In this episode of "In the Interim…", Dr. Scott Berry recounts a presentation he gave to the Speak Foundation, a patient organization focused on limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and makes the case for master protocols directly to the stakeholder trials exist to serve. Opening with the deliberately absurd premise of a sports league that constructs a four-billion-dollar stadium for every single game and demolishes it at the final whistle, Scott reframes the conventional one-off trial as a two-year construction project dismantled the moment the contest ends. The episode distinguishes platform trials and basket trials as standing "arenas," explains the modular role of the master protocol described in Woodcock and LaVange's 2017 New England Journal of Medicine paper, and draws on worked examples including I-SPY 2, the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial, GBM AGILE, Precision Promise, and the ROAR basket trial. Scott takes each stakeholder in turn from the treatment arm sponsor, the site, the regulator, and the patient. Scott lays out how three-to-one randomization lets an arm fund 133 patients while reading out inferences with more than 200, how 667 patients in a single platform can do the work of 1,000 across five separate trials, and why far fewer patients are assigned to placebo. He closes on the genuine bottleneck: the first arena is the heavy lift, and in rare disease it is frequently patients themselves who make it happen. Key Highlights The one-game stadium analogy of two years to build a trial, one contest, then demolition. Platform trials and basket trials as standing arenas for multiple arms and multiple subtypes. Master protocols as modular documents, with arms plugging in and out as appendices. Worked examples from I-SPY 2, HEALEY ALS, GBM AGILE, Precision Promise, and the ROAR basket trial. A stakeholder-by-stakeholder view: arm sponsor, site, regulator, and patient. 667 patients in one platform versus 1,000 across five separate trials, with far fewer on placebo. Bayesian borrowing across 39 limb-girdle subtypes, and the rare-disease shots never otherwise taken. For more, visit us at https://www.berryconsultants.com/

Leverage is the sharpest tool in the financial toolkit, and like any sharp tool, it can help you build or it can cut you. In this episode of AWM Insights, Justin Dyer and Mena Hanna break down the difference between consumption leverage and balance sheet leverage, why a 30-year mortgage and a margin loan carry completely different risks, and the guardrails we use before any family borrows against a portfolio: sizing, timing, break-even, the cushion test, and a real repayment plan. The short answer is "it depends," and the biggest variable is who controls the situation. We close with Charlie Munger's famous warning about the three ways a smart person goes broke, and why leverage is the one that can turn volatility into permanent loss. Connect With Us Call or text us: 626-862-0355 Website: https://www.athletefamilyoffice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc1NxpK21N1vKWEExC45YEA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/awmcapital/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awmcapital/ X: https://twitter.com/awmcapital Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/awmcapital/ Chapters [00:00] Introduction — Why leverage is the sharpest tool in the toolkit, and why the short answer is "it depends." [01:44] The Many Flavors Of Borrowing — Credit cards, lifestyle financing, mortgages, car loans, and student debt. [03:19] Debt Isn't A Moral Question — Consumption leverage vs. balance sheet leverage, and the mortgage as an advance against human capital. [05:21] Borrowing Instead Of Selling — Using leverage to fund spending without realizing a taxable gain, and why it gets complicated. [06:04] Timing And Sizing — Why financing everything to stay invested is a slippery slope, and how margin calls happen in a sell-off. [07:33] Who Controls The Situation? — Mortgages vs. margin vs. pledged asset lines. [10:07] The Break-Even And Cushion Tests — What the loan really costs vs. the tax hit, and how much room you have if things go wrong. [11:41] Repayment And The Weight Room — Why every loan needs a payoff plan, and what lifting weights teaches us about risk. [12:50] Liquor, Ladies, And Leverage — Charlie Munger's warning, and how leverage converts volatility into permanent loss. [14:07] Closing — Send us your questions and feedback.

