The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 283, an episode with an expert on organizational paradoxes, Wendy Smith. Get Wendy's Book here: https://amzn.to/3fF1b8C When faced with a tough decision-making situation, it is common for us to assess and select what we believe is the best deal and then move on. We tend to assume that we need to pick one option and eliminate the other. But what if we could actually succeed in pursuing both options? In this episode with Wendy Smith, we discuss how leaders and individuals can effectively respond to contradictory yet interdependent demands and have the mindset shift needed to successfully navigate a paradox. Wendy Smith is the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and faculty director of the Women's Leadership Initiative at the Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware. She earned her PhD in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, where she began her intensive research on strategic paradoxes—how leaders and senior teams effectively respond to contradictory yet interdependent demands. Working with executives and scholars globally, she received the Web of Science Highly Cited Research Award (2019, 2020, and 2021) for being among the 1 percent most-cited researchers in her field and received the Decade Award (2021) from the Academy of Management Review for the most cited paper in the past 10 years. Her work has been published in such journals as Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, and Management Science. She has taught at the University of Delaware, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania–Wharton while helping senior leaders and middle managers all over the world address issues of interpersonal dynamics, team performance, organizational change, and innovation. Wendy lives in Philadelphia with her husband, three children, and the family dog. Get Wendy's book here: Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems. Wendy Smith, Marianne Lewis, Amy C. Edmondson. https://amzn.to/3fF1b8C Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 282, an episode with a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Sean McLain. Get Sean's book here. This episode with Sean McLain revolves around the story of Carlos Ghosn, one of the world's most feared and admired business executives who had remarkable success, yet faced a catastrophic fall. He was accused of financial misconduct and arrested for a bevy of alleged crimes—all of which he vehemently denied. Sean is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal based in Los Angeles, covering EV startups like Rivian, Lucid, and Japanese and Korean automakers. Since 2016, Sean McLain has overseen The Wall Street Journal's coverage of the largest automakers in Japan, including Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, and received the Malcolm Forbes Award by the Overseas Press Club of America for his coverage of the former Nissan and Renault executive's arrest and detention. Sean graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, and lives in Tokyo. Get Sean's book here: Boundless: The Rise, Fall, and Escape of Carlos Ghosn. Nick Kostov and Sean McLain Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 281, an interview with a leadership coaching legend, David Noble. Most leaders experience a lack of motivation to continue the things they once had a passion for. So, how do you rekindle the fire of motivation when it starts to die? The key is to know your "why" and assess if your reason is strong enough to continue the journey. In this episode, David shares the role he plays in reframing things and bringing the best out of leaders, executives, and CEOs. David shares a powerful new framework called MOVE that characterizes great and extraordinary leaders. Most of us dislike having only one strategy to win. In David's framework, he discusses the four simple yet powerful options that will take you to the same goal: lean in, lean back, lean with, and don't lean. David Noble has more than twenty years of global experience advising CEOs, their teams, and major investors on leadership and strategy, and an additional fifteen years as a top executive. He was named by Thinkers50 as one of the world's top coaches. Noble has served as a senior adviser to Egon Zehnder and Oliver Wyman. Get David's book here: Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High. David Noble and Carol Kauffman. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 280, an episode with a renowned digital entrepreneur and founder of ENTRE institute, Jeff Lerner. Get Jeff's book here. In this episode, Jeff discussed how he was able to build a multi-million dollar company from scratch and the key elements behind his success. At the age of 18, Jeff started his first business after dropping out of high school and becoming a musician. After the first one failed, Jeff continued starting more businesses and failed at them too. Despite years of trying and numerous unsuccessful businesses, one of which had left him $500,000 in dept, he chose to keep going and eventually built multiple successful businesses. Instead of retiring early, Jeff chose to spend his time inspiring and helping others build their businesses. After becoming an authority in startups, he established ENTRE institute, an online education company dedicated to helping entrepreneurs how they could start their own businesses. To date, ENTRE Institute has taught over 150,000 across the world. Get Jeff's book here: Unlock Your Potential: The Ultimate Guide for Creating Your Dream Life in the Modern World Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episode here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 279, an episode with a practicing emergency physician at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Richard Winters. Get Dr. Richard's book here. As a physician, Dr. Richard shares how he managed, adapted, and remained calm during times of covid. He discussed some of the best practices that can be adapted from the medical field into the space of business. We speak about leadership, administration, and leveraging your expertise to be effective in your career. In this episode, we also discussed one of the traps that most leaders face today where they strive to become successful in their career, and groom and develop new leaders while taking into account the fear of being replaced. As director of Leadership Development for the Mayo Clinic Care Network, Dr. Winters facilitates retreats and delivers programs that train leaders at healthcare organizations worldwide. Dr. Winters graduated from the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in 1994. He is board certified and residency trained in Emergency Medicine from the University of California, San Francisco at Fresno. He graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas Executive and Professional Coaching Program and is a professional certified coach through the International Coaching Federation. He completed a Healthcare Management Executive MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to his work at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Winters served as managing partner of a democratic physician group, chair of emergency medicine, president of an 800-physician medical staff, and CEO/founder of a managed care startup. He lives in Rochester, Minnesota with his family. Get Dr. Richard's book here: You're the Leader. Now What? : Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic. Dr. Richard Winters Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episode here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss what a strategy workshop will not give you at the end. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo Subscribe to FIRMSconsulting's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/Firmsconsultingsubscribe

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss one important thing every consulting case study must produce. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo Subscribe to FIRMSconsulting's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/Firmsconsultingsubscribe

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss one important thing you always need to present in all of your management consulting projects, a business case. If you are not presenting a business case to a client, or a benefits case, I prefer the word benefits because it makes it clear you are looking for a benefit for a client, if you are not presenting a benefits case to a client you are making it very difficult for the client to make the decision to implement what you are saying in your recommendation as part of your management consulting project. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo Subscribe to FIRMSconsulting's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/Firmsconsultingsubscribe

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 275, an episode with Cassie Holmes, a professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management and an award-winning teacher and researcher of time and happiness. In society today, we generally equate productivity with the number of activities we do, regardless of the value it brings us and how it contributes to our well-being and happiness. We often feel "time-poor" for having too much to do and not having enough time to do it. As a result, we feel less happy and less fulfilled. On the contrary, people with too much free time feel unproductive and lack a sense of purpose. So how should we think about time and happiness? In this episode, Cassie discusses how we can recreate our approach to time and transform every moment into a happier hour. She shares how we can spend time optimally, create moments of gratitude and fulfillment, and live life with no regrets. Cassie earned her PhD at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and her BA at Columbia as a psychology major. Cassie's research has been widely published in lead academic journals and featured in such outlets as NPR, The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. Happier Hour is her first book. Get Cassie's book here: Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most. Cassie Holmes Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 274, an episode with Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and currently a professor at Harvard Business School. He has written two of the most enduring leadership classics of all time: Authentic Leadership and True North. Now, Bill has written a new book