Some entrepreneurs are driven by inspiration. Others by desperation. Dr. D. Anthony Miles was forged in the fires of frustration, and that crucible transformed him into one of the most formidable minds in marketing intelligence, forensic business analysis, and entrepreneurial research today.
The year his second daughter was born should have been a celebration. Instead, it became a defining moment that would shape decades of relentless achievement. Freshly downsized from his position as a marketing database analyst at a bank, Miles faced a harsh reality that countless professionals encounter but few transform into fuel for greatness.
“Nobody feels sorry for a man,” Miles reflects on that pivotal moment. “When that happened to me, I got a reality check. I told myself that nobody will ever tell me I don’t have a job. Till this day, I have a chip on my shoulder. That will never happen to me again.”
That chip on his shoulder became the foundation of Miles Development Industries Corporation®, a consulting and venture capital firm that has since generated millions and positioned Miles as a recognized expert across multiple disciplines. The irony of his journey is not lost on him. Years later, he encountered his former supervisor on LinkedIn, searching for employment. “He’s out here begging for a job. I got the last laugh, didn’t I?”
But Miles’s story transcends revenge or vindication. It represents something more profound: the transformation of adversity into an unstoppable drive for excellence, innovation, and market dominance.
PIONEERING FORENSIC MARKETING: FILLING THE VOID OTHERS IGNORED
While accounting had forensic analysis and economics boasted forensic investigation, marketing languished without such rigorous investigative frameworks. This gap bothered Miles deeply. Where others saw an established field, he saw an incomplete discipline crying out for systematic problem-solving methodology.
“Marketing did not have a forensic foundation like accounting and economics. That dearth always bothered me,” Miles explains. “It became my core focus because those before me did not pursue it further.”
His solution? Create it himself. Miles defines forensic marketing as “a tool to investigate marketing problems with an investigative focus on problem solving.” This hybrid discipline merges forensic economics and forensic accounting, introducing what Miles calls the “marketing autopsy,” a comprehensive post-mortem analysis that reveals exactly why marketing initiatives succeed or fail.
This pioneering work didn’t just fill an academic void. It established an entirely new consulting vertical, one that Miles has leveraged across hundreds of engagements, courtroom testimonies, and business turnarounds. His book “How to Get Away With Murder in Marketing: Forensic Marketing” introduced the first comprehensive examination of this practice, fundamentally changing how businesses approach marketing problem-solving.
THE DATA WHISPERER: WORKING BACKWARD TO MOVE FORWARD
In an era drowning in data but starving for insight, Miles has developed a counterintuitive approach that prioritizes problems over information. While most analysts begin with data and search for patterns, Miles works backward, starting with problem identification and only then pursuing relevant data.
“I want to go from problem identification to action,” Miles explains. His four-stage methodology reflects this philosophy: discovery and problem framing, data-driven diagnosis, articulated strategy, and integrated problem-solving with data measurement.
This approach has earned him over 35 awards in applied statistics, but more importantly, it has delivered tangible results for businesses struggling to translate analytics into strategic advantage. Miles understands that data is not merely information to be analyzed but intelligence to be weaponized.
“Data is the new currency,” he notes when discussing the evolving business landscape. “You must be able to leverage data and weaponize data. Then use data as intelligence to give you the competitive advantage.”
This perspective transforms analytics from a retrospective exercise into a competitive weapon, one that Miles has sharpened through decades of application across industries, courtrooms, and academic research.
THREE BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE GAME
Among his six bestselling books, three stand as pillars that fundamentally shifted their respective fields. Each addressed a critical gap that the marketplace desperately needed but no one else had filled.
“How to Get Away With Murder in Marketing: Forensic Marketing” established the comprehensive framework for forensic marketing practice. “Entrepreneurship and Risk” introduced the first comprehensive research on entrepreneurial risk, a topic virtually unexplored in entrepreneurship literature despite its central importance to business success. “Risk Factors and Business Models” continued this groundbreaking research, providing additional studies that deepened understanding of how entrepreneurs navigate uncertainty.
“When I wrote these three books, there was a serious gap in the marketplace on these subjects. All three were gamechangers,” Miles reflects. His hope for readers is straightforward but profound: “These books are comprehensive and will build your knowledge in these specific topic areas. These books will give you the foundation of each topic and open your mind, body and soul.”
The gamechanger designation is not hyperbole. These works established new research directions, created consulting methodologies, and provided entrepreneurs with frameworks that had simply not existed before.
RECOGNITION EARNED, NOT GIVEN: THE EXPERT EMERGES
Over 150 media interviews. Invitations from Stanford, Harvard, and other prestigious institutions. More than 500,000 reads and downloads on ResearchGate. Thirty-five “Best Paper” awards at the Academy of Business Research Conference. Expert witness testimony in civil and criminal cases. These accolades represent years of relentless work finally receiving the recognition it deserves.
“This level of recognition is really cool. However, I have been at this a while, but I am very grateful to finally get recognition for it,” Miles acknowledges. “It is really an honor to be recognized as an expert in your field. It is better than anything I can describe. That means you are rising above your peers in your field.”
Professionally, this recognition has built brand equity and solidified his reputation across multiple domains. Personally, it has done something more intangible but equally valuable. “It really helps boost your swag factor. It just tops anything in your life.”
But Miles hasn’t pursued recognition for its own sake. His research agenda is driven by something more fundamental: childlike curiosity. “I do my research out of mostly curiosity. I tend to have a child-like curiosity that drives my research work,” he explains. This curiosity leads him to topics that engage both scholars and practitioners, ensuring his work remains relevant and accessible.
What distinguishes his research from peers? Topic selection. “I tend to choose topics that are interesting to people in my field and people outside of the field. Research should not be esoteric. Research must touch everybody and make them interested.”
Miles dismisses research that serves only narrow academic interests with characteristic bluntness: “A research topic is only interesting to you? That is research masturbation. It is only interesting to you in your basement. That is a waste of time.”
THE COURTROOM, CLASSROOM, AND BOARDROOM: THREE DIFFERENT GAMES
Few professionals operate successfully across such diverse environments, but Miles has mastered each with distinct approaches tailored to their unique demands.
The courtroom is “a different animal,” as Miles describes it. Expert witness work commands hourly rates comparable to attorneys because the stakes are enormous and the scrutiny intense. “Litigation is contentious. It is argumentative. I have to do my homework, because the opposing counsel will make you look bad. You better bring your A-game!”
Miles approaches courtroom work with a win-loss mentality borrowed from sports. “I like to look at court like a football record, and I want to win. If a case has no chance of winning, then I just remove myself.” He recognizes that litigation “gives the exam first then the lesson,” a reality that differs fundamentally from academic or business environments.
The classroom and boardroom, by contrast, allow for different dynamics. In academic settings, Miles bridges theory and practice, ensuring students understand not just methodologies but their real-world applications. In boardrooms, he translates complex analytics into strategic decisions that executives can act upon immediately.
THE FATAL MISTAKES ENTREPRENEURS KEEP MAKING
After years working with startups and emerging ventures, Miles has identified patterns of failure that entrepreneurs repeat with alarming consistency. His assessment is characteristically direct: “All entrepreneurs are guilty until proven innocent.”
The most common mistakes include building businesses in highly saturated markets where differentiation is nearly impossible, entering declining industries where success means “walking backwards,” creating solutions that don’t actually solve customer problems, launching commodity-based businesses with no brand equity, and failing to understand entrepreneurial risk across its multiple dimensions.
This last point reflects Miles’s proprietary framework: the Entrepreneurial Risk Orientation Index (ERO). “When I look at a new business, I look at five categories of entrepreneurial risk, then I score the ERO index. This reveals how little the entrepreneur knows of these different risks. Thus, the business is doomed to fail.”
His advice? “Try to build a business in a less saturated market where you can dominate. Target new emerging growth markets and get there before everyone else does. This is the first base theory.” Most importantly, “Build a business that solves a problem.”
REACHING MILLIONS: THE POWER OF VISUAL STORYTELLING
Miles’s ventures into documentaries and television represent a natural evolution for someone whose expertise deserves wider audiences. Two new documentaries where he serves as executive producer and star are in development. Three television shows are in the works, with one already picked up by a global network.
“What is exciting about doing documentaries is that you get to reach a wider audience with your expertise and brand. You reach people who’ve never heard of you,” Miles explains. The visual medium creates something print cannot: lasting impression and emotional connection.
“Film has a way of making us larger in life than we really are. It makes you touch people in a way that you never could do in person. Documentaries are like books with pictures.”
His podcast, Game On Business Talk®, extends this reach, featuring cutting-edge topics and leading experts designed to “move people to think and talk about our topics with other people in their tribe.” For Miles, content creation is not about self-promotion but about sparking conversations that continue long after the episode ends.
THE COST OF SUCCESS: LESSONS FROM THE CLIMB
Becoming a self-made millionaire taught Miles hard truths about success, dedication, and human nature. The first lesson cut deepest: “You can’t take everyone with you. No one in your tribe will ever be as dedicated as you. I had to learn this the hard way.”
The distinction between amateurs and professionals became crystal clear during his ascent. “An amateur does things based on how they feel. Or do things when they feel like it. A professional does things regardless of how they feel. That’s the difference between the two.”
Success, Miles learned, means “doing things you don’t feel like doing or want to do, but you do it because it is necessary. You must have impulse control.” This discipline separates those who achieve lasting success from those who merely dream of it.
Then there are the haters, an inevitable byproduct of achievement. “You aren’t successful until you have haters. Success brings jealousy and envy. That’s life. Deal with it accordingly.”
Miles’s advice for avoiding energy drains is simple: “Avoid people who don’t do what they say they are going to do. This is very telling.”
THE RELENTLESS WORK ETHIC: NO BALANCE, JUST DRIVE
When asked how he balances roles as CEO, media personality, academic, and entrepreneur, Miles offers characteristic honesty: “To be honest, I still don’t know.”
His approach is not sophisticated or systematic. It is relentless. “I just put my head down and work hard. I got one approach: work hard. Then work harder. That’s how my dad raised me. Also work smarter.”
Miles acknowledges he “could probably use work-life balance” but admits his overachiever mentality makes it “hard for me to take my foot off of the gas.” The driving force remains that defining moment of being downsized. “I don’t ever want that to happen to me again.”
His advice for others? “Have a workaholic mindset. That’s about all I can say on that.”
It is not the answer self-help gurus promote, but it is honest, and it reflects the reality of how Miles built his empire: through sheer, unstoppable work ethic fueled by a refusal to ever be vulnerable again.
WHAT’S NEXT: AN EMPIRE EXPANDING
For most professionals, any single item on Miles’s upcoming project list would represent a career-defining achievement. For Miles, they represent simultaneous initiatives already in motion.
Three new television shows, with one secured by a global network. Two new documentaries where he serves as executive producer and star. A $3 to $5 million startup venture and product launch. A newly built research team pursuing government contracts worth $1 million and up. Acquisition of a franchise restaurant. Two new partnerships under development. A new book on business forensics. Another on statistical methods in marketing for MBA students.
“That is only some of it,” Miles adds.
This simultaneous execution across ventures, media, research, and education would overwhelm most professionals. For Miles, it represents portfolio diversification, each initiative “like separate portfolios for creating wealth.”
THE EVOLVING LANDSCAPE: COMPETITION AS SLAUGHTERHOUSE
Miles views the current business environment with eyes sharpened by decades of observation and participation. “The business landscape is a slope with an ever-changing environment,” he notes. Competition, in his view, is “a social construct of the survival of the fittest. It is a slaughterhouse.”
In marketing intelligence, data has become currency, but only for those who can weaponize it for competitive advantage. In entrepreneurial innovation, opportunities abound for those who understand the fundamental question: “What problem are you solving for the customer? If you aren’t solving a problem, then you don’t have innovation.”
The entrepreneurial landscape, Miles insists, is built on problem-solving. “Then when you start there, you must build an ecosystem to sustain your product and continue on to innovation.”
A LEGACY BUILT ON REFUSAL TO FAIL
Dr. D. Anthony Miles represents a particular breed of entrepreneur and thought leader: one forged not in privilege but in adversity, driven not by passion alone but by an unshakeable determination never to be vulnerable again.
His contributions span academic research that has been downloaded over half a million times, consulting frameworks that have transformed how businesses approach marketing problems, courtroom testimony that has influenced legal outcomes, media presence that reaches global audiences, and venture creation that has generated millions in wealth.
But perhaps his most significant contribution is the example he provides: that adversity need not define you unless you allow it, that gaps in knowledge represent opportunities rather than limitations, and that success comes to those willing to work not just hard, but relentlessly harder than everyone else.
The chip on his shoulder remains. It drives every venture, every research project, every media appearance, every business deal. That former supervisor searching for work on LinkedIn serves as a permanent reminder of what happens when you bet against someone who refuses to fail.
Miles’s journey from downsized analyst to self-made millionaire, from frustrated marketer to forensic marketing pioneer, from academic researcher to media personality demonstrates what becomes possible when talent meets unbreakable will.
As he continues expanding his empire across television, research, venture capital, and education, one truth remains constant: underestimate Dr. D. Anthony Miles at your own peril. He has spent decades proving doubters wrong, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
The question is not whether Miles will succeed in his next ventures. The question is how many more fields he will transform before he is done.