AI agents can already book travel directly. That raises a hard question for loyalty programs. If a customer books through an agent instead of a portal, does their loyalty status even factor in? Ian Andersen joins to unpack how agentic booking works today and how it optimizes almost entirely on price. He walks through the standards emerging to change that, including Google's Universal Commerce Protocol and Talon's Universal Incentives Protocol. Both are starting to make loyalty data machine-readable. The conversation covers what program and product leaders should prioritize now and why waiting has a real cost. Connect with Switchfly Website: https://www.switchfly.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/switchfly/ X: https://twitter.com/switchfly YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SwitchflyOfficial Chapters [00:00] Introduction to agentic AI booking and why loyalty programs are affected [00:01] Agentic booking goes mainstream: Google, Sabre, PayPal, and Mindtrip [00:04] The optimization blind spot: price and availability, but not loyalty [00:10] Emerging standards: Google's Universal Commerce Protocol and Talon's Universal Incentives Protocol [00:20] The API-readiness payoff: build once, plug into whichever standard wins [00:22] AI readability as the next answer engine optimization frontier [00:25] Context loss from travel agent to digital platform to AI agent [00:31] Quantifying value beyond price, and the two-user problem [00:41] Closing takeaway: even ignoring this is a plan, just an expensive one

In this episode of "In the Interim…", Dr. Scott Berry talks with Dr. Alun Bedding, a professional certified coach and statistician who spent decades in pharmaceutical statistics, including as global head of statistical methods, collaboration, and outreach at Roche, before founding his own coaching and consulting practice. The conversation traces Alun's path from statistician to coach and unpacks what coaching is: a forward-facing partnership built on exploring a client's own thinking, not on advice, mentoring, or therapy. Alun and Scott draw a direct line between good coaching and good statistical consulting as both begin by questioning the stated goal rather than accepting the first request at face value, whether that request is "I want to be a better manager" or "I need a power calculation." The episode covers why coaching must be uncomfortable to produce real change, why self-coaching runs into the limits of blind spots and self-bias and where AI coaching tools genuinely help and where they fall short. Key Highlights Coaching is a partnership exploring a client's own thinking, not advice or mentoring. The parallel between coaching and statistical consulting: determining the real goal behind a request. Why effective coaching must feel uncomfortable to produce genuine progress. The limits of self-coaching, and why blind spots require an outside challenger. How sports and performance coaching shifted from instruction to inquiry. Where AI coaching helps and where human presence and challenge remain irreplaceable. The difference between coaching and therapy: forward-facing versus backward-facing. For more, visit us at https://www.berryconsultants.com/

After three episodes with Roger Ferguson Jr. on building a 1Hundred Year Family, Justin and Mena sit down with his son, Roger Ferguson III, an Investment Manager at AWM, to reflect on what it’s like to grow up inside those lessons and why generation two, not generation one, is where families actually keep or lose their wealth. *Connect with Us* • Call or text us: 626-862-0355 • Website: https://www.athletefamilyoffice.com/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc1NxpK21N1vKWEExC45YEA • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/awmcapital/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awmcapital/ • X: https://twitter.com/awmcapital • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/awmcapital/ *Chapter* [00:00] Introduction: Justin and Mena welcome Roger Ferguson III to reflect on the three-part series with his father, Roger Ferguson Jr. [00:02] Roger reflects on interviewing his dad and discovering lessons he didn’t realize were being taught. [00:03] Why Generation Two Is The Real Test: “It’s not the first generation you have to worry about, it’s gen two and beyond.” [00:05] The Power Of Repetition: How hearing the same lessons for thirty-plus years built the instinct to make better decisions. [00:09] Values In Practice, Not Just Words: Diversification, right-sized positions, and saving relentlessly as lived principles. [00:11] The CEO Who Sat In The Middle Seat: Living the say-do ratio, no matter the title or the balance. [00:15] Discipline Over Dollars: Why more resources demand more discipline, especially in a social-media-comparison world. [00:16] Rethinking “$100 Million Isn’t Enough”: Unpacking the generational wealth debate and the power of compounding time. [00:20] Closing Thoughts: Own your wealth, make an impact, always be a pro.