e case popolari; passiamo alla lotta digitale all'evasione perché l'allineamento tra Pos e scontrini ha già fatto emergere 5,3 miliardi di imponibile; ci spostiamo sul divario generazionale, con il rapporto RiES che mostra un “muro” sempre più alto per gli under 35 tra lavoro, casa, redditi, risparmio e futuro; infine, ti racconto la storia di Marina. Se vuoi dirmi le difficoltà e le sfide che incontri nella tua vita quotidiana o, semplicemente, la tua opinione sulle notizie di oggi, scrivimi in DM su Instagram, mi trovi come Angelica Migliorisi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special episode, Eric Ries, author of the 2011 bestseller "The Lean Startup," discusses his new book, "Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great." Ries explains why he's redefining profit as the maximization of human flourishing, reveals his role advising Anthropic's founders on their corporate structure, and makes the case that the era of shareholder primacy is already over. He also discusses the fall of Whole Foods, the Musk v. OpenAI trial, and why he believes mission-controlled companies dramatically outperform. GeekWire's Todd Bishop recorded this conversation with Ries after interviewing him on stage at Seattle Flow Startup Day on May 15. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the way we think about business value, trust, and capitalism itself is fundamentally broken? Eric Ries' The Lean Startup changed how a generation of entrepreneurs build companies. Now, Ries takes aim at some of the most sacred business assumptions today in his new book, Incorruptible. Ries joins Rapid Response to share what he witnessed firsthand in the clash between Anthropic and the US government, and why he believes the current system is failing the very people it's supposed to serve. He also brings in-the-trenches stories from Cloudflare, Novo Nordisk, and Whole Foods to make the case that courage, not capital, may be the most undervalued asset in business right now.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why do so many organizations lose their way as they grow? Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author, says that corruption inside companies rarely begins with bad people or dramatic scandals. More often, it emerges slowly, through broken incentives, unchecked bureaucracy, and systems that reward the wrong behaviors. He explains why even successful organizations drift from their values, and what companies can do to stay adaptable, trustworthy, and mission-driven as they scale. Ries wrote the book Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great.

What if the way we think about business value, trust, and capitalism itself is fundamentally broken? Eric Ries' The Lean Startup changed how a generation of entrepreneurs build companies. Now, Ries takes aim at some of the most sacred business assumptions today in his new book, Incorruptible. Ries joins Rapid Response to share what he witnessed firsthand in the clash between Anthropic and the US government, and why he believes the current system is failing the very people it's supposed to serve. He also brings in-the-trenches stories from Cloudflare, Novo Nordisk, and Whole Foods to make the case that courage, not capital, may be the most undervalued asset in business right now.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great, Eric Ries argues that mission-driven companies face an invisible pressure that pushes them toward short-termism and conformity, no matter the intentions of their stakeholders.Ries is the best-selling author of The Lean Startup, founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, and advisor to startups around the globe. In his new book, he traces a recurring pattern across two centuries of business: principled founders build something exceptional, only to watch it be corrupted—not by greedy individuals, but by systemic forces baked into how capitalism is structured.In his conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, Ries discusses how corporate corruption starts, why shareholder primacy became the norm, the concept of financial gravity, and the structural protections companies can put in place to defend their mission.Key topics discussed: 01:09 | How corporate corruption starts03:50 | The rise of shareholder primacy08:18 | Why mission-driven companies outperform but don't dominate11:06 | Are private equity and activist investors always destructive?15:31 | Financial gravity: the invisible force that pulls companies off course19:31 | Structural defenses: purpose, coherence, and integrity27:06 | Can mature companies still be corrupted or still protect themselves?31:14 | What Eric Ries would add to The Lean Startup if he couldAdditional inspirations from Eric Ries:The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (Crown Currency, 2011)

In this episode, we're joined by Eric Ries, creator of The Lean Startup, to discuss insights from his latest book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great. Eric shares what inspired him to write the book and why we need to move beyond and redefine what true profit looks like. He shares the history behind businesses transitioning from serving public interests to shareholder primacy and why leaving behind a people-first business approach can actually reduce profitability. Additionally, Eric discusses financial gravity, the “harder is easier” principle, and how these practices connect to AI & current engineering leadership challenges.   ABOUT ERIC RIES Over the last two decades, Eric Ries's ideas about continuous innovation, long-term thinking, governance, and market reform have reshaped company building and management practices. He is the creator of the Lean Startup method, and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup; The Leader's Guide; and The Startup Way. As a founder, he has put his own ideas into practice with The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE); Answer.AI, an AI R&D lab; Virgil, a legal services startup; and IMVU. On The Eric Ries Show, he talks with world-class technologists, thought leaders, and executives building for the long-term. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children.   Unblocked: The context engine your coding agents are missing. Give your coding agents the context your best engineers have. Your agents can read code, but they don't know how your team works. Rules and MCPs give access to information but not understanding. That's why you still have to tell them where to look and what to look for. Unblocked gives your agents the history, conventions, and decisions behind your code so they generate mergeable output without the back and forth. It automatically surfaces the right context for every task, so agents stay on track without the set up tax or the correction loops. getunblocked.com/elc   SHOW NOTES: The inspiration behind Eric's new book Incorruptible (5:22) What it means to redefine profit (8:03) Understanding profit considerations like externality, ethics, and inputs (10:44) Why human life / value can never be an input factor of production (12:31) The history behind business practices benefitting the public (15:00) When businesses transitioned to shareholder primacy over public interest (17:16) Navigating the tension between mission vs. fiduciary responsibility (21:01) The role of financial gravity & shareholder primacy in the Silicon Valley bank story (25:04) Using Eric's book to build a mission-driven roadmap (29:12) How committing to a principled way of business can drive profitability (31:15) An example of the principle “harder is easier” (33:40) How this connects to AI & emerging eng leadership challenges (36:53)   LINKS AND RESOURCES Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great - Drawing on two decades of work with founders, CEOs, and investors, best-selling author Eric Ries reveals the forces that make companies vulnerable to destruction from within and without. Then he offers solutions that safeguard against them for the long-term. Incorruptible is the blueprint for companies that will prosper and endure without losing their soul. Its lessons and tools are designed to help founders, executives, investors, and citizens of all kinds build organizations – and a society – truly aligned with human flourishing. https://news.theleanstartup.com/ - Eric's newsletter with ideas about how and why to build companies focused on human flourishing — and stories of the people who are doing it. The Eric Ries Show - Founder, entrepreneur, and best-selling author of The Lean Startup Eric Ries discusses how to build profitable companies for the long-term benefit of society. Ries talks with world-class technologists, thought leaders, executives, and others working to create a new ecosystem of trustworthy organizations with limitless potential for growth and a deep commitment to purpose. Together, they uncover the tools and methods to ensure the next generation of companies are designed to maximize human flourishing for generations.   This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team: Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host Jerry Li - Co-Host Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/ Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/ Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“I took it for granted that we were trying to make the world a better place. But I think in retrospect that was naïve. What kind of change? For whom? We kind of forgot to specify what the purpose of all this disruption was.” — Eric Ries In 2011, Eric Ries published The Lean Startup, a book that reflected the optimistic zeitgeist about disruptive Silicon Valley companies. Fifteen years later, in Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great, Ries reflects today's totally different zeitgeist about the value of companies inside and outside Silicon Valley. Back in 2011, everybody loved tech. Ries, creator of the Lean Startup method and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, admits he was naïve in his positive view of disruptive corporations. In Incorruptible, Ries argues that corporate corruption is structural, rather than a problem of bad actors. As organisations grow (ie: become more disruptive), the systems that govern them — ownership, incentives, charters, accountability — quietly reshape behaviour. Success itself becomes a form of financial gravity, diverting companies away from their original purpose. Ries proposes that we design organisations to be incorruptible from the beginning. It's the Patagonia model. When the outdoor clothing company almost went bankrupt in the 1990s, their bank agreed to restructure their loans if they would suspend their charitable donations for a couple of years. No deal, the CEO said. The bank blinked and Patagonia remained Patagonia. Now, Ries argues, every corporation should try to emulate Patagonia and become the incorruptible corporation. We must all join Eric Ries in getting beyond the lean startup. Five Takeaways •       Corporate Corruption Is Structural, Not Ethical: For decades, we've explained corporate failures as problems of bad actors, moral weakness, or isolated scandals. Ries' argument: that story doesn't match reality. Again and again, companies founded with strong ideals drift toward short-term thinking, extractive behaviour, and mission abandonment — often despite the best intentions of people inside them. The failure is structural. As organisations grow, the systems that govern them — ownership structures, incentives, charters — quietly reshape behaviour. Success becomes financial gravity, bending companies away from their purpose. •       The Patagonia Model: Organisational Strength, Not Moral Righteousness: When Patagonia nearly went bankrupt in the 1990s due to outsourcing to poor-quality foreign factories, their lead lender agreed to restructure the loans on one condition: suspend charitable donations during the restructuring. Reasonable request — any other company would have said yes. Patagonia said no. The bank blinked. Ries' reading: this is not moral righteousness. It is organisational strength. The ability to resist external pressure and stay true to a core principle. That is what makes a company not just good but great. Also: Black Wednesday, the day of their layoffs, is still referred to by name inside the company. •       The Wrong Distinction: For-Profit vs Non-Profit: Ries argues that the distinction between for-profit and non-profit is fundamentally a tax code distinction that has come to define how we think about organisations in ways that are misleading and harmful. He proposes a reframe: if profit means the maximisation of human flourishing, then the Smithsonian is very for-profit and Philip Morris is very non-profit. This reframe changes what we should demand of governance, of accountability, of what organisations are for. It is simultaneously an economic and a political argument. •       Civic Infrastructure: The Political Dimension: Ries' book ends with a chapter on what he calls civic infrastructure — the kinds of organisations that set the rules of the road for others. He argues that the principles of incorruptible design apply not just to companies but to the institutions of governance. The darkness of the current political moment is, for him, partly a failure of organisational design. When this darkness passes, he argues, the generation that follows will have to rebuild civic infrastructure in the way the generation that survived the Depression built the institutions that governed the second half of the twentieth century. •       The Anakin/Padamé Problem: Ries' Mea Culpa: Ries opens with a reference to the famous internet meme — Anakin says he's going to change the world, and Padamé asks: for the better? He grins mischievously. Ries used to find it funny. Then it stopped being funny. When he wrote The Lean Startup, he assumed the purpose of disruption was to make the world a better place. He took it for granted. He now thinks that was naïve. The lesson: you have to specify the purpose. What kind of change? For whom? That is the question that Incorruptible is trying to answer. About the Guest Eric Ries is the creator of the Lean Startup method and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, The Leader's Guide, and The Startup Way. As a founder, he has put his ideas into practice with the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), Answer.AI, Virgil, and IMVU. He is the author of Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great (Authors Equity/Simon & Schuster, May 26, 2026). He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. References: •       Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great by Eric Ries (Authors Equity, May 26, 2026). •       The Lean Startup by Eric Ries (Crown Business, 2011). •       The Startup Way by Eric Ries (Currency, 2017). •       More information and bonus materials at incorruptible.co. About Keen On America Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States — hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,900 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting. WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSp...

