Business/Disrupted
Business is an everyday thing, but everyday things can have untold stories - the stories about the things we never stopped to think about. Anyone can pay attention to financial ratios and textbook principles, but the best information lives in the stories that happen. What are the stories others have created with their business challenges? From starting a new business from scratch to reinventing oneself for their second third act, this show explores how these personal stories translate into the business context. Everybody loves a good fraud story. Everybody loves a good war story. We can delight in the lessons provided by others’ experiences, both good and bad, funny and tragic, and even dumb. They all plant the seeds for good, compelling, interesting stories. Join us as we ask “What were they thinking?” and dive into the minds of business leaders who are out there, doing it every day. We’ll explore businesses as diverse as space to podcasting, sovereign citizens to Ponzi schemes. Our goal will be to make sure you enjoy it every step of the way, as we challenge the things you thought you always knew.
- Update frequency
- every 15 days
- Average duration
- 54 minutes
- Episodes
- 34
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2022
The Music Industry, Unplugged (Part I)
Think you know what music stardom is about? Think again. From how they get their starts, to the rise and fall of stardom, the paths musicians take are all unique. The things that influence a career d…
When Commercial Office Space Hits the Wall
More than a year into working from home, what's the outlook for commercial office space owners and tenants? Some employees want a return to the office, some loathe being around people again. Rents ar…
Restaurants in the Time of COVID (Part Two)
How have restaurants in tourist economies adapted to meet the challenges of operating (or not) during a pandemic? Before considering COVID, these businesses face a number of struggles unique to seaso…
You've Been Pwned
If you’re at all online, you’ve probably been the victim of a data breach. If you work in a technical or competitive field, chances are someone, somewhere, has tried to get into your systems to have …
Restaurants in the time of COVID, Part One
Restaurants have a staggeringly high failure rate - nearly fifty percent don’t make it. But you attract customers, you control costs, you protect your inventory and prevent shrinkage (another term fo…
Wounding Warriors
We ask a lot of service-members, and they give far more than they are asked. For many, what they bring back from their service complicates the rest of their lives. Whether it’s supporting a family on…
The BIZ/DIS Bankruptcy Bonanza
Bankruptcy comes in many forms and is used for many reasons. Companies and individuals turn - sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not - to Title 11 of the United States Code - the bankruptcy code - for …
Maybe Never Take Investment Advice from a Guy Named “520% Miller”
Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi rode to riches in the early twentieth century on the promise of exponential returns. Naysayers who pointed out how he couldn’t be telling the truth were …
Any Functioning Adult 2020
Planning a major party political convention is an eighteen month labor of love, persistence, money, brute force, money, patience, money, logistics and the kindness of strangers. And a lot of money. W…
The Strange Story of Stonks and Gamestop
How did a sleepy retail store that sells video games see its stock price soar from near pennies per share to more than three hundred dollars a share? And what does a message board have to do with thi…
Sovereign Citizens
Sovereign citizens are proponents of the belief that the proper and lawful U.S. Government was long ago secretly replaced by a government formed under Admiralty law (yes, the law of the sea) and is b…
Comedy Minus Time Equals Tragedy
Comedy is a grueling field. It used to be that you struggled, you worked the clubs, you did bit parts and maybe, just maybe, you got the brass ring and made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Joh…
Showdown at Neiman Marcus
Department stores are boring. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is boring. So, what needs to happen to turn the chapter 11 of one of America’s least storied department stores into a tale involving a Navy Seal, a…
How Does This Thing Work, Anyway? (new podcast edit)
Podcasting is a boom, growing on the strength of a new golden age of audio. But unless we do this as a hobby, there’s a legitimate business case for podcasting, with all of the complexities, all of t…