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Episode Description
Welcome to a new episode of Business Lunch!In this episode, Roland Frasier and Ryan Deiss dive into "the great flattening"—the radical shift where AI enables entire departments, and even companies, to be run by a single person. They explore real-world examples from tech and traditional industries, discuss the risks and rewards of this new model, and offer practical advice for leaders and entrepreneurs. If you're a business owner, manager, or anyone interested in the future of work, this episode is for you!
Highlights:
"What if the highest performing marketing team at your company was actually just one person?"
"AI is compressing entire departments into individual 'departments of one.'"
"The coordination tax is the overhead of meetings, getting along, and not getting along."
"This may be the end of the middle manager and the rise of the player-coach."
Timestamps:
01:41 – Introducing "The Great Flattening" Concept
02:30 – WhatsApp: $345M Value Per Employee
03:30 – Midjourney & Cursor: Creative and Dev Pancakes
07:21 – The Coordination Tax Explained
11:18 – Team Size, Efficiency, and the Two Pizza Rule
14:25 – AI Agents Replacing Marketing Teams
22:35 – Risks of Single-Person Departments
26:53 – The End of Middle Management?
37:19 – The Pancake Test: Is Your Department "Pancakeable"?
54:20 – Digital Marketer’s Department of One Beta Program
CONNECT
• Ask Roland a question HERE.
RESOURCES:
• 7 Steps to Scalable workbook
• Get my book, Zero Down, FREE
To learn more about Roland Frasier 👉 https://msha.ke/rolandfrasier/
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If you’re a founder, CEO, or operator running a 7- or 8-figure business, Get Scalable Live was built for you. This is not your typical business event. It’s 3 days of hands-on strategy, real-world frameworks, and next-level networking with the smartest operators in the game. 🗓 November 18–20, 2025 📍 San Diego, CA 🎉 Hosted by Ryan Deiss, Roland Frasier, and Richard Lindner 🎧 As a Business Lunch listener, you get 25% off your ticket. Use code LUNCH at checkout.