Happy Tuesday Edition of the Program!! Ries is back and we will hear about his time at Sonic Temple and we'll get into nostalgia with music. Last night was AWESOME and we are Jealous. The Cavs and Knicks get underway tonight in the Eastern Conference Finals. Juni Mobley Jr is officially back for the Buckeyes. The Brendan Sorsby situation continues to evolve. Bill Belichick speaks on the final season in Cleveland. We get into teams that moved that never should have happened. Browns and Bengals OTA's. Tuesday's With Tiberi, What's Up, The Real Truth, Thing or Not a Thing and 3 Things

Eric Ries, who inspired many a founder with his book The Lean Startup and went on to found the Long-Term Stock Exchange, joins Amy Cortese on this Agents of Impact podcast. Ries has wrapped up what he's learned in a new book “Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great.” Many of the so-called best practices in corporate governance, he says, actually destroy value, and Silicon Valley founders ignore governance until it's too late,. Amy speaks with Eric about "spiritual holding companies" — think perpetual purpose trusts, employee ownership trusts and industrial foundations that put a check on for-profit boards. Human flourishing, he says, not profit maximization, should be the true purpose of companies. He has some ideas of how to build organizations that can resist both inside temptations and outside pressure to betray their missions.

Happy Friday Edition of the Program!! JP is in for Ries again. Don't Be Late!! No NBA last night is silly. The NFL Schedule is out and they do not care about anybody else. We play the Browns and Bengals Schedule Game. Ryan Day says we have to worry about the future of CFB now. When we go to a 24 Team Playoff, how can we save the regular season. Players sitting out The Game....Tim May, Doug Lesmerises, What's Up, Thing or Not a Thing, What We Learned This Week and 3 Things

What if we redefined “profit” as maximizing human flourishing? Eric Ries has seen the corrosive effects of shareholder primacy at every company he's worked with. Mission-driven companies, however, are the outliers: demonstrating stronger profits, better talent, and deeper loyalty. So why don't we build differently? In the long arc of economic history, our current definitions of profit and value are relatively new, held in place by normative consensus. But we can flip the script. By using what Ries calls “mission transmission,” we can build companies around a coherent set of values, where profit becomes the natural extension of those values, rather than the only goal. “Start with the thing you have the most agency over," he said. "You can decide the purpose of your work.” We built this system, Ries urged, so we can rebuild it better.

In dieser Folge widmen sich Franzi und Karl dem Feedback zu den letzten drei Geschichten im AstroGeo Podcast. Zunächst freuen sie sich über zwei Nachrichten, die zeigen, wie der Podcast das Interesse für die Geologie und die Astronomie weckt: Geologie-Fans finden über den Podcast Zugang zu den Sternen, während Astronomie-Begeisterte die Erde für sich entdecken. Ein großes Thema ist die geplante AstroGeo-Exkursion (Franzi sagt: „Der Wandertag!“) ins Nördlinger Ries im Oktober 2026. Die Nachfrage war deutlich höher als die Zahl verfügbarer Plätze, weswegen einige Hörerinnen und Hörer enttäuscht waren - , aber auch Vorfreude und Unterstützung wurde geäußert. Der Plan ist, Teile der Exkursion des Wandertags aufzunehmen und als Sonderfolge zu veröffentlichen. Zur ersten Alpen-Folge über falsch herum gelagerten Gesteinsdecken gibt es Korrekturen und Ergänzungen, etwa zu sprachlichen Details (Schweizerdeutsch) und geologischen Erklärungen (Faltenbildung, Sediment- vs. Plutonische Tiefengesteine). Karl geht auch auf Missverständnisse ein und kündigt eine dritte, abschließende Folge zur Gebirgsbildung an. Da es für nicht-Expertinnen und -Experten schwierig sein kann, sich ein überschobenes Deckengebirge vorzustellen – denn das sind die Alpen – haben sich Franzi und Karl auch über Feedback in Form von methodischen Vorschlägen gefreut. Dazu gehören bessere Visualisierungen mit farbigen Handtüchern für die Idee einer liegenden Falte (von Albert Heim bis 1906 anstelle von überschobenen Decken propagiert): Foto 1: Das rote Tuch steht für die primär unten liegende ältere Gesteinseinheit, und das blaue für die darüber abgelagerte jüngere. Foto 2/3: Hier kann man leicht bei der Bildung einer liegenden Falte erkennen (propagiert von Albert Heim), dass dann im unteren Schenkel der Falte die Abfolge umgekehrt wurde. Foto 4: Die reale Deckenüberschiebung lässt sich ebenfalls leicht nachstellen: Das ältere (rote) Gestein wurde hier über die jüngere Schicht (blau) geschoben). Zur Supernova-Folge loben viele die Verständlichkeit und den Humor. In ihrem inhaltlichen Feedback diskutieren Hörer jene „fehlgeschlagenen“, oder auch „gescheiterten“ Supernovae, bei denen Sterne direkt zu Schwarzen Löchern kollabieren, ohne vorher eine spektakuläre Explosion abzuliefern. Außerdem gab es Post von einem Hörer, der von seiner ganz eigenen „gescheiterte“ Supernova berichtet hat: die Supernova SN 1987A in der Nachbargalaxie der Großen Magellanschen Wolke. Zuguterletzt geht's noch um um die Social-Media-Kanäle des AstroGeo-Podcasts: Hier ist Mastodon der einzige. Karl erklärt, wie Mastodon funktioniert – und frei zugänglich reinschauen kann man hier: https://chaos.social/@astro_geo

Happy Thursday Edition of the Program!! Ries is back!! The Weather Extremes in Ohio are crazy and caused an interesting night at the Bishop House. The CBJ fallout continues. One week until the NFL Draft. LIV Golf is on it's last leg. The Buckeyes are #1 in ESPN's way too early Top 25. ESPN's Paul Finebaum, Aaron Portzline, What's Up, Emails, Thing or Not a Thing and 3 Things

Eric Ries shares how financial 'gravity' pulls great companies away from their founders' purpose, and his solutions in his new book Incorruptible (Authors Equity, 2026) Join us for a uniquely provocative conversation between our host, Richard Lucas, and renowned entrepreneur and "Lean Startup" author Eric Ries on his new book, Incorruptible. Moving beyond the surface-level summary, Richard intentionally focuses on the book's deep ethical and moral core, giving Ries the space to clarify and elaborate on his most challenging ideas.1 This is not your typical book tour stop. Richard dives into what he finds "particularly interesting," exploring why founders must prioritize building an enterprise "worth protecting" from the start—a business whose mission is protected by structural guardrails. Richard highlights memorable quotes from Eric's book, including:1 "Not every form of making money is equally good."1 "The more golden the goose, the stronger the temptation to butcher it."1 Ries explains that without these defenses, a universal, systemic force he calls "financial gravity" will inevitably pull the organization toward short-term profit maximization over "human flourishing". He argues that waiting until a business is successful to put in guardrails is "too late" because success attracts predators. Taking the principled path, though harder, Ries believes, unlocks "almost unbelievable superpowers". The discussion drills down into practical, yet philosophical questions: Can any system resist a corrupt leader? Richard challenges Ries on the possibility of an ethical defense military technology company (like those defending Ukraine), leading Ries to clarify that technology is neutral; the danger lies in who controls it. They also explore the failure of modern management practices, discussing how reliance on metrics like average hold time can create "false proxies" that actively make customer service worse. Finally, Ries advocates for a powerful solution for corporate governance: a universal director's oath, similar to the Hippocratic Oath, to bind corporate leadership to a commitment to the mission.1 Tune in to hear Ries's candid reflections, including his personal belief that integrity is not merely ethical, but a competitive advantage—the true foundation for economic success, while emphasizing the first step for every founder and entrepreneur: "First, create something worth protecting Links & References Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great Book release date is May 26 in the US, May 28 worldwide Amazon listing Website: here Seth Godin on false metrics Frankenstein, Incorporated by I Maurice Wormser Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Eric Ries shares how financial 'gravity' pulls great companies away from their founders' purpose, and his solutions in his new book Incorruptible (Authors Equity, 2026) Join us for a uniquely provocative conversation between our host, Richard Lucas, and renowned entrepreneur and "Lean Startup" author Eric Ries on his new book, Incorruptible. Moving beyond the surface-level summary, Richard intentionally focuses on the book's deep ethical and moral core, giving Ries the space to clarify and elaborate on his most challenging ideas.1 This is not your typical book tour stop. Richard dives into what he finds "particularly interesting," exploring why founders must prioritize building an enterprise "worth protecting" from the start—a business whose mission is protected by structural guardrails. Richard highlights memorable quotes from Eric's book, including:1 "Not every form of making money is equally good."1 "The more golden the goose, the stronger the temptation to butcher it."1 Ries explains that without these defenses, a universal, systemic force he calls "financial gravity" will inevitably pull the organization toward short-term profit maximization over "human flourishing". He argues that waiting until a business is successful to put in guardrails is "too late" because success attracts predators. Taking the principled path, though harder, Ries believes, unlocks "almost unbelievable superpowers". The discussion drills down into practical, yet philosophical questions: Can any system resist a corrupt leader? Richard challenges Ries on the possibility of an ethical defense military technology company (like those defending Ukraine), leading Ries to clarify that technology is neutral; the danger lies in who controls it. They also explore the failure of modern management practices, discussing how reliance on metrics like average hold time can create "false proxies" that actively make customer service worse. Finally, Ries advocates for a powerful solution for corporate governance: a universal director's oath, similar to the Hippocratic Oath, to bind corporate leadership to a commitment to the mission.1 Tune in to hear Ries's candid reflections, including his personal belief that integrity is not merely ethical, but a competitive advantage—the true foundation for economic success, while emphasizing the first step for every founder and entrepreneur: "First, create something worth protecting Links & References Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great Book release date is May 26 in the US, May 28 worldwide Amazon listing Website: here Seth Godin on false metrics Frankenstein, Incorporated by I Maurice Wormser Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Ries shares how financial 'gravity' pulls great companies away from their founders' purpose, and his solutions in his new book Incorruptible (Authors Equity, 2026) Join us for a uniquely provocative conversation between our host, Richard Lucas, and renowned entrepreneur and "Lean Startup" author Eric Ries on his new book, Incorruptible. Moving beyond the surface-level summary, Richard intentionally focuses on the book's deep ethical and moral core, giving Ries the space to clarify and elaborate on his most challenging ideas.1 This is not your typical book tour stop. Richard dives into what he finds "particularly interesting," exploring why founders must prioritize building an enterprise "worth protecting" from the start—a business whose mission is protected by structural guardrails. Richard highlights memorable quotes from Eric's book, including:1 "Not every form of making money is equally good."1 "The more golden the goose, the stronger the temptation to butcher it."1 Ries explains that without these defenses, a universal, systemic force he calls "financial gravity" will inevitably pull the organization toward short-term profit maximization over "human flourishing". He argues that waiting until a business is successful to put in guardrails is "too late" because success attracts predators. Taking the principled path, though harder, Ries believes, unlocks "almost unbelievable superpowers". The discussion drills down into practical, yet philosophical questions: Can any system resist a corrupt leader? Richard challenges Ries on the possibility of an ethical defense military technology company (like those defending Ukraine), leading Ries to clarify that technology is neutral; the danger lies in who controls it. They also explore the failure of modern management practices, discussing how reliance on metrics like average hold time can create "false proxies" that actively make customer service worse. Finally, Ries advocates for a powerful solution for corporate governance: a universal director's oath, similar to the Hippocratic Oath, to bind corporate leadership to a commitment to the mission.1 Tune in to hear Ries's candid reflections, including his personal belief that integrity is not merely ethical, but a competitive advantage—the true foundation for economic success, while emphasizing the first step for every founder and entrepreneur: "First, create something worth protecting Links & References Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great Book release date is May 26 in the US, May 28 worldwide Amazon listing Website: here Seth Godin on false metrics Frankenstein, Incorporated by I Maurice Wormser Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/finance

In this episode, guest host Ben Whedon sits down with Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, to discuss the upcoming vote on the SAFE Act and its implications for election integrity. We explore the challenges Senate Majority Leader John Thune faces in bringing the bill to the floor, the political dynamics surrounding the legislation, and how this all ties into the upcoming midterm elections.Additionally, Ben Laura Ries, the director of the Heritage Foundation's Border Security Center, to discuss the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. We delve into the implications of this shutdown on national security, including the staffing of TSA and the potential rise in security threats. Ries shares insights on the impact of immigration policies and the political maneuvering surrounding ICE and CBP funding. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In 1947 Dave Pace spiced up America with Salsa and this turned into a 90 Billion Dollar category. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [ECO Office Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast. I’m Dave Young here talking to Stephen Semple. And the listeners may not know this because we only release these every week or so, right? Stephen Semple: Mh-hmm. Dave Young: But we often record them one after the other. And we just got done recording the episode about Doritos and Tostitos. And now you’re telling me that we’re going to talk about dip, Pace Salsa. Stephen Semple: Pace Salsa. Yeah. Dave Young: So the picante sauce people. Stephen Semple: Correct. Correct. Absolutely correct. Dave Young: And that’s great with Doritos. Stephen Semple: I never thought about it being with Doritos. Dave Young: Really? Stephen Semple: Tostitos, I would, but not Doritos. Dave Young: How about both? Stephen Semple: Okay. Dave Young: I say you can dip a Dorito into anything. I’m in that camp. I’m firmly in the camp that anything dippable is- Stephen Semple: You’re all-inclusive in your attitude towards Doritos and dip. Very open-minded. Here’s the thing I’m going to say. If someone has not listened to the Doritos, Tostitos story, you really should go back and listen to it before listening to this one because there’s certain things that kind of come together in terms of what’s happening in the world. Dave Young: Like chips and dip. Stephen Semple: And these stories are kind of linked even though this story starts in 1947. Well, the Doritos story starts in the late ’50s. They still have kind of a bit of a shared history. Dave Young: These stories that are on a collision course, a deathening. Stephen Semple: They are. And this story’s also not just about pace salsa, but it’s really about the origin of the salsa in the United States as a category, which is a $90 billion category. And the business was started by David Pace in 1947 in San Antonio and was sold to Campbell Soup in 1995 for $1.1 billion. Dave Young: All right. Stephen Semple: So not a bad little payday. Dave Young: Not a bad deal. Stephen Semple: Yeah. So now David Pace was from Louisiana and he moved to Texas after World War II. He had been running a small food business processing sugar substitutes, which were popular both during the war and shortly after the war with rationing because of the sugar rationing. But as rationing was coming off, what he knew is there was going to be less and less of a need for these sugar substitutes. So he was looking for a new idea. And so we have to remember, it’s 1947, food’s kind of boring in the United States. It’s not diverse. It’s bland. It’s meat and potatoes. The condiment that was used to improve food was ketchup. That was the condiment to improve food, right? And Mexican food was not really a thing. About the only thing that people knew about Mexican food, it was spicy. Here’s the part that I came across that really surprised me the most. In New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world, and certainly the most diverse city in the United States, there was just one Mexican restaurant in the city and New York at the time. Dave Young: In the ’40s? City. Stephen Semple: In the late ’40s, ’47. Dave Young: Okay. Wow. Stephen Semple: There was only one. That was it. Now, you could get Mexican food in the South because let’s face it, 100 years previous, a lot of parts of the South were part of Mexico, right? Dave Young: That’s right. Stephen Semple: As we like to remind ourselves. So here he is in- Dave Young: Well, Tex-Mex started just spreading in. Stephen Semple: Yeah. So here he is in San Antonio. He was stationed in Texas during the war and he’d settled in San Antonio, but he had never had Mexican food because now he’s off the base living in San Antonio and he tries salsa for the first time. And he’s like, wow, this is great. And he decides he needs to bring it to the market. A couple of challenges he ran into. First is how to make it. There’s lots of recipes around. He wanted to make his own version to sell the non-Mexican, so he wanted to tone down the intense flavors. He also needed to be able to jar it so it had shelf life. Here’s one of the fun challenges he ran into. A couple of the recipes he worked with would ferment once put in a jar. Well, what happens in a jar when something ferments? Dave Young: Botulism? Stephen Semple: No, kaboom. They blow up. Dave Young: Kaboom. They blow up. Okay. Yeah. Stephen Semple: So exploding jars, exploding jars of salsas, not really the objective. Dave Young: That’s never a good look either. Stephen Semple: Not really. But he gets it figured out and he brands it as Pace Picante Sauce. So it was first of all, promote it as a sauce, not a dip. And he starts selling it locally. He advertises it in the newspapers, but again, not as a dip as a sauce, like a marinade, something you brush on meat before baking. That was how it was being positioned. Dave Young: Well, it’s still, that’s the label on the jar is Pace Picante Sauce. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: I’ve always wondered about that. He did that so he didn’t have to… Well, go ahead. Stephen Semple: But that was just kind of how he thought about it. And so for over a decade, he works on building up a following in Texas. It was building slowly. He liked spicy food, but most people didn’t, because even though he took the spice down, it was still spicy. Now he hires his son-in-law, Kit Goldsbury, and Kit hates spicy food, like can’t stand it, but still thinks he can sell it. And Kit starts at the bottom working every job and works his way up. And there’s a point where Kit becomes more senior. And Pace is now in five states and is making some money. They’re having some success. Dave Young: Good. Stephen Semple: But Kit’s goal is he wants us to become coast to coast. He wants to turn this into a big thing. But here’s what he notices. It’s too hot for northerners, but northerners want flavor because they’re eating Doritos. They’re eating nacho Doritos and cheese Doritos. They’re eating those things. So it’s not like they don’t want flavor. They just don’t want the heat. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: There’s a marker for something interesting, unique, and different, but to go national, he needs to mute the heat. Dave Young: Needs to call it mild. Stephen Semple: Right. And around this time, Tostitos takes off and which is being used for dipping and it’s a massive success. So he decides to lean into the dip angle because he saw what was going on with Tostitos and he said, “You know what? We need to make this as a dip, not as a sauce, but I still need to take down the heat.” So he hires tasters to try all the jalapenos out there to find out which is the one that would work the best. Here’s the problem. Taster’s results were really inconsistent. He goes, “Okay, so I’ve still got to solve this heat problem.” So he hires a food scientist to engineer a heat-free jalapeno. Dr. Rasplicka, I think is how you pronounce his name, who basically created this measurement system for capsaicin, which is about how hot it is. And from this, they were able to figure out how to remove the heat because they were able to identify each one, able to identify the source of it and create this non-heat version of salsa. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: Now, you jump the gun on it a little bit, as you often do. So remember, while Americans didn’t want heat, they wanted something interesting. So of course they didn’t call it bland. What did they call it? Dave Young: Stay tuned. We’re going to wrap up this story and tell you how to apply this lesson to your business right after this. [Using Stories To Sell Ad] Dave Young: Let’s pick up our story where we left off and trust me you haven’t missed a thing. Stephen Semple: Well, Americans didn’t want heat. They wanted something interesting. So of course they didn’t call it bland. What did they call it? Dave Young: Mild. Well, they’ve got the three. They’ve got mild, medium, and hot. Stephen Semple: Right. And that’s exactly what they did. They had the other spice levels, but they didn’t go with bland. They went with mild. Dave Young: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This the Goldilocks rule, right? Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: Wow. Stephen Semple: And so therefore, and with mild, everyone can enjoy it. And then of course they offered the other spice levels and they market it as a dip. Very quickly, sales went from $3 million to over $50 million. Dave Young: I can imagine. Stephen Semple: So successful, supermarkets started placing salsa in the chip aisle because it was not in the chip aisle previously. In 1991, salsa passes ketchup as the number one condiment in the United States. Dave Young: Not till ’91. Stephen Semple: Not till ’91. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: 1995, Campbell’s buys the business for over a billion dollars. Dave Young: All right. Stephen Semple: Now, I forget what year it was. I think it was ’92, but anyway, early ’90s, Campbell’s actually created a Heinz Salsa. Dave Young: Really? Stephen Semple: Yes. And it failed miserably. Dave Young: Sure. Stephen Semple: But if you think about it, we often bump in these situations where companies do these line extensions, right? Where it’s like, “Well, why not? It’s tomato. It’s a condiment. It’s all this other thing. We can do a Heinz Salsa.” Why wouldn’t a Heinz Salsa work? People love Heinz ketchup. They’ll love Heinz Salsa.” It bombed. It totally bombed. Like bombs so much to the degree that it only existed for about three years and they went, “You know what? Instead, we’ll spend $1.1 billion buying a competitor rather than trying to develop our own.” Dave Young: Heinz is what it is and you know what you’re getting. Stephen Semple: But how often do we see that whole line extension happen and it fails? Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: Right? Like Gerber’s wanting to make adult food. Dave Young: No. Stephen Semple: Doesn’t work. Heinz making salsa. Dave Young: Make adult food and call it something else. Stephen Semple: Coke understood this when they went into the energy drink market because it was not Coke energy drink. They knew that would fail. Coke understood that. They were like, “No, no. Coke’s a pop. It’s a soft drink. It’s not an energy drink. We’re going to have to do something completely different.” But it’s amazing how often businesses will make that mistake of, “Oh, well, we do this thing. Let’s also market ourselves this thing and do this line extension.” And it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. Dave Young: I think there are just invisible boundaries that if you don’t know them and you try to cross them. And in this case, it’s the style of food, right? Heinz goes on certain things, but it doesn’t go on Mexican food. You don’t dump ketchup on Mexican food. You don’t dump mustard on Mexican food. And Heinz makes ketchup and mustard and relish. Stephen Semple: And pickles. Dave Young: Pickles and all of those things, but they’re definitely not things that you put on Mexican food. Stephen Semple: It’s interesting. I was having this conversation with Michael Torbet, one of our partners, because we’re dealing with a situation with a client, an existing client where we’re struggling with getting them to think about not doing a line extension. And I was sharing with him this whole story of Heinz and we were talking about Gerber and a bunch of other companies that tried to do line extension and have failed. And we got talking about ketchup. And I was saying to him, “Well, I think the reason why it didn’t work because ketchup is something that you put on hamburgers.” But I like how you put it. It’s not specifically about hamburgers, but the foods that you put ketchup on, because again, Heinz is successful in pickles and they’re successful in mustard, but there’s foods where pickles, mustard, and ketchup go together. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: And none of those foods does salsa go on it. It’s a different food category that salsa goes on. So you could make salsa and you could probably make cheese and that would actually work. Where you think about it, ketchup and salsa from a manufacturing standpoint are closer than salsa and cheese. Dave Young: Yeah. Those are weird associations. Stephen Semple: In fact, those companies do make cheese. They make cheese with a little bit of jalapeno. Dave Young: Yeah, absolutely. They’re right there next to the picante sauce. Stephen Semple: But I loved how you expressed it, hidden barriers, but they exist. And if you cross those barriers, it doesn’t work. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Very cool. I didn’t think about them as being hidden barriers. That’s an amazing observation. Dave Young: Like Rolex should never make a phone. Stephen Semple: Right. Dave Young: Right? Well, phones keep times like, yeah, but that’s not right. Anyway, that’s just an example. There’s just lanes. Stephen Semple: Right. But there’s a couple of luxury watch brands that tried to dip their toe into the smartwatch market and it didn’t work. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: And Rolex was not one of them, but I can’t remember who did, but they did and it failed terribly, failed terribly. Part of the appeal to a Rolex is the handmade and craftsmanship and all this other stuff. Dave Young: Well, and I don’t know. I have an Apple Watch and I have an Apple Watch not so much so I can tell time, but so it can do some other things for me. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: It can notify me. I use the timer function all the time and I could just carry a stopwatch around my neck or some kind of timer. But I also noticed that Apple sells, you can buy really fancy, upgraded, shiny, gold, sparkly, diamond encrusted versions of Apple Watch cases. The thing still does the same thing, but I don’t know how popular that stuff is. I’m guessing it’s pretty niche. Stephen Semple: I’m going to guess it probably is. And again, it’s not a line extension. It’s an add-on to an Apple Watch. It’s not a different watch. It’s an add-on. Dave Young: I think the guy that’s buying a Patek Philippe… I don’t know. Stephen Semple: Philippe Patek? Yeah. Dave Young: Or even a Rolex. Stephen Semple: Were you? Yeah. Dave Young: You’re not buying it for the same reason you’re buying an Apple Watch of any sort. And you’re not going to be fooled by the glitz and glam of the accoutrement on an Apple Watch into thinking that you’re buying a fancy watch. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: It’s still an Apple Watch. Stephen Semple: It’s still an Apple Watch. Yeah. It’s a different thing. Dave Young: Interesting. Yeah. Stephen Semple: Anyway. Dave Young: That’s a fascinating subject to just these invisible barriers. Stephen Semple: In a great book that covers this a little bit is the 22 by… Is it Al Ries and somebody? Dave Young: Trout and Ries, 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. Stephen Semple: Yeah. And one of the laws that they go through is basically don’t do line extension. And they’ve got some great stories in that book around it. And anybody interested in branding, it’s a great… I have it on my desk and it’s a bible I refer to because those 22 laws, yeah, they are like you break them at your peril. With all of Heinz power, it couldn’t extend that and instead gave up and spent a billion dollars buying a competitor. Dave Young: And probably didn’t rename it Heinz. Stephen Semple: They did not. They kept it as Pace. Yeah. Dave Young: And they learned their lesson. Stephen Semple: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Dave Young: We’ve spent this time talking about Pace and just before this recording, we talked about Doritos, Tostitos. I’m getting kind of hungry. Are you getting hungry? Stephen Semple: Yeah. And of course we also talked a little bit about Taco Bell. Dave Young: Yeah. Yeah. Stephen Semple: As a sidebar. Yeah. A lot of food conversation here late in the afternoon. Dave Young: If people hear my tummy grumbling in the microphone, you know what’s going on. If we weren’t in different cities on the same continent, I’d suggest we go out and grab a bite somewhere, Stephen, but we’ll have to do that another time. Stephen Semple: We’ll have to do that another time. Exactly. Dave Young: I’ll bring the dip, you bring the chips. Stephen Semple: All right, you’re on. Dave Young: Thanks for bringing us the Pace story. Stephen Semple: All right. Thanks, David. Dave Young: Thanks for listening to the podcast. Please share us, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a big, fat, juicy five star rating and review at Apple Podcasts. And if you’d like to schedule your own 90-minute empire building session, you can do it at empirebuildingprogram.com.

The surge of ICE activity in Minneapolis has led tens of thousands of people to flood downtown for a variety of protests against ICE. But it's kept many others— like those afraid of violence, harassment or arrest by ICE agents— far away from downtown. Events from graduations to conferences to concerts have been canceled or moved outside of the city. The tourism organization Meet Minneapolis conducted a survey about the impact of ICE on tourism in the city. Of the 101 restaurants, event businesses, hotels, arts organizations, attractions and service providers that responded to the survey, 80 percent said they have had canceled, postponed or reduced bookings and sales as a result of ICE activity. 90 percent of those businesses said that fear and stress is affecting the operations of their business.A senior vice president at Meet Minneapolis, Courtney Ries, told MPR News that the 13 Minneapolis hotels that responded to the survey said they lost around $3 million in revenue from the ICE surge this year. That's after more than 40 groups and events connected to the hotels canceled, including two large events at the Minneapolis Convention Center.“When travelers are looking at Minneapolis, there is a lot of uncertainty,” Ries said. “Our job is to advocate for our community and businesses. Who have obviously experienced a lot of heartbreaking emotions over the killings as well as the struggle for businesses to survive.“Meet Minneapolis also surveyed 2,030 American travelers were interested in traveling to Minnesota. 20.6 percent of those said they have altered plans to travel to a destination because of ICE activity.“This is a very acute situation for many of these businesses. We're seeing a lot of questions about how event attendees are going to feel when they come into the city,” Ries said. “We'll continue to host things like the auto show, the boat show, the totally rad vintage fest, the Minnesota school board association meetings, but with more information because attendees have more questions.”

Happy Thursday Edition of the Program!! Ries is Back!! We will hear his travel horror story. Gutty win for the red hot CBJ. It might have actually been the last game for LeBron in Cleveland last night. The Cleveland Browns and the Todd Monken hire. Grown Ass Men, that's what Urban Meyer said Ohio State is trying to do. It's Mock Draft Season. ESPN's Paul Finebaum, Columbus Aviators Head Coach and Former Buckeye Ted Ginn Jr in studio, What's Up, Emails, Thing or Not a Thing and 3 Things

Happy First Friday Edition of the Program!! Ries got stuck in Charlotte so JP is back. The Hall of Fame has become the Hall of Shame. The Ohio State Football Schedule was released we break it down. We'll also look at some of the winners and losers in the Big Ten. Nike has made a move that seems desperate and they are better than that. We got Breaking News that the Cleveland Browns are hiring Todd Monken as their new Head Coach. We will discuss that. ESPN's Jake Trotter, Shelley Time with Jody Shelley, What's up, Higher or Lower, Thing or Not a Thing, #HeyGuys, Your Officially Endorsed and 3 Things

Happy Monday Edition of the Program!!JP in for Ries again. Snowmageddon actually came and it's wreaking havoc in Columbus. It was an awesome NFL Championship Weekend and now Super Bowl 60 is set. It'll be the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks with a lot of Buckeye Flair. Ohio State is hiring Arthur Smith to be their new Offensive Coordinator. We'll give you are reactions. Dabo named names but what can be done...The latest on the Browns Coaching search. Austin Ward, Shelley Time with Jody Shelley, What's Up, Thing or Not a Thing, Weekend Blitz and 3 Things

Laura talks about having strategic enemies in branding and marketing, unnecessary re-branding, staying focused, her latest book, "The Strategic Enemy", and much more! Laura Ries is a globally recognized positioning strategist and bestselling author. Since 2022, she continues her father's positioning legacy as Chairwoman of RIES. The firm where she has helped Fortune 500s and ambitious startups win through bold, focused brand positioning for over 30 years.

Wintery Knight and Desert Rose welcome Lora Ries to discuss border security and immigration policy. They explore Biden's policy changes, like ending Remain in Mexico, resuming catch and release, and creating mass parole programs. Ries critiques refugee expansions, NGO incentives, and "welcome the stranger" misuses. She discusses unaccompanied minors. Ries recommends merit-based reforms, assimilation, and enhanced vetting, drawing lessons from Europe's crime and balkanization issues. Please subscribe, like, comment, and share. Show notes and transcript: https://winteryknight.com/2025/12/7/knight-and-rose-show-69-lora-ries-border-security-and-immigration-policy Subscribe to the audio podcast here: https://knightandrose.podbean.com/ Audio RSS feed: https://feed.podbean.com/knightandrose/feed.xml YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@knightandroseshow Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/knightandroseshow Odysee: https://odysee.com/@KnightAndRoseShow Music attribution: Strength Of The Titans by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5744-strength-of-the-titans License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

It's part 2 of our dive into the Insect Apocalypse, with our good friend Dr. Jason Dombroskie from the Cornell University Insect Collection!In this part, Jason fills us in on the drivers of the Insect Apocalypse and - most importantly - what we can do about it.This episode was recorded on August 21, 2025 at Rattlesnake Hill Wildlife Management Area in Dalton, NY.. Episode NotesDuring the episode, we made the claim that 40 million acres of the US is lawn, and that that area is equal to all of the country's National Parks put together. True? Well, sort of. The claim that the U.S. has about 40 million acres of lawn—roughly equal to all our national parks combined—is only partly true. A NASA-funded study led by Cristina Milesi estimated that turfgrass covers about 128,000 km² (≈31 million acres) of the continental U.S., making it the largest irrigated “crop” in the country (Milesi et al., Environmental Management, 2005; NASA Earth Observatory). Later analyses and popular summaries often round that up to ≈40 million acres (e.g., Scienceline, 2011; LawnStarter, 2023). By comparison, the total land area of all officially designated U.S. National Parks is about 52.4 million acres, while the entire National Park System—which also includes monuments, preserves, and historic sites—covers about 85 million acres (National Park Service, 2024). So while lawns and parks occupy areas of similar magnitude, lawns do not actually equal or exceed the combined area of the national parks. Is it better to mulch leaves on your lawn or leave them be? Here's what we found: It's generally best to mulch your leaves with a mower rather than rake or remove them. Research from Michigan State University found that mowing leaves into small pieces allows them to decompose quickly, returning nutrients to the soil and reducing weeds like dandelions and crabgrass (MSU Extension, “Don't rake leaves — mulch them into your lawn”, 2012). Cornell University studies similarly show that mulched leaves improve soil structure, moisture retention, and microbial activity (Cornell Cooperative Extension, “Leaf Mulching: A Sustainable Alternative”, 2019). However, in garden beds, wooded edges, or under shrubs, it's often better to leave leaves whole, since they provide winter habitat for butterflies, bees, and other invertebrates that overwinter in leaf litter (National Wildlife Federation, “Leave the Leaves for Wildlife”, 2020). The ideal approach is a mix: mow-mulch leaves on grassy areas for turf health and leave them intact where they naturally fall to support biodiversity and soil ecology. 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Meta-analysis reveals declines in terrestrial but increases in freshwater insect abundances. Science, 368(6489), pp.417-420. Wagner, D.L., Fox, R., Salcido, D.M. and Dyer, L.A., 2021. A window to the world of global insect declines: Moth biodiversity trends are complex and heterogeneous. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(2), p.e2002549117. Wagner DL, Grames EM, Forister ML, Berenbaum MR, Stopak D. Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021 Jan 12;118(2):e2023989118. WallisDeVries, M.F. and van Swaay, C.A., 2017. A nitrogen index to track changes in butterfly species assemblages under nitrogen deposition. Biological Conservation, 212, pp.448-453. Warren, M.S., Hill, J.K., Thomas, J.A., Asher, J., Fox, R., Huntley, B., Roy, D.B., Telfer, M.G., Jeffcoate, S., Harding, P. and Jeffcoate, G., 2001. Rapid responses of British butterflies to opposing forces of climate and habitat change. Nature, 414(6859), pp.65-69. Warren, M.S., Maes, D., van Swaay, C.A., Goffart, P., Van Dyck, H., Bourn, N.A., Wynhoff, I., Hoare, D. and Ellis, S., 2021. The decline of butterflies in Europe: Problems, significance, and possible solutions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(2), p.e2002551117. Wilson, E.O., 1987. The little things that run the world (the importance and conservation of invertebrates). Conservation biology, pp.344-346. Yang, L.H. and Gratton, C., 2014. Insects as drivers of ecosystem processes. Current opinion in insect science, 2, pp.26-32.Visit thefieldguidespodcast.com for full episode notes, links, and works cited.

Laura Ries is a globally recognized positioning strategist and bestselling author. Since 2022, she continues her father's legacy as Chairwoman of RIES, guiding the expansion and global influence of the firm where she has helped Fortune 500s and ambitious startups win through bold, focused brand positioning for over 30 years. She's a sought-after speaker, trusted […]

Laura Ries is a globally recognized positioning strategist and bestselling author. Since 2022, she continues her father's legacy as Chairwoman of RIES, guiding the expansion and global influence of the firm where she has helped Fortune 500s and ambitious startups win through bold, focused brand positioning for over 30 years. She's a sought-after speaker, trusted […] The post Laura Ries With RIES appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

What does it take to build a brand that dominates the mind—and outlasts the competition? Positioning strategist Laura Ries has the answer.As the president of Ries & Ries and co-author of the classic 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, Laura has advised Fortune 500 companies around the world. In this conversation, she shares how growing up with her father, branding legend Al Ries, shaped her career, and how her new book The Strategic Enemy reveals why every great brand needs a rival.From Volvo and Tesla to Liquid Death and Dude Wipes, Laura dissects the successes and failures that prove one truth: brands don't win by being better, they win by being different.---Guy Kawasaki is on a mission to make you remarkable. His Remarkable People podcast features interviews with remarkable people such as Jane Goodall, Marc Benioff, Woz, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Bob Cialdini. Every episode will make you more remarkable.With his decades of experience in Silicon Valley as a Venture Capitalist and advisor to the top entrepreneurs in the world, Guy's questions come from a place of curiosity and passion for technology, start-ups, entrepreneurship, and marketing. If you love society and culture, documentaries, and business podcasts, take a second to follow Remarkable People.Listeners of the Remarkable People podcast will learn from some of the most successful people in the world with practical tips and inspiring stories that will help you be more remarkable.Episodes of Remarkable People organized by topic: https://bit.ly/rptopologyListen to Remarkable People here: **https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guy-kawasakis-remarkable-people/id1483081827**Like this show? Please leave us a review -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!Thank you for your support; it helps the show!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Laura Ries is a globally recognized branding strategist, bestselling author, and chair of RIES—a firm renowned for pioneering the concept of brand positioning. Daughter of marketing legend Al Ries, Laura has spent decades helping companies build iconic brands and is celebrated for translating complex marketing concepts into clear, actionable strategies. Her soon-to-be-released book, The Strategic Enemy, explores why great brands succeed by defining what they stand against, not just what they offer. On this episode we talk about: Why positioning and strategic focus outlast fleeting marketing trends How “defining your enemy” creates clear, memorable brands Common brand-killing mistakes (like overextending or chasing fads) Lessons from classic and booming brands—Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, Oatly Why apprenticeships and real-world learning trump trendy marketing degrees Top 3 Takeaways 1.  Strategy beats tactics: A focused, differentiated brand positioning is timeless, while tools and platforms change.2.  Brands grow stronger by narrowing their focus and clearly defining what they are not—opposition is memorable.3.  Consistency and repetition are more powerful in branding than chasing every new trend or expansion. Notable Quotes “People are much faster to understand opposition than superiority…saying what you're different from is more powerful than saying you're better.” “The biggest danger for any brand is falling in love with its own early success and overextending.” “Effective branding isn't about saying more—it's about saying one powerful thing well, over and over.” Connect with Laura Ries: Website: ries.com ✖️✖️✖️✖️

Laura Ries, globally recognized marketing strategist and author of The Strategic Enemy, outlines a category-first approach to brand building. As she explains, “while people talk in brands, they really think in categories. The category is king.” Her core message: focus, contrast, and clarity determine whether a brand leads or disappears.   The conversation emphasizes why narrowing focus creates strength, when to launch a new brand name rather than extend an old one, and how visible, repeatable signals, what Ries calls a “visual hammer”, turn a positioning into dominance. She draws on vivid examples: Kodak's misstep in naming its first digital cameras, Toyota's use of Lexus to enter the luxury market, Subaru's turnaround through all-wheel-drive focus, and Target's positioning as “cheap chic” against Walmart.   Strategic takeaways for leaders include: Define and own a category. “The power is in owning a singular idea, and the even more powerful thing is to dominate and own a category.” Choose a strategic enemy. As Ries argues, “the mind understands opposition faster than superiority.” Standing against something clarifies what you stand for. Use new names for new categories. Legacy names can trap perception in the old category. Deploy the visual hammer. A simple, memorable image or symbol cements positioning more powerfully than words alone. Keep the message simple and repeat it. Brands like BMW (“The Ultimate Driving Machine”) and Chick-fil-A (“Eat More Chicken”) succeeded through decades of repetition, not campaign churn. Invest in leadership visibility. Well-known figures, from Anna Wintour at Vogue to Elon Musk at Tesla, can embody and amplify brand positioning. Treat AI as a tool, not a substitute. Ries uses it for research synthesis but insists, “there's a great human element that is still incredibly valuable.” For executives shaping brand portfolios or launching new products, this discussion offers a disciplined playbook: narrow the focus, name carefully, define the enemy, and repeat until the position is instinctive in customers' minds.  

Happy Victory Monday Edition of the Program!! Ohio State handled OU. Hear from Ryan Day on the win and some of the RedZone issues they had and heading into a bye. Beau and Ries were there Saturday so they'll let you know what they thought of the atmosphere. It was a costly Sunday for the Bengals. They get the win but lose Burrow for 3 months in the process. The Browns got bombed by the Ravens. Austin Ward, Mike Petraglia host of the Jungle Roar Podcast, What's Up, Thing or Not a Thing, Buckeye Blitz and 3 Things

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we welcome back marketing leader and author Laura Ries for the conclusion of their two-part conversation. If you haven't listened to part 1 or would like to remind yourself where we left off, you can check it out here for a quick recap (FYD 405).  Laura shares insights from her new book, The Strategic Enemy, emphasizing the importance of defining what your brand stands against. The discussion covers lessons from her father Jack Trout's legacy, the power of positioning, and the role of visual storytelling in marketing. Laura has been on the frontlines of marketing for decades, carrying on the legacy of her father, Al Ries, and pushing the boundaries of positioning with her own punchy perspective. So what's the real difference-maker in a market crowding with noise, AI, and everyone vying for a sliver of attention? It's not merely being seen. It's being distinct, thanks to the power of strategic opposition. Join us as we get into it and more with Laura Ries. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go.   Opposition over Superiority Laura puts it in plain English: “The mind understands opposition faster than superiority.” Translation? If you want people to quickly get why they should care, you have to tell them what you're not. Chick-fil-A isn't just for chicken lovers, it's for people who are tired of burgers. In-N-Out doesn't bother with chicken or vegan burgers; they double down on a simple, hyper-focused menu that stakes out clear territory against the bells and whistles of modern fast food. When brands define WHO or WHAT they're battling, it's easier for us to pick sides. Defining an “enemy” isn't about trash talk, it's about clarity. It sharpens what your business stands for, attracts loyal fans, and carves out space the competition can't touch.   Laura Ries on Finding Your Horse & Riding It This goes deeper than companies. The idea holds for personal brands, careers, even college choices. Laura recalls her father's (now out-of-print) classic “Horse Sense”: don't desperately try to do everything yourself; align yourself with the right “horse” (be it a category, a company, a person) and let synergy do the work. In a world of endless new tech and shifting industries, picking the right vehicle can be everything.   Stop Chasing Attention. Start Picking Fights (the Smart Way) At the end of the day, nobody cares about your journey just for the sake of it. They care about how you make THEM matter, how you help them win THEIR battles, or fight an enemy they find worth taking down. So, next time you're tempted to “go viral,” ask yourself: Are you actually useful, or just noisy? Have you defined your enemy? Because if your brand (or your career) doesn't stand against something, it's just floating in the middle… and nobody roots for the middle. Laura's full-throttle approach: get clear, get focused, and don't be shy about drawing a line in the sand. To hear more from Laura Ries and her thoughts on Strategic Opposition, download and listen to this episode.    Bio Laura Ries is a leading marketing strategist, best-selling author, and global keynote speaker. She is the co-author of several influential books on branding, including The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR written with her late father and legendary positioning pioneer, Al Ries. Her new book The Strategic Enemy: How to Build & Position a Brand Worth Fighting For will be published in September 2025 by Wiley. As chairwoman of RIES, the consulting firm she founded with Al, Laura has advised Fortune 500 companies and startups alike on building powerful, enduring brands. Her expertise lies in positioning, brand focus, and creating category dominance in competitive markets.   Links Connect with Laura Ries!

Laura Ries is a world-famous brand marketing expert, positioning strategist, and bestselling author of THE STRATEGIC ENEMY (Wiley, Sept 16, 2025). As chairwoman of global consulting firm RIES, she continues the legacy of her late father Al Ries, the positioning pioneer and co-author of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind – one of the world's best-selling marketing books of all time. Laura has led RIES for more than 30 years, traveling to over 60+ countries to consult with clients and speak on positioning. She is the co-author (with Al Ries) of five groundbreaking books that reshaped modern marketing—including The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR, and author of Visual Hammer. Craft your brilliant brand story strategy in minutes, not months, and instantly create compelling content that converts customers with the StoryCycle Genie™ #StoryOn! ≈Park

Fintech disruptors like Chime, Revolut, Venmo and the Cash App have shaken up the banking world by positioning themselves against traditional banking's pain points, yet most established banks continue to compete on incremental improvements rather than bold differentiation. Consumers are drowning in nearly indistinguishable offers, a reality my guest on Banking Transformed, Laura Ries, calls out in her newest book, "The Strategic Enemy: How to Build and Position a Brand Worth Fighting For". Her antidote is intentionally counterintuitive: stop trying to be “better,” and instead become unmistakably different by defining, and then defeating, a single, visible foe. Ries argues that when brands rally around an “enemy,” and reinforce the fight with a memorable “visual hammer,” they earn a permanent slot in the customer's mind. Our conversation explores how enemy-based positioning and vivid visual symbols can help banks escape commoditization, revitalize trust, and signal a bolder future.

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we sit down with marketing royalty Laura Ries, the daughter of Al Ries and Chairwoman of RIES, to unpack what makes for truly powerful brand building. The discussion, sparked by American Eagle's controversial Sydney Sweeney campaign, offers a masterclass in cutting through the noise and making brands that dominate for decades, not just news cycles. In a world obsessed with fleeting attention spans, viral TikToks, and celebrity partnerships, the rules for building a lasting brand have never been more confusing, or more misunderstood. When “attention” has become the trending currency, too many marketers forget the fundamental principles that separate overnight sensations from category-defining legends. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go. Chasing Attention Versus Owning a Strategic Position Laura Ries doesn't mince words. Right from the start, she asks, “Are we just going out for attention's sake?” In the American Eagle campaign, the retailer had Sydney Sweeney, a star adored by a young demographic. front and center with the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.” The resulting hullabaloo proved attention-grabbing, but Laura and Christopher quickly zero in on the flaw: it was a win for Sweeney's personal brand, maybe the category of jeans, but not for American Eagle. Compare this to the iconic Brooke Shields for Calvin Klein moment, seared into pop culture by its taboo-breaking line: “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.” Everyone still remembers it. And Shields herself, now in her 50s and 60s, gets asked about it to this day. Why did it stick when so many celebrity-driven campaigns fade fast? Laura argues the difference is clear: Calvin Klein tied a provocative moment to a real, ownable positioning idea. It wasn't just attention; it was differentiation, and it transformed the brand. The Leader, the Challenger, and the Power of Contrasts Christopher then adds, “The category king of jeans is Levi Strauss”. If you're not the leader, you can't just market the category; you must establish a well-defined, opposite position. Calvin Klein's campaign worked because it created a contrast in the market: there's an implied competitor, a reason to choose Calvin's over everything else. American Eagle, on the other hand, failed to anchor its campaign in any clear difference or strategic enemy. Christopher asks, “If you're American Eagle, what the fuck are you doing?” To this, they both agree: at the very least, American Eagle, given its patriotic name, should have leaned into American-made authenticity rather than a generic celebrity endorsement disconnected from any unique brand promise. Category Design: The True Differentiator Brands like Dude Wipes and Liquid Death exemplify the playbook for building new categories, and thus, legendary brands. Dude Wipes didn't invent wipes, just as Liquid Death didn't invent water. But they staked out a radically different, memorable position: “Dude” wipes for men, and canned water that resembles a beer or energy drink and brands itself as death to plastics. This isn't attention for attention's sake; it's strategic, memorable, and deeply anchored to a big idea: a core enemy, a new experience, a bold promise. To hear more from Laura Ries and her thoughts on why virality isn't enough to build a legendary brand, download and listen to this episode. Bio Laura Ries is a leading marketing strategist, best-selling author, and global keynote speaker. She is the co-author of several influential books on branding, including The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR written with her late father and legendary positioning pioneer, Al Ries. Her new book The Strategic Enemy: How to Build & Position a Brand Worth Fighting For will be published in S...

Three strangers. Three invitations. Three journeys into places you were never meant to go. In this triple-feature from acclaimed author B.A. Ries, host Erik Peabody guides you down shadowed streets, through forgotten halls, and into rooms where the air itself feels wrong. A chance meeting, a lucrative offer, a long-awaited reunion—each seems harmless enough at first. But follow them to the end, and you may discover that some destinations are not meant to be found. To watch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/ChillingEntertainmentYT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/HorrorHillPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like the show, telling a friend about it would be amazing! You can text, email, Tweet, or send this link to a friend: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/HorrorHillPodcast⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week's episode, founder of Ries, Megan Graham, tells us about the time she went on a long bike ride with friends and wound up at a Cyclones game in Coney Island, then rode the Cyclone, and then popped into Romanoff's for dinner and fire escapades!Check out Megan on Instagram Have fun like MeganDonate to The DoorPic of the crew at Romanoff's!This week's Rachel's Recs: Museum Mile & Picasso at GagosianWhat did you think of this week's episode?They Had Fun on Instagram, YouTube, and our website

Happy Tuesday Edition of the Program!! OSU Men's Hoops added a couple of guys to the roster. Ries and Bake try to sell Beau on the Reds and Guardians. The Big Ten are the ones that want the auto bids. The Bully loses in College Baseball. We get behind the scenes look at how the Big Ten TV Draft goes. Ohio Stadium is adding some premium suites. One former GM makes the sales pitch for Will Howard. Tuesday's with Tiberi, John Breech, What's Up, The Real Truth, Thing or Not a Thing and 3 Things

In 10 quick but memorable minutes I'm sharing my observations and experiences with marketing strategies I had close encounters with over the recent Memorial Day weekend. From an innovative Fresh Direct pop-up, to a Rosé Soirée in the Hamptons with missed promotional opportunities, these are my thoughts on some effective ...and ineffective ... marketing tactics. And I borrow from one of the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by brilliant marketing strategist, Jack Trout. First, learn how my friend Joanne (who happens to be Jack Trout's daughter) and I popped into a pop-up for Fresh Direct. We were in pursuit of coffee but got a surprise stimulating conversation with the interim CMO, instead: Jackson Jeyanayagam. He explained their strategy was to build awareness for their new delivery service and display the quality of their products "IRL."  Fresh Direct PopUp store Learn which of the 22 immutable laws Jackson was aiming to apply; and the overlap with he, that law and AB InBev! Then, we had a blast sampling 20 kinds of rose', but can we remember which one we preferred -- to buy again? Blame the drinking, sure, but I think it was more the missed marketing opportunities at the Soiree.  (TWO really stood out, though, which you can read about in my new Substack Newsletter, "Moss Hysteria"!)  Then, I popped over the next day -- back in NYC -- to check out Cognitiv AI's pop-up at Grand Central, promoting mental health and positive news. It was a blooming success. Learn why.  Overall, great experiences that showed how valuable experiential marketing can be! Key Moments: 00:32 Fresh Direct Pop-Up 03:17 The Importance of Branding and Communication 04:27 Applying Lessons from Ries & Trout's "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" 05:54 Event Marketing: The Rosé Soirée 09:31 Memorable Marketing: Cognitive AI Pop-Up 10:17 Get More in my NEW Newsletter, "Moss Hysteria" on Substack Please Follow, Connect & Share the Love of Insider Interviews: With Media & Marketing Experts LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mossappeal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insiderinterviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsiderInterviewsPodcast/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@insiderinterviews Blusky: https://bsky.app/profile/mossappeal.bsky.social If you enjoyed this episode, please share with another smart business leader, give me five stars... and leave a comment on @Apple or @Spotify or on @YouTube.  Or a tip in my jar to help me tip my producer, Jim Mullen!: https://buymeacoffee.com/mossappeal! 

Happy First Friday Edition of the Program!! Ries has an in office beef. LeBron is officially a Buckeye. The Buckeyes have added a 4th QB. Conference Finals got underway in both the NBA and NHL. The other sides get going tonight. The Athletic put out their list of the Top 25 CFB Players since 2000. We'll pick it apart and give you our Top 5. A College Sports Commission is already having issues. Joe Burrow spoke to the media in Cincinnati. ESPN's Jake Trotter, What's Up, Thing or Not a Thing, #HeyGuys, Your Officially Endorsed and 3 Things

Die Geologin Andrea Patzer spricht über Moldavite.Im zweitenTeil der Serie geht es um den Einschlagkrater im Nördlinger Ries. Gestaltung: Ilse Huber - eine Eigenproduktion des ORF, gesendet in Ö1 am 04.02.2025

Let's away before we're found. But first, listen while we're ignoring height, raising a sluice gate, breaking Orlandeau out of the break room at work, questioning Valmafra's allegiance, finding the one competent person who likes us, suffering a plague of fools, perverting an idiot, flashing that, gandering a goose, murdering a willing zealot, buying a flower, speaking to a robot, commanding that robot to kill, killing a different robot, turning a dragon into a lady, applying father's mercy, coming from other space, and importing another protagonist. Best keep your distance, that man is not stable. 00:00 Big Benefits | 02:51 Intro | 05:09 Fort Besselat Sluice | 09:18 Fort Besselat Stockroom | 17:10 Execution? | 23:45 Flower Peddler | 27:06 Mount Germinas | 30:44 Construct 8 | 41:08 Ries | 43:42 Cloud Soldier | 51:26 Real Net | 58:35 Outro Patreon: patreon.com/retroam Twitter: @retroamnesiapod YouTube: www.youtube.com/@RetrogradeAmnesia E-Mail: podcast@retrogradeamnesia.com Website: www.retrogradeamnesia.com  

How you present your products and services to your customers matters. And while most copywriters don't overtly say they do positioning work, the reality is, any messaging project pretty much requires it. The question is, how do you do it right? For the 412th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, we talked with copywriter and product positioning expert, Kate Guerrero about the formula for positioning the products you write about in a way that makes it easy for customers to understand not only what it is, but why they need it. Click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript.   Stuff to check out: Positioning by Ries and Trout Fletch's website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Transcript: Rob Marsh: Positioning is a marketing term coined by Al Ries and Jack Trout way back in 1969. It refers to the practice of connecting your product or service (or your client's products or services) to a single idea in your customer's mind. And when it's done well, your prospects and customers associate your brand with that idea. Some examples include Volvo and safety, Apple and creativity, and Disney and magic. Although few clients ask for copywriters to position their products, this is actually a big part of what we do, whether we do it consciously or not.  So I thought it might be worthwhile to talk in depth about how copywriters can do it and the impact it has for their clients. Hi, I'm Rob Marsh, one of the founders of The Copywriter Club. And on today's episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, I interviewed copywriter and brand positioning expert Kate Guerrero. Kate is the in-house writer for Fletch, an agency that focuses almost entirely on helping their clients position themselves on their home pages. As promised, she laid out the process that she and Fletch use to help their clients identify the ideas they can stand for in the marketplace. We also talked about the differences between copywriting and messaging—what she shared pairs nicely with our interview with Justin Blackman on last week's episode. And finally we also talked a bit about fiction writing since Kate has a manuscript she's been shopping to major publishers. That's a lot to cover, but we did it, and I think you'll like the result, so stay tuned. Before we jump in with Kate… The next expert training happening in The Copywriter Underground is coming up soon. You probably know The Underground is our community for copywriters who are actively investing in building their business and writing skills. It includes personalized coaching for you where I give you feedback and ideas to help solve the stickiest challenges you face in your business today. There's a massive library of business-focused training to help you grow a resilient, profitable copywriting businesss. And each month we bring you a new guest expert training that will help you make even more progress in your business.  This month our guest expert is Heather Farris who will be showing you how to use Pinterest to drive leads to your business for years after you post on that platform. Unlike Twitter where tweets disappear after a few minutes, or LinkedIn and Instagram where posts are lucky to last a day, the content you post on Pinterest is close to permanent. That's because Pinterest is more like a search engine than social media. Any way, Heather will be sharing how to use Pinterest to drive copywriting leads to your business… it's the kind of idea that could add new clients and thousands of dollars in new revenue for you. But to get access to these closely held strategies, you've got to be a member of The Copywriter Underground, which you can learn more about at thecopywriterclub.com/tcu. Jump in now so you don't miss this or any of the other upcoming expert skill trainings. And now, let's go to our interview with Kate... Kate, welcome to The Copywriter Club Podcast. You've heard a few episodes of the podcast,

Representative Austin Scott says it is unfair to put the “fiscal burden” on U.S. taxpayers to pay for the huge surge of illegal immigration through the southern border, when President Joe Biden has the authority to reenact the Remain in Mexico program and other policies that would curb immigration at the southern border. “Let's remember this—if Biden had not reversed what Donald Trump had done, we would not have had the flow of illegal immigrants that we've had into the country in the last three years,” Rep. Scott says. Additional interviews with: Representative Bryan Steil on the immigration invasion and fentanyl crisis extending far beyond the U.S.-Mexico border. Steil says, “there's a small community in my state with roughly 17,000 people that has 1,000 illegal immigrants who are now living there,” and Lora Ries, Border Security and Immigration Center Director at the Heritage Foundation, explains how President Joe Biden “wasted no time” enacting the left's long-planned open border agenda. “When we're talking about over 10.2 million illegal alien encounters and known gotaways, this is clearly intentional. They've had plenty of time to course correct and they haven't,” Ries says.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.