aimed at the next generation of leaders, the Emerging Leaders Edition of True North, coauthored with millennial entrepreneur Zach Clayton. Get Bill's new book here. This book is a clarion call to emerging leaders to step up to lead their organizations with their hearts, not just their heads, as authentic leaders who lead with purpose by inspiring and coaching their teammates. It heralds the end of the baby boomer era of Jack Welch, when too many leaders focused on maximizing shareholder value and taking shortcuts rather than building sustainable enterprises to serve all of their stakeholders. Our best hope for a better world is to empower the next generation of emerging leaders – not just those on top – to follow their True North to make this world better for everyone. The stories in this book, which came from 220 interviews with exceptional leaders, illustrate that most authentic leaders first discovered their True North through their life stories and crucibles, developed self-awareness, and then found their North Star – the purpose of their leadership. Wisdom learned from leaders like Satya Nadella, Mary Barra, Ken Frazier, Indra Nooyi, Ursula Burns, and Hubert Joly will guide emerging leaders at all levels in their development. Bill joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer, was chief executive officer from 1991-2001, and board chair from 1996-2002. He is currently a senior fellow at Harvard Business School, where he has taught leadership since 2004. He is the author of Discover Your True North and The Discover Your True North Field Book, Authentic Leadership, Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis, Finding Your True North, and True North Groups. He has served on the boards of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Novartis, Target, and Mayo Clinic. He received his BSIE with high honors from Georgia Tech, his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar, and honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech, Mayo Medical School, University of St. Thomas, Augsburg College, and Bryant University. True North: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace, Emerging Leader Edition. Bill George & Zach Clayton. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss consulting workshop best practices. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo Subscribe to FIRMSconsulting's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/Firmsconsultingsubscribe

How can you resign from your job with dignity, compassion, and grace, without burning any bridges with your employer? For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we share simple principles to help you leave your role in a way that leaves a positive impression on your superiors, colleagues, and organization. Do you have a story about resigning? Tell us more with a comment below. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss the overall goal of every consulting interaction. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss ten warning signs for a consulting workshop. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 269, an episode with Gaurav Gupta, the Director at change management and strategy execution firm Kotter. Get Gaurav's book here: https://amzn.to/3ApxT5J The level of complexity and the pace at which things are changing in modern society requires leaders and organizations to be more reactive to change. Companies can no longer depend on a linear, methodical, deliberate approach to change. Instead, the key is to rely on a more agile, organic approach where employees are engaged and motivated to participate. As Gaurav mentioned in this episode, "The more organizations, individuals, teams, and leaders can start to frame change as an opportunity, the more people are going to run towards it because there are changes we embrace." In this episode, we discussed the level of change that organizations face today and how they can effectively manage, adapt, and embrace the shifts required in the business. We discussed the kind of leader who thrives in situations where the organization goes through a fast-paced change. Gaurav Gupta worked with clients in industries as diverse as food and beverage, oil and energy, healthcare, chemicals, and finance. Gaurav draws on his extensive global (having worked in over 10 countries) and diverse functional experience in collaborating with business leaders to develop and implement effective transformation efforts. Prior to joining Kotter, Gaurav led the operations for the European office of Stroud International, a management and operations consulting firm. Gaurav combines his passion for international development and education by serving as an executive board member for a non-profit, Medic to Medic, that sponsors medical students in Uganda and Malawi. Gaurav holds a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Middlebury College and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University. Get Gaurav's book here: Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times. John P. Kotter, Vanessa Akhtar, Gaurav Gupta. https://amzn.to/3ApxT5J Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 268, an episode with an attorney and the host of the No Straight Path Podcast, Ashley Menzies Babatunde. The pressure of keeping up with today's competitive world is undeniably haunting. Most people spend a considerable amount of time at work and struggle to maintain their wellness and wellbeing. Many people are unhappy because they try to achieve too many things in life and lose track of the simple things that truly matter. In this episode, we speak about the gravity of maintaining wellness, prioritizing the time for taking care of yourself, finding your purpose, and living a life with a sense of completeness. We discussed how we can create a healthier and happier society while being successful in our careers and life. Ashley Menzies Babatunde was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Ashley is a litigation associate in O'Melveny's Los Angeles office. Her practice focuses on Health Care and White Collar Defense & Corporate Investigations. Ashley is a storyteller, optimist, professional heart-warmer, and hopeful romantic. She is passionate about the intersection of humanity and career. She has realized that her achievements or her failures do not define her. Instead, she is defined by the human qualities that have allowed her to achieve success and overcome challenges. Check out Ashley's podcast:No Straight Path aims to humanize success from the millennial perspective. The world often sees the shiny resumes, highlights shared on social media, and job titles associated with a person's LinkedIn profile. We rarely see the story behind it. And when we do, it's often in a memoir towards the end of someone's journey. The podcast aims to delve into the story behind the success with a closer to real-time approach. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 267, an episode with an award-winning advisor, speaker, and author, Christie Hunter Arscott. Get Christie's book here: https://amzn.to/3Qia05S Most of the time, the word risk is associated with fear and uncertainty. We tend to struggle with harnessing the power of risk-taking. But the first bold step sheds light on that. As Christie mentioned in this episode, "An intentional and strategic risk, even when the output is not what you desired, still can propel you further than if you made the consistent choice to play it safe." In this episode, we discussed the power of intentional risk-taking in building one's career. We spoke about how to encourage women to take chances on themselves to face intentional, intelligent, and strategic risks. Christie Hunter Arscott is a leading expert on how we can harness the power of intentional risk-taking to create more dynamic and vibrant careers and organizations. A Rhodes Scholar, Christie has been named by Thinkers50 as one of the top management thinkers likely to shape the future of business. Christie was also selected for the biannual Thinkers50 Talent Award shortlist of the top global thought leaders in the field of talent management. Christie's research and writing have been featured across international publications, including Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fortune, European Business Review, TIME, Fast Company, Business Insider, and more. Her article "Why So Many Thirtysomething Women Are Leaving Your Company" was selected for the Harvard Business Review collection of the top articles on diversity. Christie has spoken worldwide to organizations and institutions, including the World Economic Forum, Harvard Business School, the University of Oxford, and the Global Women's Forum for the Economy and Society. Her corporate clients include Bacardi, Deloitte, PWC, HSBC, and more. Christie holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Brown University, a certificate of Distinction in General Management from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and two Master's degrees with a focus on gender research from the University of Oxford. She currently serves on the Women's Leadership Board of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Get Christie's book here: Begin Boldly: How Women Can Reimagine Risk, Embrace Uncertainty, and Launch a Brilliant Career. Christie Hunter Arscott. https://amzn.to/3Qia05S Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss the importance of corporate strategy. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 265, an episode with a veteran Silicon Valley dealmaker, Touraj Parang. Get Touraj's book here: https://amzn.to/3bmsDGj In this episode, Touraj takes us through his unique, decades-long experiences as an entrepreneur and investor. He shares the lessons he learned when he sold his first startup – with no exit plan – for pennies on the dollar. It was then followed by great success with his next startup as he applied his learnings and prioritized executing an exit strategy. Touraj discussed the key things to consider and the red flags to avoid when selecting investors and co-founders. Touraj Parang is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and M&A expert who has sat in every seat around the table, structuring and negotiating strategic transactions since the late 1990s, including as a corporate attorney at legal powerhouses WSGR and O'Melveny & Myers. Touraj has been a founder, executive, and trusted advisor to several fast-growing technology startups with exits to LinkedIn, Instacart, Vistaprint, Postmates, and Amplify, among others. He has also spent nearly a decade on the acquirer side of M&A deals as a corporate development executive at Webs and GoDaddy. Exit Path draws on Touraj's unique, decades-long experience involving hundreds of M&A transactions, strategic partnerships, and venture capital investments totaling billions of dollars in aggregate value. He is currently the President and Chief Operating Officer at Serve Robotics, a startup shaping the future of sustainable, self-driving delivery that he helped spin out of Uber, and an Operating Advisor at Pear VC, an early-stage venture capital firm, where he enjoys collaborating with and providing strategic guidance to mission-driven entrepreneurs. He earned his JD from Yale Law School and his BA in Philosophy and Economics from Stanford University. Get Touraj's book here: Exit Path: How to Win the Startup End Game. Touraj Parang. https://amzn.to/3bmsDGj Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 264, an episode with startup entrepreneurs Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba. Get Ash and Hasan's book here: https://amzn.to/3Q8ctPD In this episode, we speak about the concept of unfair advantage and the process of identifying and managing it so it's your edge over any competition. Many people have the limiting belief that they don't have something authentic to offer, but what they don't realize is that we all have unique skill sets and talents. It only takes self-awareness to realize that the ingredients to success are already within you. Ash Ali is an award-winning serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor. Ash sold his first internet business at just 19 years old (and most recently, his Dubai-based on-demand mobile app startup in 2018). As the first marketing director of Just Eat UK, which IPO'd for £1.5 billion, he was included in the Top 250 Growth Hackers, as well as the Top 100 Asian Tech Stars in the UK. With over 20 years of hands-on experience creating and growing startups, he has consulted, advised, and invested in hundreds of startups at various funding stages. Ash is a highly sought-after international speaker and expert on digital disruption and tech transformation, and has spoken at numerous global organizations and conferences, including Salesforce, Ernst & Young, and TEDx. He is currently co-founder of Uhubs, a new skills training platform that helps entrepreneurs and professionals upskill. Hasan Kubba is an author, entrepreneur, and startup strategist. Hasan is a specialist in technology startups, marketing, and fundraising. With his own London-based digital marketing business and startup investment experience, Hasan is particularly strong at breaking down complex business concepts into simple and effective strategies and tactics. His recent TEDx talk titled Startups, Entrepreneurship, and Unfair Advantages was voted the highest ever on the official TED subreddit. He is passionate about the future of entrepreneurship and digital disruption globally and is an in-demand startup mentor to early-stage entrepreneurs, workshop trainer, and international speaker. Get Ash & Hasan's book here: The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed. Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba: https://amzn.to/3Q8ctPD Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 263, an episode with an artist, researcher, author, and educator at Northwestern University, Julio Mario Ottino. Get Julio's book here: https://amzn.to/3b4390g Individuals and organizations face complex problems and challenges today that demand a new way of thinking to grasp underlying solutions and opportunities. In this episode, Julio shares the beauty of the coexistence of art, science, and technology – rather than being separate disciplines – to navigate the complex world. Julio was born in Argentina and grew up with twin interests in physical sciences and visual arts, finding beauty in math and art, and seeing creativity as being one thing, rather than something that lives in compartments. Art provided a cathartic means of expression while he grew up in turbulent times. He managed to create a solo art exhibit while drafted as an officer in the Argentinian Navy. When he moved to the United States to pursue a doctorate, his research achievements followed. Most of the early attention Ottino received stemmed from pioneering work in chaos theory and a combination of scientific insight and visualization. His research work has been featured on the covers of Nature, Science, Scientific American, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, and other publications. He has supervised more than 65 Ph.D. theses, written over 250 papers and two books, and has given invited presentations at over 200 universities in the United States and around the world, as well as at organizations such as Accenture, Boeing, Google, 3M, and Unilever. An academic entrepreneur, Ottino was the founding co-director of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems and educational and research initiatives in design, entrepreneurship, and energy and sustainability. As dean of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, he founded educational and research partnerships with Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Pritzker School of Law, Medill School of Journalism, Feinberg School of Medicine, School of Communication, and School of Education and Social Policy, as well as with external partners ranging from the Art Institute of Chicago to Argonne National Lab. In 2008, he was selected by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers as one of the "One Hundred Engineers of the Modern Era." In 2017, Ottino was awarded the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education from the National Academy of Engineering for the concept of whole-brain engineering. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and is a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Get Julio's book here: The Nexus: Augmented Thinking for a Complex World–The New Convergence of Art, Technology, and Science. Julio Mario Ottino. https://amzn.to/3b4390g Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 262, an episode with a professor at Queensland University of Technology, Amanda Lotz. In this episode, Amanda shares her insights as a media expert about Netflix's recent announcement that they are introducing an ad-supported version of their streaming service. She spoke about the challenges that Netflix may face as it goes down the advertising route. Amanda discussed the pros and cons of a subscription-based model versus an advertisement-based model and what it will be for Netflix as it launches its new strategy. Amanda Lotz is a media scholar, professor, and industry consultant. Her expertise includes media industries, digital distribution, the future of television, the business of media, and net neutrality. Amanda leads the Transforming Media Industries research project in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology. She is the author, coauthor, or editor of eleven books that explore television and media industries, including Netflix and Streaming Video: The Business of Subscriber-Funded Video on Demand, Media Disrupted: Surviving Cannibals, Pirates and Streaming Wars, We Now Disrupt This Broadcast: How Cable Transformed Television and the Internet Revolutionized It All, The Television Will Be Revolutionized, and Portals: A Treatise on Internet-Distributed Television. Her most recent books explore the connections between internet-distributed services such as Netflix and the legacy television industry, as well as the business strategies and revenue models that differ. Her award-winning book, The Television Will Be Revolutionized, now in its second edition, has been translated into Mandarin, Korean, Italian, and Polish. She is frequently interviewed by NPR's Marketplace, has appeared on BBC, CNN's The Nineties, HuffPost Live, and ZDF (German television network), and has been interviewed for articles in the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Christian Science Monitor, the Associated Press, Wired, and Men's Health among many others. She publishes articles about the business of television at Quartz, Salon, The New Republic, hosts the Media Business Matters podcast, and tweets about television and media @DrTVLotz. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 261, an episode with the Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment at the University of Delaware, Saleem Ali. Get Ali's book here: https://amzn.to/3aOWwie In this conversation, we discussed numerous examples of major problems around the world, from the resources industry, environmental conflicts, culture, and the system of order and control of many organizations, and how these issues come down to the need for literacy and proper education. Environmental awareness is present today, however, we are lacking science or environmental literacy. Education is not an elite enterprise and someone even without formal education can be a citizen scientist who is seeing and observing the world and continuously gaining much more depth of knowledge and understanding to contribute to solving the problems of the world. Prof. Ali previously served as chair in Sustainable Resource Development and professor of sustainability science and policy at University of Queensland in Australia. He also was a professor of environmental studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Natural Resources and founding director of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security. He was also formerly on the adjunct faculty of Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies and the visiting faculty for the United Nations mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica). Prof. Ali's primary research interests have been in the causes and consequences of environmental conflicts in the mineral sector, and the process of using ecological factors to promote peace. Some of Prof. Ali's former research appointments include a visiting fellowship at the Brookings Institution's research center in Doha, Qatar; a Public Policy Fellowship at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia; a Baker Foundation Research Fellowship at Harvard Business School; and a parliamentary internship at the U.K. House of Commons. He has teaching experience in courses on environmental planning, conflict resolution, industrial ecology, research methods, and technical writing. Before embarking on an academic career, Prof. Ali worked as an environmental health and safety professional at General Electric, an Associate at the Boston-based consulting firm Industrial Economics Inc., as well as a consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Health Canada. Prof. Ali is a citizen of the United States of America by birth; Pakistan by parental lineage; and Australian by naturalization. He received his doctorate in Environmental Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an M.E.S. in environmental law and policy from Yale University, and his Bachelors in Chemistry from Tufts University. Get Ali's Book here: Earthly Order: How Natural Laws Define Human Life. Saleem Ali. https://amzn.to/3aOWwie Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 260, an episode with bestselling author, keynote speaker, workplace expert, and resilience researcher, Adam Markel. Get Adam's Book here: https://amzn.to/3PwE6l6 In this episode, Adam speaks about how he reinvented his career path through valuable lessons and eye-opening life events. He shares his experience as a Jones Beach lifeguard in New York. As a first responder in a life-and-death environment, he learned the importance of cultivating a high-performance capacity and impeccable teamwork. He learned to never let anyone go under the water, not to quit, and to keep going no matter what the conditions were. Years later, after experiencing a panic attack due to stress and exhaustion, he was reminded of another important lesson that he learned at the beach: the importance of taking intermittent breaks. Rest, recover, and recuperate, or you cannot perform well. Lots of people think of resilience as getting up after taking a blow, moving forward after getting knocked down, and bouncing back from setbacks. Resilience is more than that. As Adam mentioned in this episode, "Resilience is not about how we bounce back. It's actually about how we bounce forward. It's not about how we endure life's challenges, adversities, and uncertainties. But actually how it is that we leverage that uncertainty for our growth." Adam is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publisher's Weekly bestseller, Pivot: The Art & Science of Reinventing Your Career and Life. A leading international keynote speaker, he has reached tens of thousands worldwide with his message of resilience as the competitive edge in today's complex markets. An attorney, entrepreneur, and transformational trainer, Adam is a sought-after business culture catalyst who inspires, empowers, and guides organizations and individuals to create sustainable, high-performance strategies. Adam is also the CEO of More Love Media and host of The Change Proof podcast, where he shares his insights on pivoting and resilience in today's fast-paced market and interviews experts, innovators, and influencers in the areas of business and life. Adam credits much of his success to the principles he learned during his eight years as a Jones Beach lifeguard in New York. He's found that the principles of this type of culture and leadership equally apply to any business that wants to build a competitive advantage to win. After building a multi-million-dollar law firm, Adam pivoted his own career path to become CEO of one of the largest business and personal growth training companies in the world. Here he learned that motivation and inspiration alone are not enough to effectively utilize change. It's about providing leaders, teams, and audiences with effective takeaways to sustain them over time. Get Adam's Book here: Change Proof: Leveraging the Power of Uncertainty to Build Long-Term Resilience. Adam Markel. https://amzn.to/3PwE6l6 Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit the 47th podcast on the Corporate Strategy & Transformation study. As I mentioned in previous posts, the reason we spend so much time on visioning workshop is because if you ever take a senior role in strategy in any company, or if you ever serve as a corporate strategy consultant, running a visioning workshop or corporate strategy workshop, in general, is the skill you must have. And scenario planning is something used extensively in visioning workshops. In this podcast and related article, we discuss what is scenario planning and how to run a scenario planning session during a visioning workshop as part of a consulting engagement. There is also a very elegant way to combine corporate finance and corporate strategy to help companies develop effective strategies under extreme uncertainty. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit the 42nd podcast on the Corporate Strategy & Transformation study. What I noticed on this, and other studies is that the associates and business analysts are very competitive, in a way that is damaging to clients, to the firm and to their own careers. I am fine with consultants being competitive but I think they go about it the wrong way. You can be competitive and work long hours but you should not seem to be competitive when you are working long hours. I am not saying don't work long hours. Yet, don't make it sound like you are competitive and that is why you are working long hours. Cause and effect matters. If you work hard to be competitive, people see you as someone who is working hard only because you want to get promoted and only because you want to stand out from everyone else. These consultants tend to be so obsessed with telling people how committed they are that they are moving away from the objective of getting the right work done. No one likes someone who is competitive for the sake of being competitive. Because this is just wasted energy. If you are being competitive for the sake of being competitive, versus focusing on the client and working hard to solve a problem resulting in the by-product of you being competitive, you are basically just wasting valuable time that you could use much more productively. If people just think you are competing with them they don't want to help you, they don't want to work with you. Yet, if they see you as someone who is like them but for whatever reason needs to work harder because the client needs it they tend to like you more. They tend to relate to you better. And that dynamic becomes good for your career. In this podcast, we discuss in detail how to go about being competitive on consulting projects while projecting the proper image and maintaining the right mindset to deliver the best value for the client and the firm. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we will talk about general professional values or etiquette that consultants should apply during an engagement. We specifically discuss things that consultants sometimes do on studies that may alienate the client. And rather than talking about every single thing you need to avoid, we will talk about some principles. And these principles apply across every issue. We also discuss how to address a situation where a consultant's behavior is incompatible with the firm's professional values. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 256, an episode with an expert in business law and business ethics, J.S. Nelson. Get J.S's book here: https://amzn.to/3ny1z9B Managing business ethics has always been a challenge for many organizations. As unethical business conduct rises, the struggle of implementing ethics and compliance programs in organizations also increases. Business ethics can make or break your business or career. But it can be used as a competitive advantage if managed correctly and can build the most valuable asset: your reputation. The key is to articulate your organization's values – defining who you are, what you stand for, and extending it toward every inch of your organization. It's very important for management to cultivate a culture of openness, where people feel safe to speak up and where ethical misconduct is not tolerated. As J.S. mentioned in this episode, "the way to get the behavior that you want is to intervene early and often." In this episode, J.S speaks about the value of business ethics, the major schools of philosophical ethical thought, and how understanding it can help people become better at being ethical. She discusses the ways an organization can cultivate ethical behavior and how to get away from situations involving ethical traps in the modern business world. Nelson is an expert in business law and business ethics. She is a visiting professor at Harvard Business School. Nelson was the first tenure-track appointment in a U.S. law school, specifically to teach business ethics and to develop law-school curricula around the subject. Nelson has spent nearly fifteen years teaching at top universities across the country, including Villanova Law School, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Haas Business School of the University of California at Berkeley, Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, and the Mihaylo School at Cal State Fullerton. Prior to her work in academia, Professor Nelson served as staff counsel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and she clerked for the Honorable David M. Ebel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable William H. Yohn Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She also worked as a deputy district attorney and as a business litigator in Denver, Colorado. Nelson graduated from Harvard Law School, where she was the Supreme Court Co-Chair of the Harvard Law Review. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with honors and distinction in the major from Yale. Get J.S's book here: Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know, J.S. Nelson & Lynn A. Stout: https://amzn.to/3ny1z9B Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 255, an episode with the CEO and managing partner at Velocity Group, Edward Sullivan. Get Edward's book here: https://amzn.to/3HT2Hy4 In this episode, Edward discussed the best practices that leaders and companies do to address mental health issues and the real cause of the great resignation. He spoke about the gravity of work-life balance, care, and understanding as part of an employee retention strategy. For decades, we have avoided discussing the topic of mental health around the workplace. It was considered a weakness and could greatly derail one's career. We operated under the assumption of manifesting the "executive presence," which covertly added up to pressure and stress on the employees. As companies have responded to the challenges brought by Covid in recent years, they are learning to consider mental health as a common issue in the workplace and taking employees' well-being in a serious manner. The great resignation caused a stir in how companies view and treat their employees. As Edward mentioned in this episode, "employees are not leaving in the great resignation because of company benefits, they are fleeing from toxic work cultures." Edward Sullivan holds an MBA from the Wharton School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. His 25-year career as an executive coach and political consultant has taken him around the globe coaching and advising start-up founders, Fortune 500 executives, and heads of state of foreign nations. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fast Company, USA Today, and Nasdaq, among others. Get Edward's book here: Leading with Heart: 5 Conversations That Unlock Creativity, Purpose, and Results, Edward Sullivan and John Baird: https://amzn.to/3HT2Hy4 Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 254, an episode with the Founder and visionary Managing Director of Bandelli & Associates, Dr. Adam C. Bandelli. Get Adam's book here: https://amzn.to/3nhGgsC "It is very important for leaders to not only surround themselves with great talent but build really strong partnerships with their people." - Adam Bandelli In this episode, Adam speaks about how reliance on technology has kept people technologically connected but has prevented them from building genuine and sustainable relationships. Covid has exacerbated this problem, especially when organizations started hybrid work models. In order to improve the level of connectivity and build strong long-lasting personal and professional relationships, Adam laid out the five key skills that make up relational intelligence: Establishing Rapport, Understanding Others, Embracing Individual Differences, Developing Trust, and Cultivating Influence. Dr. Adam C. Bandelli has 20 years of management and leadership advisory consulting experience in the firm's service offerings, including board consultation, senior executive selection, leadership development, CEO succession, organizational culture, and transformational change. Adam is an expert on communication, relational intelligence, and leadership effectiveness having worked with CEOs and senior executives to strengthen their abilities to inspire and influence their people, teams, and organizations. The mission of his firm is to help leaders identify, unlock, and unleash their true potential. Adam has worked with executives around the world in organizations ranging from small start-up firms through global Fortune 100 companies. Prior to founding Bandelli & Associates, Adam was a Partner at Korn Ferry, where he led the Private Equity assessment practice for North America. Earlier in his career, he was a Partner at RHR International, where he served as one of the firm's leaders on Board and CEO Succession, High Potential Development, Senior Team Effectiveness, and Executive Assessments. Adam is the author of the books Relational Intelligence: The Five Essential Skills You Need to Build Life-Changing Relationships, and What Every Leader Needs: The Ten Universal and Indisputable Competencies of Leadership Effectiveness, which have received strong reviews from prominent business leaders. Adam received his Ph.D. and master's degrees from the University of South Florida in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and a bachelor's degree concentrating in Psychology and Business Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Acknowledged as an expert on leadership, relational intelligence, and organizational culture, he is a frequent speaker at business and professional meetings including the Society of Consulting Psychology and the Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Relational Intelligence: The Five Essential Skills You Need to Build Life-Changing Relationships. Dr. Adam C. Bandelli: https://amzn.to/3nhGgsC Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 253, an episode with Emeritus Professor at UCLA Anderson, Richard Rumelt. Get Richard's book here: https://amzn.to/3OrNfuK In this episode, Richard iterated the real meaning of strategy, which many companies today confuse with a list of their goals and ambitions. Strategy is problem-solving – a clever way of dealing with a challenge, opponent, or problem. It also involves selecting which battle you fight because you cannot fight them all. As a great strategist, you need to select battles that you can win. Richard also explained the crux or the biggest challenge that companies need to identify, emphasize, and concentrate their resources on until it is fixed or solved. As Richard mentioned in this episode, "the primary thing about strategy is that it is about a concentration of resources. It is about focus." Richard Rumelt received his doctorate from the Harvard Business School in 1972, having previously earned a Master of Science in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley. He worked as a systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories and served on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. He joined the UCLA faculty in 1976. He also served as a faculty at INSEAD, France for three years. At INSEAD, Rumelt headed the Corporate Renewal Initiative, a research-intervention center devoted to the study and practice of corporate transformation. Rumelt was president of the Strategic Management Society from 1995 to 1998. He received the Irwin Prize for his book Strategy, Structure, and Economic Performance. In 1997, he was appointed Telecom Italia Strategy Fellow, a position he held until April 2000. He has won teaching awards at UCLA and received a best paper prize in 1997 from the Strategic Management Journal. Get Richard's book here: The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists, Richard Rumelt: https://amzn.to/3OrNfuK Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 252, an episode with a thought leader and global expert on infectious diseases and vaccine safety, Jan Bonhoeffer M.D. Get Jan's book here: https://amzn.to/3y2x4hZ In this episode, Jan spoke about his medical career journey, working with different interesting organizations, and how he realized there was a missing piece: care. He spoke about how we often become so focused on solving a problem that we forget to give attention to what we care about – what gives us joy and fulfillment. In any business or profession, the key is to serve a much bigger purpose, taking your identity into account. As Michael mentioned in this conversation, "True leadership is about understanding who you are." Leading with empathy requires understanding who you are to resonate and connect with the people you interact with. Bonhoeffer serves as professor of pediatrics, infectious diseases, and vaccines at the University of Basel Children's Hospital, Switzerland. As a former consultant with the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, he co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed articles in medical journals and led epidemiological pediatric infectious disease and vaccine studies, including international research consortia. For 18 years, he led the Brighton Collaboration, a global leader in not-for-profit vaccine safety research setting research standards, conducting large internationally collaborative research, and investigating vaccine safety concerns. He was a Strategic Advisory Group Member of the WHO Global Vaccine Safety Initiative (GVSI) implementing the vaccine safety strategy of the Global Vaccine Action Plan. Bonhoeffer graduated from the University of Basel Medical School, Switzerland, and worked in the U.S., the UK, India, and Switzerland. In 2015, he underwent a significant shift in the way that he thought about medicine. He realized that most of the significant moments in his work as a doctor happened when he wasn't simply executing what he learned in medical school, but when he was participating in a healing event with the patient. He realized that central to this is the quality of the interaction between the health care provider and the patient. It is in this space that innovation, healing, and creativity happens, but he realized that almost everything he had learned in medical school had taught him to skip over what happens in this space. This realization prompted Bonhoeffer to start Heart-Based Medicine, a global network of health care professionals and patients exploring the natural healing potential of the health care provider and the patient, and to co-create his new book Dare to Care. His mission is to inspire medical professionals to reclaim empathy and compassion as primary facets of healing to overcome the disillusion and burnout they often encounter in today's mechanized medical culture. Bonhoeffer is married to Jessica Templeton-Bonhoeffer, a developmental pediatrician and co-founder of Youkidoc Kindergesundheit, a heart-based medical center for children and their families in Basel, Switzerland. They have three children. Dare to Care: How to Survive and Thrive in Today's Medical World. Jan Bonhoeffer M.D.: https://amzn.to/3y2x4hZ Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 251, an episode with a leading Yale expert and serial entrepreneur, Barry Nalebuff. Get Barry's book here: https://amzn.to/3OiNiJs For thirty years, Barry has taught negotiation, innovation, strategy, and game theory at Yale School of Management, which led him to develop a new approach toward negotiation. This approach is vastly different from how most people think about negotiation, which usually involves having the best tactic to out-smart the other party and get the best deal. This podcast explains the concept of the negotiation pie, which is the additional value created through an agreement to work together. It exhibits fairness and identifies what's really at stake in any negotiation. We share examples that showcase negotiation principles and a different mindset about creating value that benefits both parties involved – more importantly, understanding the views of each party as if they are solving problems rather than making the most out of the negotiation. Barry is the co-author of seven books and an online course. Thinking Strategically and The Art of Strategy are two crossover books on game theory with more than 400,000 copies in print. Co-opetition looks beyond zero-sum games to emphasize the potential for cooperating while competing. Why Not? offers a framework for problem-solving and ingenuity. Lifecycle Investing provides a new strategy for retirement investing. Mission in a Bottle tells the story of Honest Tea. His most recent book is Split the Pie, which is based on his negotiation course at SOM. An online version of the negotiation course is available for free on Coursera. It has 400,000 active learners and is the second-highest rating on the Coursera platform. In 1998, Barry—together with his former student Seth Goldman—co-founded Honest Tea. In 2011, the company was purchased by Coca-Cola. His second venture, Kombrewcha, is a slightly alcoholic version of kombucha. The company was acquired in 2016 by AB-Inbev. He is currently working to build Real Made Foods. He works with many entrepreneurial firms. He serves on the board of Q Drinks (started by his former student Jordan Silbert), Calicraft Beer, and AGP Glass. Alongside startups, he has extensive experience consulting with multinational firms. He advised the NBA in their prior negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association and served on the board of Nationwide Insurance. A graduate of MIT, a Rhodes Scholar, and a Junior Fellow at Harvard's Society of Fellows, Nalebuff earned his doctorate at Oxford University. Get Barry's book here: Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate. Barry Nalebuff: https://amzn.to/3OiNiJs Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 250, an episode with one of Silicon Valley's most renowned business advisors and coaches, Tom Eddington. "There's always a challenge, and there's always an opportunity." - Tom Eddington In this episode with Tom, we discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a multitude of issues today – not only for individuals but also for most organizations. One of the biggest problems that every organization has faced because of COVID is retaining employees. Over the last couple of years, we've seen the mass resignation, and it's been a challenge across all industries to attract and retain talent. Organizations adapted to a virtual workforce, and people have spent the last two years working remotely; the idea of moving back to a physical location has required a lot of reconsideration. Some companies exhibited higher productivity rates with a reduced workforce during that time. They delivered more financial results but took a tremendous toll as leadership teams are extremely stressed and exhausted. The long-term effects of COVID continue, impacting individuals and organizations. COVID has delivered a message to the world – a warning sign. COVID is a knock-on effect of climate change, as opposed to being an epidemic. Climate change is by far the biggest issue we face. As we destroy the ecosystem, we lose biodiversity. This results in bacterial infections and viral infections, which become pandemics such as COVID. We are seeing the impact of climate change, and we are at the most critical decade in human history where we need to do something fundamentally different. "Business talks about how we become climate-conscious from today, but I've never heard a business leader talk about what we are going to do about what's already out there." - Michael Tom Eddington works with some of the most influential CEOs and non-profit leaders, advising them on everything from global mergers and organizational change to conscious leadership and work/life integration. He understands the pressures business leaders face. Having spent the last three decades as a consultant, educator, entrepreneur, and strategic advisor, he has dedicated his life to studying and teaching board, leadership, and organization effectiveness – focusing on how they grow, achieve, and sustain effectiveness while remaining stewards for their stakeholders. Tom has lived, worked, and studied on six continents, working with leaders across all industry sectors and organization stages of development. His work as a student, mentor, coach, and advisor focuses on conscious leadership. His motto: Take care of matters within yourself to make the most possible impact in the outside world. Tom has sought out opportunities to teach and work in the private, public, academic, and non-profit sectors working with industry leaders and most-admired organizations, including HP, W.L. Gore, MBNA Corporation, Royal Dutch/Shell, and Taproot Foundation. He assists organizations in fostering leadership on all levels. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss how to identify a corporate strategy. It is actually very simple to know if a study qualifies as a corporate strategy study. Irrespective of what anyone tells you, if you go into a strategy study where the key question – or what we call an objective function – is known to you, then it is not a corporate strategy. This is because corporate strategy is not about knowing how to maximize an objective function. It is about choosing the objective function you want to maximize. That is the key difference between corporate strategy and every other kind of strategy. So, if you are in consulting, in an internal consulting role, or interested in strategy consulting, you should know there is a significant difference between corporate strategy and the other types of strategy analyses like business unit strategy, market entry strategy, etc. And in this podcast, we explain the two requirements that must exist for an engagement to be a corporate strategy study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we explain what it means to be a conceptual thinker and how to demonstrate this skill. If you work at any major consulting firm – and especially if you want to be promoted – you must prove you are a conceptual thinker. The only problem is that it is hard to define the word conceptual. In this podcast, we explain a similar problem experienced by a consultant on the Corporate Strategy & Transformation Study and how I helped them improve. The definition also explains why a conceptual thinker is a functional specialist (in strategy, operations, corporate finance, etc.) and almost never a specialist in sectors. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss how to communicate recommendations that are radical in nature. If the recommendations are presented too early, they are hypotheses with little data backing them and they can be easily challenged. If the recommendations are presented at the end, it shocks the client and there likely will be little agreement from the client. The solution is to present early but to present them as hypotheses. That seems easy, but this podcast explains the communication mistakes that occur when most consultants present complex hypotheses very early, and how to fix them. You will learn that communication, your choice of words, and the way you emphasize them can dramatically alter the way the client interprets what you are saying. In fact, the emphasis will radically alter the meaning. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit one of Strategy Skills classics where we spoke about the approach and philosophy used by the study leadership team in a power sector corporate strategy study as they guide and mentor corporate leaders at the client. We discuss the four pillars on which our leadership philosophy is built and use practical examples to demonstrate how we help clients adopt these principles. The four pillars are: Sincere authenticity matters. Embrace – don't hide – leadership flaws. Forget about image. Focus on results. This approach is about helping corporate leaders be successful in the short term. If you would like to learn more about this leadership work, please read this article. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit one of Strategy Skills classics where we discuss something that affects every consultant in the world: the issue of confidence – or even arrogance – and its role in getting results on a consulting engagement. We discuss the role that confidence plays in your career and look at what actually creates a competitive advantage in your career. We also look at an example that showcases the limited value of confidence in a consulting engagement. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 244, an interview with globally recognized academic thought-leader on digital transformation and innovation management, Satish Nambisan. Get Satish's book here: https://amzn.to/3QpWQE3 In this episode, Satish spoke about real-world examples of companies that use digital technology as their unique competency to move and globalize faster. He defined "globalization" and "digital" in a broader perspective, and elaborated on their role in a company to thrive through an emotional connection with customers. Satish also explained the idea of tight and loose coupling and how it allows companies to continuously adapt to disturbances that happen in different parts of the world without reinventing the business model, processes, or operations. Satish Nambisan, Ph.D. is the Nancy and Joseph Keithley Professor of Technology Management at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. His current work focuses on how digital technologies, platforms, and ecosystems shape innovation, entrepreneurship, and international business. His publications have appeared in journals such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Management Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Organization Science, Academy of Management Review, and Stanford Social Innovation Review. He is the co-author of The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World (Wharton School Publishing). His latest book is The Digital Multinational: Navigating the New Normal in Global Business (MIT Press, 2022). Get Satish's book here: The Digital Multinational: Navigating the New Normal in Global Business (Management on the Cutting Edge). Satish Nambisan & Yadong Luo: https://amzn.to/3QpWQE3 Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 243, an interview with a business coach and change leadership expert, Richard Hawkes. Get Richard's book here: https://amzn.to/3Oe5ljU In this session, Richard shared his experiences with building a consultancy, working shoulder to shoulder with leaders and teams to grow and scale all kinds of companies – in the US and in countries all over the world, but especially in Germany. He shared a little bit about how his worldview has changed throughout his journey from thinking of companies in a fragmented way – with different kinds of views, cultures, leadership, strategies, and processes – to thinking in an integrated way. He laid out a powerful framework that any team can apply to overcome the most common leadership challenges. Richard S. Hawkes is the author of Navigate the Swirl