What business owners should do in a recession, with Forbes Contributor and Economist Dr. Bill Conerly
Release Date: 08/22/2022
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In this episode, Carl sits down with Ashish Gupta, founder of ScaleUp Exec, to discuss business turnarounds, leadership decisions, and culture resets. Ashish shares how he acquired a struggling company, realized innovation had stopped, and eventually rebuilt the team to change the company’s trajectory. Key takeaways: Why the business must come first How to identify thinking leaders during interviews The role of systems before people and process When AI tools help — and when they fail How founders define success differently This episode offers practical insights for...
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Big Bet Leadership in the Age of AI
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High-stakes initiatives fail more than 80% of the time, yet leaders still have to pursue them to grow. In this episode of the Measure Success Podcast, Carl J. Cox talks with John Rossman, former Amazon executive and author of Big Bet Leadership, about how leaders should approach bold, risky transformation efforts in the age of AI. John shares why leaders must stop chasing predictability, treat strategy as a set of hypotheses, and focus on one critical bet at a time. The discussion covers AI strategy, experimentation, leadership discipline, and how organizations avoid dilution of focus....
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Why Most AI Efforts Miss the Mark
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AI is everywhere, but most businesses are using it the wrong way. In this episode of the Measure Success Podcast, Carl J. Cox sits down with Eli Portnoy, co-founder and CEO of BackEngine.ai, to talk about the real gap between AI hype and real-world results. Eli explains why generic AI outputs fail, why context matters more than tools, and how sales and go-to-market strategies must evolve in a crowded, low-trust environment. They also discuss how outbound sales has changed, why easy channels stop working, and what leaders can do today to build relevance, trust, and long-term growth. If you want...
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How To Scale Sales: Avoid Mistakes
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This episode is sponsored by , liberating entrepreneurs through fractional sales execution. Today, Steve helps growth-stage companies break through revenue barriers while giving founders the freedom to focus on building extraordinary businesses. Founder-led businesses often grow fast, then stall. In this episode of the Measure Success Podcast, Carl Cox sits down with Steve Caton, Founder and CEO of Altezza Solutions, to discuss why sales becomes the biggest bottleneck for growing companies. Steve shares why hiring salespeople often fails, how founders unintentionally trap...
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The Real Truth About Private Equity Growth
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Selling to private equity is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning of a new phase of growth. In this episode of the Measure Success Podcast, Carl J. Cox, CEO of 40 Strategy and 40 Accounting sits down with Neel Bhargava, founding partner at NB Group, to unpack how private equity partnerships really work for founder- and family-owned businesses. Neel shares how his firm approaches growth-focused investing, why rolling equity is critical, and how conservative use of debt protects long-term value. The conversation also explores what typically changes in the first 18 months after an...
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Strategy Is Not About Doing More
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Measure Success Podcast
In this episode of the Measure Success Podcast, Carl sits down again with CEO and author Trey Taylor for a candid conversation on AI, culture, and the future of leadership. Trey explains why AI is no longer optional, how leaders can avoid lazy thinking, and what’s driving the rapid rise of Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. He shares insights on balancing culture, people, and numbers—his signature “three things”—while adapting to tools that change faster than organizations can keep up. Trey also gives practical examples of AI improving operations, decision-making, and customer...
info_outline“Recession” is one of the hottest words in economics right now—and it (rightfully) has many small business owners worried. But the good news is there are steps you can take to prepare for whatever is coming. They just might not be what you would expect.
This week’s conversation is with Bill Conerly, a second-time guest on the Measure Success Podcast. He’s a senior contributor at Forbes, and a consultant who connects the dots between the economy and business decisions. He has the unique combination of a Ph.D. in economics from Duke University and over 30 years’ experience helping companies adapt to changing economic conditions.
Tune into the full episode for more on how to prepare for a potential recession, some of Bill’s forecasts for what’s coming next, when and why small businesses should raise prices, and more.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn:
- What’s surprised Bill the most about the economy from Q4 of 2021 to now, plus what he thinks about the Federal Reserve
- Where Bill thinks short-term interest rates are headed, and what he believes about a potential recession
- How it’s determined whether or not the country is in a “recession” — and why that decision isn’t actually as helpful as people might think it is
- What Bill has encouraged businesses to do when it comes to determining their “creditworthiness” (even if they’re not currently taking out loans from a bank)
- The advice Bill would give businesses who are just treading water right now, amid higher labor costs, inflation, interest rate fluctuations, and more
- Why it can be helpful to be a little pessimistic when it comes to planning against potential recession
- Whether small businesses should be raising their prices right now, and why
- What Bill thinks is coming for home and rent prices, plus what he thinks is the “fundamental rule” for buying a house
- Where Bill believes gas prices are headed, plus the lesson we can learn from fuel price fluctuations that can apply to any “capital-intensive” business
- Bill’s most important lesson about the economy for small business owners
Resources Mentioned in This Episode: