Office Hours with David Meltzer · 2026-07-09 · 34 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
51 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
This episode brings together three distinct perspectives on modernizing business operations and decision-making. Wei Pong discusses NextRisen's free AI discovery platform, which uses AI agents to identify automation opportunities within organizations by collecting worker input via phone calls - dramatically reducing traditional weeks-long discovery processes to a 15-20 minute per-employee engagement. The conversation surfaces a critical paradox: as AI eliminates repetitive work, senior roles risk becoming quality-control positions, though Wei argues the solution is redefining work as higher-level architecture, strategy, and client interaction rather than implementation. Adiosa from Decision Alpha then introduces behavioral pricing as the missing piece in business profitability, explaining that perceived value and willingness-to-pay operate as the ceiling in a pricing architecture with cost as the floor and competitors as pillars. She emphasizes that roughly 80% of most companies' revenue breaks even or loses money due to flawed pricing psychology. Finally, Michael Lenfeld describes Hexion's chemistry-as-service model as a fundamental disruption of 170-year-old commodity chemical manufacturing, using real-time data and formulation optimization to replace penny-per-pound thinking with outcome-based customization. Together these guests illustrate a common theme: legacy industries and practices can be reimagined through data, psychology, and AI-driven intelligence to create human-centered, profitable growth.
It's an AI-powered platform that lets companies set up AI agents with phone numbers so employees can call in and answer 15-20 minute interviews about their most tedious tasks and automation opportunities; the AI aggregates responses across hundreds or thousands of people in parallel to create a prioritized roadmap of highest-ROI automation projects, replacing weeks of manual discovery work.
Behavioral pricing uses a house analogy: cost floor (your expenses), willingness-to-pay ceiling (customer psychology and perceived value), and competitor pillars in between; psychology determines how high the ceiling goes, and this psychological framing is the difference between six-figure and struggling pricing.
According to Adiosa, approximately 80% of revenue for most companies breaks even or loses money due to poor pricing strategy; only about 20% drives actual profitability.
Instead of the commodity model focused on penny-per-pound cost improvements through continuous production processes, Hexion's chemistry-as-a-service uses real-time data from processing plants and substrates to formulate products dynamically, creating customer-specific advantages and reducing waste.
Rather than eliminating senior roles, AI forces them upward - junior developers manage AI code output (assessment and feedback) instead of typing code, while seniors shift to client strategy, user experience, and architectural decisions that can't be automated.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode contains some substantive ideas - particularly Wei Pong's discussion of AI agents replacing tedious work and the subsequent conversation about job redefinition, and Adiosa's behavioral pricing framework (cost floor, ceiling, willingness to pay). However, these are interspersed with significant filler: lengthy event announcements, promotional plugs, mutual compliments, and philosophical throat-clearing that dilutes insight per minute. The pricing framework is relatively standard; the AI discussion, while topical, lacks concrete metrics or case studies.
every developer are acting as a senior and managing, uh, software engineer because they're managing their AI's code
The cost floor, which is what does it cost you to have the business to keep the lights on to deliver the service? That's almost like your bottom line, so to speak. Right. The cost floor, the ceiling is willingness to pay.
The concepts presented are sensible but not novel. The idea that AI should free humans from tedious work to focus on higher-level judgment is widely discussed. Adiosa's pricing framework (floor/ceiling/competitors) is a standard mental model taught in business schools and consulting. Wei Pong's meditation-meets-tech angle adds some personal differentiation, but the core thesis - that technology should enhance humanity - is not contrarian or fresh. Hexion's chemistry-as-a-service is a legitimate business model but presented without deep conceptual challenge.
maybe being a human is someone that has like, is like more spiritual, someone that connects with Earth, someone that connects with each other, right. Rather than just being productive
pricing determines your harvest. It determines how much you're going to recoup from all the work that you've put into it
Mixed caliber. Wei Pong is CEO of NextRisen, a legitimate AI consultancy, with credible personal discipline (meditation retreats), though no major company exits or scaled successes mentioned. Adiosa is a behavioral economist with banking/fintech background and her own consulting firm - solid mid-level expertise. Michael Lenfeld is strongest: CEO/President of Hexion (170-year-old company), former founder of Cigna spinoff with EPA recognition, holding 100+ patents. However, none are household names or operators who have built unicorns or led transformational exits at scale. The CEO-level access is respectable but not exceptional.
Wei Pong, the CEO at, uh, next, uh, Risen Insight expansion
Adiosa here, behavioral, uh, economist, CEO at Decision Alpha
Specificity is weak across the board. Wei Pong mentions the tool allows calling in 'parallel' and takes '15, 20 minutes' but provides no named client, no actual ROI data, no metrics on time saved or revenue impact. Adiosa defines the pricing framework clearly but never cites a specific business, revenue lift, or quantified outcome. Lenfeld discusses Hexion touching 'everything you come in contact with' (vague), mentions they file '10 times' more patents since he arrived (relative improvement, no baseline), and references they are the largest supplier of wood panel glue globally, but no revenue figures, market share percentages, or concrete project examples. The entire episode avoids named customer wins, dollar figures, and specific metrics.
spin, uh, up these AI agents to do research on the firm itself and then create, ah, an AI agent with a phone number
we use less wood, we sell less resin, we utilize less carbon when you have to generate heat to bond everything together
Blaine Bartlett asks sharp follow-ups - notably his question about the senior engineer who found herself doing repetitive fact-checking, which probes a real paradox in AI adoption. His question about the 3Ds (democratization, digitization, distribution) is well-structured. However, Host A (David Meltzer) mostly lobs softball setups, uses leading questions to confirm his own frameworks, and frequently pivots to self-promotion, event announcements, and mentor plugs rather than pressing for depth. Follow-ups rarely challenge claims; instead, they pivot to next guest or affirm the speaker's narrative. There is no productive disagreement or skepticism.
So the meaning had been basically taken out of her work process and what she was doing was just repetitive work. But it was a really interesting paradox. The introduction of the agent was positioned to eliminate repetitive work.
Where does that square get, uh, or that that peg gets square, that circle gets squared I guess is what I'm looking for here
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Weipeng Zhuo is the founder of Nexrizen, a technology consultancy that helps founder-led businesses build custom automation systems and modern technology infrastructure to scale more efficiently. After earning a PhD from Georgia Tech and working as a data scientist at Meta, he left the corporate world to help growing companies leverage innovation for faster growth. Alongside his technical expertise, Weipeng is a strong advocate for mental health, mindfulness, and resilience, blending entrepreneurship with practices like meditation and yoga.Etinosa Agbonlahor is a behavioral economist and CEO of Decision Alpha, where she helps businesses improve pricing strategies by understanding customer psychology and decision-making. With more than a decade of international experience, she has advised financial institutions and startups on communicating value, increasing customer engagement, and driving growth. She is also the author of How to Talk to Your Parents About Money, which encourages healthier conversations about personal finances.Michael Lefenfeld is the President and CEO of Hexion, a global specialty chemicals company, and an inventor with more than 100 patents.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to Office Hours, episode 906 or so. Probably more than that, but we're just setting a minimum standard of almost a thousand episodes since Blaine Bartlett and I did our first episode of Sola Business Office Hours years and years ago. Years ago and uh, thousands of interviews ago when we averaged 3.5 interviews for 906 or so episodes. That's a lot of interviews. I'm blessed to have Blaine Bartles and my co host, my co author and my mentor, teacher and coach, Blaine Bartlett. Dot com. If you want to live the life like I'm living when I'm moving the possibilities into reality. Taking me from my basement that had a basement, back up to the penthouse. If that's the type of life you want to live for the sake of helping others and having fun, I highly recommend using my mentor, teacher and coach, my friend, Blaine Bartlett. Blaine Bartlett. Dot com. Blaine, as always, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker B: Oh, again, uh, David, I would not miss this. This is, this is locked in. This is. Moses handed me a stone tablet that said office hours Thursday, be there.
Speaker A: And we got Napoleon Hill Institute training on Wednesdays. That's taking off as well. So two days of the week we get to share, uh, in that wisdom and faith that get people to shorten the distance of resistance. Speaking of getting people real quick, before we bring our guest on, I just want to remind people where we're going to be. We'll be in Vegas, uh, tomorrow and Saturday we have the studio time at Sirus XM. Come there 12 to 2. We have holdup, meetup, holding court, VIP dinners for charity. We have the NFL Players Wives events. We have Connor, uh, McGregor's event. We have so many things. And the NBA Summer League. It's going to be a jam packed 48 hours in Las Vegas. Join us if you're part of my community, you're invited, not obligated. Then we'll stop by the all star game in Philly, then New York fanatics fest and a leadership event out in Long island in Melville Sofi Stadium. Back at it once a month. The mastermind, uh, thank goodness, World cup, uh, today the last game there at Sofa. I get my office back tomorrow. Then Miami fc, we uh, have Messi, an afterparty of the Miami FC game. If you're in Miami, Louisiana, New York, Philly, Vegas. Then a big event in London in Mayfair, uh, the private member, private networking, private investor group in a Mayfair. Brian Rose, Richard, uh, Dolan, myself, Liam Duffy, afam. All of us will be Kishore, uh, Lula, uh, CEO of Eros. And then we'll come back to the Ryder cup of Wine meetup holding court in the VIP dinner for charity at Breckenridge with Marshall Falk, the Hall of fame running back, and of course Virgil Herring, the PGA Pro of PGA Pros. All right, if you want to join us, you can either email me davidmeltzer.com or join our text community. Because even Gigi and I can't keep up with as many cities as we're in. If you join the text community, you'll be informed and alerted and invited to, to everything. 200 different things. 200 different cities, 949, as the jingle says. 298-2905. All right, let's get right to it. Our friend is waiting in the green room. We are blessed to have our friend Wei Pong. Joe. Welcome to Office Hours Episode 906 or more.
Speaker C: Hey, David. Hey, Blaine.
Speaker B: Hey, good to have you here.
Speaker A: Great to have you here. So ways Pong, the CEO at, uh, next, uh, Risen Insight expansion. Um, and we, uh, are inundated with all types of discovery, uh, to the point that Blaine and I have discussed. Knowledge is a commodity, which is why the wisdom, the dummy tax that we paid is so valuable. And next Reason's free AI discovery is just another example of how the value of making humans more human by saving time and money. Give me an idea of what this powerful tool allows people do to make them more human. Sure thing.
Speaker C: Uh, David. So, um, we've traditionally done a lot of so next. Verizon is a AI and software consultancy firm. And we build custom softwares for businesses, um, specializing the AI space. Um, and most of the time, if you walk into a corporation, um, that wants to build, to use AI to improve their profits, um, we have to do weeks and weeks of discovery work, right? Interviewing their executives, interviewing their managers, um, to see what their workflows are like, where are the money leaking and how do we improve their operations? Uh, we actually came, came up with a tool where you can spin, uh, up these AI agents to do research on the firm itself and then create, ah, an AI agent with a phone number that the CEO or the executive team, literally everyone from the, from the firm can call and answer a couple of questions for like maybe 15, 20 minutes to understand, you know, what part of the work is most tedious that they don't like. What do they do most often that could be automated, um, and make them more human? Because there's a lot of things we do at work that's just like moving boxes and dragging Excel sheets and things that you don't need. That doesn't really require a lot of intellectual, it doesn't make you feel very fulfilled. What makes you fulfill is the interaction with colleagues, coming up with more creative ideas, um, talking uh, to your employees. Um, then this tool basically allows your whole company, hundreds, thousands of people to call in parallel. And then the AI aggregates that information together to come up with a roadmap of what are the highest ROI tools that we can build for you. Right. So traditionally that would take weeks and you know, at least five figures to build. But now we have, we build a system that we basically have, we're releasing for free, uh, for beta testing. Um, and then uh, from that we can know directly from the worker's mouth what makes them feel very robotic and tedious at work, you know, what doesn't fulfill them. So then we use that and replace it with AI. Um, so their work, they get more fulfillments out. Yeah.
Speaker A: Amazing.
Speaker B: I came across something today way that was uh, interesting to me and it was uh, um, basically a reference to a, um, software engineer, highly valued software engineer that was giving notice and they were giving notice, um, to the company with whom they worked. And they were, they were key players. So their loss was going to be dramatic. And the comment on the after exit review or after exit, uh, interview was I used to, I used to build code and I could see the product, I could actually test it, I could work with it. It was, and there was pride of ownership that kind of came with that. And now as the senior engineer, what I'm liter. And this is the words that they use. What I'm relegated to is fact checking work that's already been done.
Speaker D: Mhm.
Speaker B: So the meaning had been basically taken out of her work process and what she was doing was just repetitive work. But it was very, very, it was a really interesting paradox. The introduction of the agent was positioned to eliminate repetitive work. And now she finds herself as the human side of that agent doing the repetitive work. Where does that square get, uh, or that that peg gets square, that circle gets squared I guess is what I'm looking for here. How do you actually address that if in fact you do with some of the work that you're doing with your agents?
Speaker C: I mean if you're a senior engineer, right, you always have to check somebody's work. Like that's basically what you do. You manage people and managing people. Uh, there's repetitive things to it, but there's also human aspect of it to it too. Um, so that could never get relegated even if, even if you. So now what's interesting is every developer are acting as a senior and managing, uh, software engineer because they're managing their AI's code. Right. They're getting feedback through the AI's code. Um, so they still need to be able to give feedback. And that's actually a lot more intellectually rewarding, at least for me is reading the outputs and then knowing how to judge what the AI code instead of actually coding word for word. Um, so there's that, ah, everyone's work gets abstracted to a higher level of assessing and checking and improving. Um, the lower levels work. Um, so there's that. I don't know if I'm answering the question fully.
Speaker B: Uh, you are actually. Because meaning has shifted. And so part of what needs to happen I think is a redefinition of what it means to be an engineer. Yeah, in this context.
Speaker C: Exactly. And right, like I said, all of the ground, uh, level of the typing, repetitive work are being replaced. So now like this person basically have to work on a much higher level of architecting, talking to the clients, talking to the users to know what, what's actually good to build. Right. Building and implementation is commoditized right now. It's the intellectual work and of intellectual work of designing and actually understanding client experiences and user experiences. You actually have to go out and talk to people to know what they want and what's good for them.
Speaker D: Right.
Speaker C: What needs to be built and then you let the building get commoditized and done fast.
Speaker B: You know I'm actually talking to somebody.
Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, go back, touch some grass and talk to people.
Speaker A: Yeah. In way, uh, understanding how technology makes humans more human. You've reiterated the point of um, wisdom. You can't replace it with AI. You'll never, never replace wisdom or faith with AI. I want you to touch real quickly before we bring our next guest on. You have truly done the inner work, uh, not just with AI, the work for companies, but the inner work for self and utilizing your mindfulness meditation, yoga, all these, uh, new age type of inner work. Um, how has that impacted your perspective of what you do with AI?
Speaker C: Thank you for that. I think, um, that's something that's really interesting, unique for me because I'm not just a tech person. I go to a 10 day meditation retreat every year. Uh, I did a 30 day silent meditation retreat two months ago where you don't touch electronics, you don't talk to people and you just meditate. Right. You get into Your own head. Um, and you like just like relax and kind of be content and be present. And I do a lot of therapy for the past decade or so. Um, and I want to be more human, right? And then I have the dichotomy of my work being AI and robotic, right? There's multiple aspect of becoming more human using AI. One is understanding what intelligence is. You know, like we've always been saying humans are the highest peak of intelligence, right? But now we actually have intelligence, some level of intelligence that may be greater. But now we actually have to realize, hey, maybe productivity and intelligence and being able to work harder isn't what's true to being a human. Maybe being a human is someone that has like, is like more spiritual, someone that connects with Earth, someone that connects with each other, right. Rather than just being productive and like churning out excel sheets all the time, like what does it mean to be a human? And also like if I can replace all these menial work, you know, that doesn't affect anything, that doesn't fulfill me with AI and automation, then I can be more human also, right? And like treat other better and like talk to users better. Um, um, so this is like redefining and reexamining who you are and what brings you meaning is a personal journey I'm going on, but also I think as a species is a species journey that we're going on right now, you
Speaker A: know, um, yeah, yeah, I think that sums up at its essence and uh, the inner work to get the outer results and the thoughts, behaviors that are indicative of alignment in that divine direction and we got to do the work, whether it's personally or professionally, in inside a company or inside self to establish and to execute the work outside of us, the amazing Wei Ping himself. Uh, welcome for joining us at Next Risen Insight Expansion. If you want someone to give you the wisdom to utilize AI to make humans more humans, to make more money for the sake of helping others and having fun. My full endorsement goes to our friend Wei Ping. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker C: Thank you so much, David everybody.
Speaker A: God bless you brother. Cool. Uh, what a great. What a great. When it's time to scale your business, it's time for Shopify. Get everything you need to grow the way you want.
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Speaker A: Switch to Shopify. Start your free trial today. Great insight to A different way to look at what's troubling, uh, or interfering with so many of us. Um, we now have Adiosa here, behavioral, uh, economist, CEO at Decision Alpha. Uh, I hope, uh, at. And I. It doesn't. It looks like more at the nosa.
Speaker D: You got it right the first time actually.
Speaker A: Oh, Gosa, I should give credit to my team. I didn't believe them the way that it was spelled. So. Agbon Lohar, is that.
Speaker D: Yep. Yeah.
Speaker A: Beautiful name. Uh, well, thank you for joining us and you know, really looking at decisions and the behavioral, uh, impact on economics. Uh, and you are very practical strategist using um, behaviors and behavioral economics as a foundational principle. But you really help people with a behavioral pricing playbook. Um, when it comes to pricing, I would love to understand how you distinguish perceived value, um, which is a behavior in my opinion, compared to bottom line, uh, pricing, which is math. And I think a lot of people are troubled, especially in the coaching and speaking world where it's so subjective. People ask me all the time, how the hell does that mofo get six figures to speak? I've been speaking 30 years longer than he has. I'm smarter, better looking, I tell his story better than Dave Meltzer and I tell him, look, I make all that money because I'm comfortable and confident in articulating that. It's a behavior, it's a practice for me. So could you clarify the difference between that perceived value and bottom line pricing?
Speaker D: Yes. So I tell people all the time that good pricing starts with understanding perceived value. Right. What is perceived values? Very simply, how does your customer view and what is the number they would put on the good, the service, etc. That they are bringing to you? Right. And so we talk about our um, pricing structure as it's almost like a house. Right? So you've got the cost flow, which is what does it cost you to have the business to keep the lights on to deliver the service? That's almost like your bottom line, so to speak. Right. The cost floor, the ceiling is willingness to pay. That is how high is your customer willing to go to pay you for your good, your service, etc. The pillars in between are, uh, the competitors, the alternatives. Who else could they go to? What else would they use if they weren't using your service? So perceived value has a lot to do with that ceiling, the willingness to pay. Because how people perceive you and perceive the value you have to offer them defines the maximum you can charge for it. It is the top of that pricing.
Speaker A: That's a beautiful Analogy. And I love the housing, uh, illustration. Blaine, you've dealt in behavioral economics for, unfortunately for you, over 50 years. So I'm curious what you have.
Speaker B: Well, I'd like to invite you to define the term for those that aren't familiar with behavioral economics.
Speaker D: Most people.
Speaker B: You know, I've studied economics at the university and it's the study of scarcity, which is kind of an interesting paradox, but yeah, behavioral, uh, as a behavioral economist, what is it that you're actually paying attention to and then how does it translate into this whole pricing conversation?
Speaker D: Yes, absolutely. So behavioral economics, essentially, as a behavioral economist, I studied the psychology behind how people make financial decisions. Right. So pricing, as with all of the decisions we make in the world, it's never just about the math, right? It's always about the psychology, the context, the reference point, our emotions, all of those play a role in how we're choosing and making financial decisions. So I'm versed and my team is versed in what are all the things that accompany how people are choosing and making those financial decisions, um, in terms of how it plays a role in pricing and why I even started this journey. A lot of my background has been rooted in the financial well being world. I've worked with banks, investment banks, as a behavioral economist and everything that I did, whether I was working with an investment bank to build a savings product or working with, uh, multinational bank to help them help their customers, you know, diversify their holdings, everything at the heart of it is making sure the average person has enough money to live on today. They can absorb any income shocks that's going to happen and they have comfort about the future looking forward. And so when I thought about, I want to build the consulting firm, I want to, you know, try building this business on my own. How does financial wellbeing show up in the average entrepreneur's life? It shows up in your pricing. Right? If you imagine that your business is a farm and you've done all the work of tilling the soil and planting seeds and chasing leads and doing all of these things to build your farm, pricing determines your harvest. It determines how much you're going to recoup from all the work that you've put into it. And so financial well being and pricing is almost a linear relationship when you're a business owner. And so it really made sense from that perspective of I want the work I do to continue to be about financial well being, number one. But also a lot of times business owners think that pricing is just a number. I choose a number. I Put it out there. That's it. Psychology matters. It's very important and it's going to help you differentiate the difference between a six figure speaker or coach and somebody struggling to make $1,000 a month.
Speaker A: It's so true. And you know, all of us have seen how even large businesses, uh, that 80% of their business would bankrupt them because of their lack of execution on behavioral pricing. 80% of business for most companies, regardless of size, are either breaking even or losing money. And if your whole business was breaking even and losing money, you'd go out of business. They're relying on that 20% because they don't understand what Ediosa is teaching us and provides us for free. She gives us the playbook, a behavioral pricing playbook that you can get. And if you go to Decisionalpha, uh, co, you can get those practical insights around behavioral economics and a pricing strategy that will allow your company to live above the line in profitability so you can make more money for the sake of helping others and having fun. And I've never met anyone who makes a lot of money for the sake of helping others and having fun that isn't happy. So it's definitely aligned with my mission of empowering people to be happy. She is the Decision Alpha CEO at Decision Alpha, a true leader in behavioral, uh, economics. And please join her at Decision Alpha Co. Change your business, change your life with the free behavioral pricing playbook. Uh, adiosa. Thank you so much for joining us. I hope I didn't butcher your name. Too bad. I. No disrespect, I'm just the name butcher. Uh, so thank you. Thank you so much.
Speaker D: Thank you for having me.
Speaker B: Thank you very much.
Speaker A: Thank you. Amazing. I'm gonna get that guide. It's so what I teach in any insight that a behavioral, uh, psychologist and so many years of experience. Uh, what, what a great, great lesson. All right. I'm bringing on the Buckeye to close out the game. I'm sure he's a Buckey from Columbus, Ohio. Michael, uh, Lenfeld is here. Um, and we're going to talk about. He's the CEO and president at Hexion. Uh, Michael, first of all. Oh, all right. You already are starting at the pinnacle of the show. I'm a Buckeye through and through. Uh, of course, Blaine went to Oregon, so he's learned the wrath of Ohio State in multiple occasions.
Speaker E: That's how we have them on the screen at this moment. We need to put them on the side here.
Speaker A: Exactly. Anyway, uh, Hexion's chemistry as a Service. We know SAS, but I guess we call that Cas strategy C A S. Um, it represents a fundamental shift of almost two centuries of chemical manufacturing, uh, in how it goes to market. What are some of the critical business issues, uh, that are addressed by CAST strategy that has very little change over almost two centuries of chemistry manufacturing.
Speaker E: You know, the, the way that chemistry manufacturing has been totally modeled over the years is continuous improvement. When you're putting millions of tons of a product through a pipe. If you can improve your price by a penny a pound, that's tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to your bottom line. And that's been the philosophy of the chemical industry for some time. What we've decided to do is take these commodity chemicals and look at now using data, using information, using data flow, being able to take that information from the processing plant, from the substrate itself, and then formulate according to those variables. And that's our chemistry as a service. Chemistry that thinks. Right. It's a chemistry that can develop in a profound way an advantage that's no longer just throwing a chemical at, uh, a surface and hoping it works.
Speaker B: Fascinating. Yeah. Um, the idea of being disruptive. And I would suggest, Michael, that this is a very disruptive play in a very old industry. And your company is 170 years old. Um, the idea of democratization, digitization and distribution, the 3Ds, um, that kind of come into play here, that reduce the cost and increase the access. Where does this actually come into play as chemistry as a service? Because basically you're digitizing, you're using data, you're democratizing access and then the distribution platforms. Yeah. How are these three actually interacting to facilitate what you're looking to have happen here?
Speaker E: You know, we're making every process and every operator the best process and the best in their operations, as you know, people, is what drives all manufacturing. It doesn't matter how digital it is, especially when you're making chemicals that have a risk to them. You want to make sure people are accessible to all the information they can have. And as you know, we make a lot of information. We take a lot of information, we put it in notebooks, we put it in dashboards, but it's not real time. And we want to take every operator, whether they're the best operator or the worst operator, and make them all equal, make them all the best operator they can be. And we use that information service to be able to provide a customer level of intimacy that never been done before. And it's not just in our market. You Know, Hexion itself is known to be, you know, we touch everything that you probably come in contact every day. We are the largest provider of glue for wood panels around the world. So osb, plywood, particle board, anything like that. We supply components that go into coatings and paints that uh, touch your automobile, your surface of your walls, agricultural fertilizers, oil and gas purification. So in all of this we are formulating to the best it can be so that you're using the least amount of commoditized material possible. Right. So there's a massive sustainability element to this as well. We use in wood processing where we're heavily focused, we use less wood, we sell less resin, we utilize less carbon when you have to generate heat to bond everything together. So in this way we're making sure that sustainability leads the effectiveness of um, ultimately, you know, just towards lower cost in the end.
Speaker A: Mhm.
Speaker B: Love it.
Speaker A: As he was the founder of Cigna, which received the EPA's Presidential Green Chemistry Award. Uh, so he definitely walks the walk, not talk the talk when it comes to sustainable chemistry and technology and manufacturing, which is one of the attributes of giving us all time, uh, helping to provide over a hundred patents. Um, Michael, just to finish up in the last few minutes, one of the most interesting things is a lot of times when you have a company like Axion as president and CEO, you're more of a global leader. Uh, you're actually an inventor and a chemist. Uh, and you I believe are hands on in inventing, uh, stuff that has ranged from, you know, the services and products in homes, turbines to circuit boards, uh, you, you actually participate in inventing these things. How much of that is CEO and president are you still involved with in the uh, the innovation side of what you're doing?
Speaker E: More than I should be, David. Um, I'm a nerd at heart. Um, I have degrees in engineering, physics and chemistry, you know, and that's very hard to get away from, from, from that DNA. Um, you know, I challenge my team technically. Now mind you, I'm not great at that type of stuff anymore. But I ask good questions, I challenge some assumptions and you know, my head of R D and I have a competition, you know, on who can get their name on the most patents, you know, through, through, through Hexion's innovation. And since I've been here, you know, we have more than 10 times, um, the number of patents being filed every year. So I'm driving that, that, that innovation concept that you know, that, you know, that drive towards being the best in what we can be, but they don't let me in the labs anymore.
Speaker A: So, uh, I'm just so grateful for the entrepreneurial nerds, uh, the Bill Gates, Elon Musk. Uh, I just feel bad, you know, in sports. I feel bad for our old athletes that just, you know, Bobby Bells of the world that played for $5,800 and had to drive a taxi, uh, you know, after the season to survive. You know, I feel the same way about, like, Thomas Edison, uh, imagine how cool of a celebrity, uh, Thomas Edison would have been, uh, or Einstein if they had social media. And being a nerd, uh, and entrepreneur was super cool. You know, I, I got into sports because it was cool. Who would have thought that, uh, the entrepreneurship and the nerdiness of David Meltzer would make him cooler than being the, uh, head of the most notable sports agency in the world? But it's true. Very cool. So here's to all the nerds. Here's to all the Buckeyes that are nerds. And here's the Hexion's chemistry and its cast strategy that is fundamentally shifting two, uh, century business in manufacturing and going to market with multiple patents. Uh, Michael, promise us that we'll see you when we're in Ohio. Promise us you'll come on our other shows. Fascinating what you're doing. And congratulations as most Buckeyes for walking the walk, not just talking the talk.
Speaker E: No, I'd love to do it again. And please, um, I welcome any invitation. And for you. You know, we are the largest season ticket holder of Ohio State football tickets. So if you ever need, if you ever need a ticket, just let us know.
Speaker A: I recorded this. I, I got the shot and scenes in my back pocket, but I didn't know that Hexion was beating out the Shottenstein. That's awesome.
Speaker E: 50 yard line. We've got, we've got a bunch of tickets.
Speaker A: Wow. Uh, okay. When do I put my family name on the list? This is awesome.
Speaker E: Let us know.
Speaker A: I love that. What a great offer. Thank you, Michael.
Speaker B: Awesome.
Speaker A: Wow. All right. See, they, they asked me, why do you do the show for free? You've been doing almost a thousand shows. Who else gets 50 yard line tickets to the Buckeye game? Come on now.
Speaker B: Ducks are playing you and I'll go you.
Speaker A: I would love that. The Oregon Ohio State game. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Speaker B: Yeah, it does.
Speaker A: Yeah, it's gonna be. I'll bring, I'll bring you tissue, by the way.
Speaker B: There'll be tears of joy.
Speaker A: Yeah, good, good. Anyway, how blessed are we and the universe provides so much value. What, uh, great guests, as you know, in that delivery of value, we want to give takeaways because one thing we're trying to avoid is the intellectual entertainment gap, where people watch this just for intellectual entertainment. And you ask them tomorrow, what was your takeaway from these three extraordinary people? Uh, so I love to give a takeaway that people can write down and capture. No better way to do that than to ask for them from you and I. So what is your takeaway of the day? Day.
Speaker B: The word that I'm going to use to kind of sum it up is innovation, um, whether it's in the AI space. Innovating, how we actually identify where's the best, what's the best. Best use scenarios, uh, for our AI as we're implementing it and. And paying attention to that human interface. Innovating that human interface. Um, the behavioral, um, economics. Yeah, the innovation around understanding effective pricing. Not just kind of throw it up against the wall and see where it sticks kind of pricing. And then, you know, I love the entrepreneurial spirit of a CEO that has got over 100 patents and. Yeah, and he's got to get kicked out of the lab. But that speaks to, you know, somebody that's in touch with their soul, somebody that's in touch with that blueprint that gives the spark to what it is that we can be that we're becoming. So innovation is the evidence of connection to that blueprint, the soul of the business, without a doubt.
Speaker A: And that leads to my takeaway. You can't find outside of you what you're not seeking inside, whether it be your business or your person. And all three of these amazing strategists start by looking inside of their business and their self. Uh, and that's what's led to the extraordinary success of manifestation, monetization, and materialization of that which exists outside of us. So, um, bravo. Kudos to these three great strategists in three different industries, all of them an introspective intention, a definiteness of purpose to monetize, materialize, and manifest that which they desire or better, outside of them. That's what Blaine Bartlett has taught me over the years in my divine direction, uh, being a behavioral scientist of business and life, making sure that I focus my attention and intention on my behaviors, and the results will come. Thoughts become perception, perception, meaning. Meaning, intention and intention, behavior. I don't have to worry about the results. They'll take care of themselves. If you want to learn how that's done, go to my mentor, teacher and coach, the extraordinary Blaine Bartlett. Blaine bartlett.com. he has moved possibilities into reality for me and thousands of others around the world. Blaine, I will at the very least see you next Wednesday and Thursday, but if not sooner, God bless you and thank you for pouring into our community of office hours.
Speaker B: Always my pleasure. I'll see you next week.
Speaker A: See you next week. Love you, brother.
Speaker B: You bet.
Speaker A: All right. How blessed are we? This is Office Hours episode 906 or so. Just as a reminder, if you're around Vegas, so much going on New York, Philly, so much going on SoFi Stadium. Actually, I'm doing an intimate dinner with Tim Story as well. Only eight spots available. Come and reach out to me if you want to come to dinner with me and Tim, one on one. If you're in Miami, we can see Messi. Uh, Jorge Masvidal will be there, a few other people. London, you're around Europe. Come and see us. Brian Rose, myself, Richard Dolan, Kishore Lula, few extras. Liam Duffy, afam. Um, uh, and then finally, we'll finish up in Breckenridge with, uh, Marshall Falk and, uh, Virgil Herring, PGA's best. Uh, come and join us. Join our text community. 949-298-2905. Be informed and be invited. Or just email me. Your beloved servant. David means beloved at D is my first initial. Meltzer means servant. Davidmeltzer.com Let me be your beloved servant. Remember, most importantly, be more interested than interesting. Be kind. Be kind to your future self and do good deeds. Hit it.
Speaker B: Jesus.
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