and the CEO and Founder of Growth River, an international consultancy that guides leaders and teams to create higher performance in businesses and organizations. Hawkes helps companies identify and resolve constraints to success. Clients include Edward Jones, GENEWIZ, Hitachi, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mars. Hawkes received a B.A. in Computer Science and German Literature from Hamilton College and an M.B.A. in Marketing and Organizational Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Get Richard's book here: Navigate the Swirl: 7 Crucial Conversations for Business Transformation. Richard S. Hawkes: https://amzn.to/3Oe5ljU Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 242, an interview with the CEO of YSC Consulting, Eric Pliner. Get Eric's book here: https://amzn.to/3HpM1hf In this video, Eric shared his career journey, experience with adjusting to consulting, and how to become a successful consultant while maintaining a healthy life balance. He discussed the reasons why his company survived and thrived during the pandemic. As a CEO, he spoke about the top things that he looks for when promoting an employee and the red flags that employees must be aware of to avoid or eliminate. Eric shared the realizations that made him a stronger leader over the course of his journey to the top of his company. He emphasized the importance of constant learning and listening to other people, and that as a leader, you have to get over the idea that your job is to make everyone happy. You will disappoint people down the road, but how you handle that disappointment will make the difference between being a long-term leader or a short-term leader. Eric shared his advice on how to better make difficult decisions and how to build confidence when facing challenging decision-making situations. For more than twenty-five years, Eric Pliner has been a recognized leader in the fields of leadership development, organizational culture, education and training, and strategic diversity and inclusion. He is Chief Executive Officer of YSC Consulting, a global leadership strategy consultancy headquartered in London. Eric's writing on leadership has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, and a host of other business and industry publications. He is a Board Director with Hip Hop Public Health, a member of the Dramatists' Guild of America, and an author/co-author of a wide variety of published academic, creative, and professional works, including award-winning case studies on leadership; the U.S. National Standards for Health Education; and an off-Broadway theatrical parody of television cartoons for adults (with Amy Rhodes). He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Get Eric's book here: Difficult Decisions: How Leaders Make the Right Call with Insight, Integrity, and Empathy. Eric Pliner: https://amzn.to/3HpM1hf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 241, an episode with scientist, inventor, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur, Alex Bäcker. Get Alex's book here: https://amzn.to/3HqNfZu In this episode, Alex spoke about the main ingredients of a successful life and the key to happiness. He discussed why he wrote his book, 101 Clues to a Happy Life, and shared how having children exponentially changed his life and perspective. Alex also elaborated on the role of sunlight in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and the potential role of vitamin D. In this conversation, he shared valuable advice related to business, finding business partners and investors, and the practical steps that should be implemented to attain success and happiness. Alex Bäcker is the founder and CEO of QLess and co-founder at Drisit. He holds 11 patents and in 2021 was named among the top 100 MIT alumni in technology. His seminal papers on COVID and sunlight were picked up by the press around the world. Alex is a National Champion of Informatics and holds a degree in Biology and Economics from MIT, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems and Biology from the California Institute of Technology, where he was awarded the Dean's Award for "great contributions and outstanding qualities of Leadership and Responsibility." He has held positions at McKinsey & Co.; the Center for Computation, Computers, Information and Mathematics of Sandia National Labs; and Caltech. Alex devised the idea of QLess while standing in a line. Prior to starting QLess, Alex was also the founder of a pioneer of search engine marketing technology, the invention factory, that has boosted the reach of search engine marketing campaigns by up to 580% while simultaneously reducing their cost per action by up to 78%. It is a semantic people search engine with machine vision, which beat Google and every other search engine tested 3 to 1 or more in results relevance in a blind people search comparison, and the first resume- or file-based search engine. Alex was appointed by the President to serve in the California Institute of Technology's Information Sciences and Technology Board of Advisors. In 2013, Alex was named the Gold Stevie Winner of IT Executive of the Year and Silver Stevie Winner of Innovator of the Year by the International Business Awards. In 2011, Alex was honored as the keynote speaker at LA County's Tech Week, an honor that was previously accorded a Nobel Prize winner, the CEO of Cisco, the CEO of Adobe, the Chairman of Deloitte, and an astronaut. In 2010, Alex was honored as one of "40 under 40" for the inaugural 40 Under 40 M&A Advisor Recognition Awards. Alex's research on neural coding and artificial intelligence has been published in the world's leading publications such as Nature and Neural Computation. Get Alex's book here: 101 Clues to a Happy Life. Alex Bäcker: https://amzn.to/3HqNfZu Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 240, an episode with best-selling author, lawyer, and art historian, Amy Herman. Get Amy's book here: https://amzn.to/3tCU9oV In this episode, Amy spoke about how art can renew our sense of vision and approach to problem solving. This method proves that everyone sees and interprets things differently, which shows that we need to become better communicators to solve our problems. She stressed that effective communication has a renewed significance now because we are communicating with our stakeholders in a virtual environment. For leaders of organizations, the most difficult thing for them to do is rethink their communication skills and make them as effective as they were before, which involves agility. Amy also spoke about confirmation bias – wherein people only hear what they want to hear – and how to realize that we are trapped in this way of looking at information. Building on the conversation, Amy spoke about well-known artists who reflect characteristics that a great leader can impersonate. Amy E. Herman is the founder and president of The Art of Perception, Inc., a New York-based organization that conducts professional development courses to leaders around the world, including at the FBI, CIA, Scotland Yard, and the Peace Corps. Herman was also the Director of Educational Development at Thirteen/WNET, the educational public television station serving New York and New Jersey, and the Head of Education at The Frick Collection for over ten years, where she oversaw all of the Collection's educational collaborations and community initiatives. An art historian and attorney, Herman holds a BA in International Affairs from Lafayette College, a JD from the National Law Center at George Washington University, and an MA in Art History from Hunter College. She is a member of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. Herman channeled her dual degrees in art and law to create the successful Art of Perception program, and now trains thousands of professionals from Secret Service agents to church fundraisers. Herman is a world-renowned speaker who frequently presents at national and international conventions. She has been featured on the CBS Evening News, the BBC, and in countless print publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The London Times, New York Daily News, Smithsonian Magazine, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Get Amy's book here: Fixed.: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving. Amy Herman: https://amzn.to/3tCU9oV Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 239, an episode with a renowned food journalist, Dan Saladino. Get Dan's book here: https://amzn.to/3NR1JV2 In this episode, Dan talks us through a very interesting topic: food extinction. He elaborated on the value of food diversity through factual examples and stories, and he explained the risks of homogeneity or genetic uniformity of crops, livestock, poultry, or other food supply, which adds more vulnerability to preserving these resources during a crisis. Dan Saladino is a renowned food journalist who has worked at the BBC for 25 years. For more than a decade, he has traveled the world recording stories of foods at risk of extinction—from cheeses made in the foothills of a remote Balkan mountain range to unique varieties of rice grown in southern China. His work has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, the Guild of Food Writers, and the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. Get Dan's book here: Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them. Dan Saladino: https://amzn.to/3NR1JV2 Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 238, an episode with a sought-after strategist and advisor, Kian Gohar. Get Kian's book here: https://amzn.to/3mOXe1y Many organizations have been caught flat-footed by disruptive changes – especially in the pandemic era – which has forced a lot of businesses to rethink their priorities to stay competitive in the post-pandemic world. Having the ability to identify trends that allow organizations to leverage potential threats and changes in the future will turn into great opportunities. But many organizations don't think this way and instead focus on what there is today and react to the changes later. In this episode, we discussed with Kian the key things that the pandemic taught us individually and as an organization. He spoke about the mindset and best practices of leaders and teams who were able to keep up, adapt, and remain competitive and advantageous during disruptions and continuous change. Kian also pointed out the key steps that leaders and organizations need to take and implement to build a competitive and thriving business. Kian Gohar is the CEO of innovation advisory firm Geolab and the former executive director of the XPRIZE Foundation and Singularity University. Kian has coached the C-suite of over 50 companies in the Fortune 500 and regularly keynotes, facilitates, and emcees major business conferences like the World Economic Forum, SXSW, the Tokyo Motor Show, and many others. His research on the Future of Work and innovation has been featured on CNBC, Axios, HBR, and other media. He inspires the world's leading organizations to harness innovation and moonshots to solve complex problems. He coaches entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders to make their impossible, possible. He is the co-author of Competing in the New World of Work with Keith Ferrazzi, published by Harvard Business Review in 2022, which is based on a global research project with 2,000+ global leaders to reveal the best leadership practices that helped the most successful teams thrive in the pandemic, and is a roadmap for any team at any organization to future-proof their way to success in the post-pandemic era. He is passionate about the intersection of innovation and impact, and his career spans venture capital, academia, and startups around the world. He is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council. Get Kian's book here: Competing in the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest. Kian Gohar & Keith Ferrazzi: https://amzn.to/3mOXe1y Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 237, an episode with workplace loneliness experts and thought leaders, Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen. Get Ryan's book here: https://amzn.to/3xtoIi3 In this episode, Ryan and Steven discuss a vital, sensitive, and very interesting topic: loneliness. Oftentimes, loneliness and emotional pain is taken lightly compared to physical pain. But physiologically, the effect is nearly the same. The conversation revolved around answering why do we feel lonely and how we can battle and address this issue. Ryan and Steven talked about the significance of awareness, connection, a sense of safety and belonging, and mental health, which largely contributes to resolving loneliness and is the key to developing a healthy personal and professional environment. Ryan Jenkins CSP® (Certified Speaking Professional™) is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and three-time published author. He speaks all over the world to companies such as State Farm, Salesforce, Wells Fargo, FedEx, Liberty Mutual, and John Deere. For a decade, he has been helping organizations create engaged, inclusive, and high-performing teams by lessening worker loneliness and closing generational gaps. Ryan's top-ranked insights have been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and The Wall Street Journal. He is also co-founder of LessLonely.com, the world's first resource fully dedicated to reducing worker isolation and strengthening team connections. Ryan lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife, three children, and yellow Labrador. Steven Van Cohen is a global leadership consultant, author, and executive coach. Steven has spent 12 years working with hundreds of leaders from organizations like Salesforce, The Home Depot, Komatsu, and Bridgestone, helping them improve worker well-being, reduce employee isolation, and boost team belonging. Dubbed "The Leadership Whisperer," Steven has inspired thousands through his workshops, keynotes, and virtual events. He is co-founder of LessLonely.com (the world's first resource for addressing loneliness at work) and CEO of SyncLX (a consultancy that works with many Fortune 500 companies.) Steven holds a Master of Science in Organizational Development from Pepperdine University and a BA from The University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. Steven lives in San Juan Capistrano, CA with his wife and two daughters. Get Ryan & Steven's book here: Connectable: How Leaders Can Move Teams From Isolated to All In. Ryan Jenkins & Steven Van Cohen: https://amzn.to/3xtoIi3 Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 236, an episode with the CEO of Meetup, David Siegel. Get David's book: https://amzn.to/39miGHV In this episode, David talks us through his epic journey of becoming and remaining the CEO of Meetup in spite of the challenges that the organization faced and, later on, conquered. He also spoke about Investopedia – which he was the CEO of prior to joining Meetup. David also highlighted and elaborated on what a community is, how it works, and the value that it brings. David Siegel is the CEO of Meetup, the largest platform for finding and building local community. He has over 20 years of experience as a technology and digital media executive leading organizations through innovative product development, rapid revenue growth, and digital traffic acceleration. Prior to joining Meetup, David was CEO of Investopedia. Before that, he was president of Seeking Alpha. He hosts the podcast Keep Connected, which is dedicated to the power of community. David holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia University where he teaches strategic planning and entrepreneurship. He lives in White Plains, New York with his wife and three teenage children. In his spare time, he likes to pop in on Meetup events. Get David's book here: Decide and Conquer: 44 Decisions That Will Make or Break All Leaders. David Siegel: https://amzn.to/39miGHV Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 235, an episode with Ravin Jesuthasan, a global thought leader and best-selling author, and John Boudreau, a Professor Emeritus of Management and Organization at the University of Southern California. Get John's book here: https://amzn.to/3xQARyT In this episode, John and Ravin lay out the core principles of work operating systems, and their views about the future of work and jobs that are rapidly evolving through the emergence of alternative work arrangements, diversity, accelerating automation, and the underlying challenges and opportunities that leaders and organizations are battling to overcome. Ravin Jesuthasan is the global leader of Mercer's Transformation Services business. He is a recognized global thought leader, futurist, and author on the future of work and workforce transformation. He has led multiple research efforts on the global workforce, the emerging digital economy, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the transformation of work. Ravin has led numerous research projects for the World Economic Forum, including many of its ground-breaking studies on the transformation of work and the global workforce. He is a regular participant and presenter at the World Economic Forum's annual meetings in Davos and Dalian/Tianjin and is a member of the forum's Steering Committee on Work and Employment. Ravin has been a featured speaker at conferences in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. He has also been featured and quoted extensively by leading business media, including CNN, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fortune, FT, The Nikkei (Japan), Les Echoes (France), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), South China Morning Post, and Dubai One TV among others. Ravin was also an advisor to and featured prominently on PBS's widely acclaimed documentary series The Future of Work. Ravin is a frequent guest lecturer at universities around the world, including Oxford University, Northwestern University, New York University, and the University of Southern California. John Boudreau is recognized worldwide as one of the leading evidence-based visionaries on the future of work and organization. Through breakthrough research on the bridge between work, superior human capital, leadership, and sustainable competitive advantage, John W. Boudreau, Ph.D. is much sought after by organizations, businesses, and the academic world for his insight and innovation in the fields of Human Resources, Human Capital Management, and Executive Development. Dr. Boudreau is Professor Emeritus of Management and Organization and a Senior Research Scientist with the Center for Effective Organizations at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. His large-scale research studies and focused field research addresses the future of work and the global HR profession, work automation, HR measurement and analytics, decision-based HR, executive mobility, HR information systems, and organizational staffing and development. A strong proponent of corporate/academic partnerships, Dr. Boudreau helped to establish and then directed the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS) at Cornell University, where he was a professor for more than 20 years. Get John and Ravin's book here: Work without Jobs: How to Reboot Your Organization's Work Operating System (Management on the Cutting Edge). John Boudreau & Ravin Jesuthasan: https://amzn.to/3xQARyT Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 234, an episode with a highly regarded economist and best-selling author, John A. List. Get John's book here: https://amzn.to/3MSCuAD In this episode, John defined scaling – an overused yet often confused word in the startup world today – and elaborated the term. He also spoke about the voltage effect and how it relates to scaling. The discussion revolved around the five vital signs that every scalable idea must possess to avoid voltage drops and gave numerous realistic examples to help us visualize each sign. John also shared the top things that we must keep in mind when making decisions related to scaling. Professor John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on combining field experiments with economic theory to deepen our understanding of the economic science. In the early 1990s, List pioneered field experiments as a methodology for testing behavioral theories and learning about behavioral principles that are shared across different domains. He co-authored the international best seller, The Why Axis, in 2013. List was elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2015. List received the 2010 Kenneth Galbraith Award, the 2008 Arrow Prize for Senior Economists for his research in behavioral economics in the field, and was the 2012 Yrjo Jahnsson Lecture Prize recipient. He is a current Editor of the Journal of Political Economy. Get John's book here: The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale. John A. List: https://amzn.to/3MSCuAD Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo