Maison TST | The Strategic Thinker

Allen L.

✨ Sharpen your strategic edge with The Strategic Thinker ✨ Hosted by Allen, this podcast is where high-performers, decision-makers, and lifelong learners elevate their thinking, because when we rise, we raise the whole game. Discover practical frameworks, mental models, and inspiring stories to navigate life’s challenges, cultivate a growth mindset, and make thoughtful decisions. Tune into topic-focused insights and Path to Greatness, where we break down the strategic moves behind iconic success. 🎧 Listen now and step into your next level!

  1. 4D AGO

    When the future is Unclear: What to Hold On to

    Have you felt a sense of disorientation lately? That feeling that the world is shifting in multiple directions at once? I feel it too. AI is advancing faster than plans can keep up. Trade, geopolitics, and institutions are being reshaped in real time. Careers, industries, and assumptions that once felt stable now feel harder to read. It can feel like moving through a heavy fog. You can see enough to take the next step, but not enough to plan ten steps ahead. The horizon is blurred, familiar landmarks fade, and progress becomes slower, more deliberate, more intentional. Moments like this invite a choice. Some people wait for the fog to clear. Others rush forward, hoping speed will bring certainty. The most effective navigators do something different. They commit to a direction, move carefully, and stay open to small course corrections as new information appears. This episode is about navigating in that fog. About what to hold onto when the future feels structurally unclear. And why periods like this, when visibility is low and confidence is tested, often create the greatest opportunities for those who know how to move with intention. Inside this episode, we explore: Direction before detail: how to find a bearing when the map no longer matches the terrain Optionality over optimisation: how to move forward in small, intelligent steps that keep doors open Finding opportunities along the way: how detours become data, and uncertainty becomes a source of advantage When the fog rolls in, standing still can feel comforting. Thoughtful movement, guided by direction and awareness, is what eventually carries you through.

    19 min

  2. FEB 3

    Thinking Clearly: The Biases Shaping Our Decisions

    How confident are you that your decisions are truly your own? In a world shaped by algorithms, amplified success stories, and personalized information, clarity is more fragile than we like to admit. Our strongest convictions are often influenced by patterns our minds rely on to move quickly and conserve energy. In this episode of The Strategic Thinker, Allen explores how bias quietly shapes the way we interpret risk, success, and truth. Bias is a deeply human feature of how we survive and make sense of complexity. We will explore three subtle yet powerful biases that operate beneath awareness: • Survivor bias, and how the stories we celebrate distort our understanding of success • Confirmation bias, and why familiar ideas feel more credible than they deserve • AI bias, and how intelligent systems can amplify blind spots while sounding objective This is not about eliminating bias. That is neither realistic nor desirable. This is about noticing it sooner, questioning it more often, and reclaiming agency in how you think. By the end of the episode, you will be better equipped to pause, challenge assumptions, and choose with greater intention in a world full of confident answers. The Strategic Thinker is a calm space for long-term thinking. A place to slow down, reflect deeply, and navigate complexity with intention. 🎧 Listen now and sharpen the lens through which you see the world. For more reflections and tools, join The Compass Newsletter at maisonTST.com

    22 min

  3. JAN 20

    Skills to Elevate: Three that will Shape Your Next Decade

    Three Skills That Will Shape Your Next Decade What if the skills that matter most over the next ten years are not the ones everyone is talking about today? As the pace of change accelerates, driven by AI, automation, and structural shifts across industries, knowing more is no longer the advantage it once was. Information is everywhere. Answers are cheap. The real edge now lies in how you think, how you learn, and how you choose direction when the world feels noisy and uncertain. In this episode of The Strategic Thinker, we explore three foundational skills that will shape relevance, confidence, and contribution over the next decade. These are not technical skills that expire with the next platform update. They are timeless capabilities that become more valuable as change speeds up. We begin by examining how value creation has evolved over the last century, from memorising knowledge, to accessing information, to navigating abundance in the age of AI. From there, we unpack three skills that matter more than ever: • Critical thinking, the ability to interpret information, question assumptions, and avoid outsourcing your judgment • Research, complemented by AI, learning how to ask better questions, synthesise perspectives, and turn information into actionable insight • Long-term thinking in a short-term world, the discipline to choose direction over urgency and build progress that compounds over time You will also hear how these three skills work together in real life, as a practical system for navigating uncertainty, making better decisions, and staying oriented when the path ahead feels unclear. If you are thinking about your career, your learning, or the kind of life you want to build over the next decade, this episode offers a calm, grounded lens to help you move forward with intention. You are also invited to comment or share your thoughts with me at allen@maisonTST.com Welcome to The Strategic Thinker, a sanctuary for your mind and a space to think long term in a fast-moving world.

    23 min

  4. JAN 6

    Spark - A Message from Your Future Self

    The new year always begins with plans, resolutions, and long lists of intentions. Yet most people abandon their resolutions by the end of January. So this Spark takes a different approach. Instead of asking what you want to achieve, it asks a more powerful question. If the December 2026 version of you could whisper one request into your ear today, what would they ask you to begin? In this short Spark, you will explore:• A simple visualisation to connect with your future clarity• The difference between noise and true direction• The gentle nudge your future self would want you to hear right now This episode invites you to strip away pressure and reconnect with alignment. Your future self has already lived the consequences of your choices in 2026. Their message is likely simple. It is usually something you already sense, but have not yet acted on. Thank you for beginning the year with me here inside The Strategic Thinker. I look forward to the next phase of this journey, and I hope you do too. Wishing you clarity, courage, and momentum for the year ahead. Until next time, keep getting better every day.

    2 min

  5. 12/23/2025

    Spark - The Question to Hold Over the Holidays

    As the world slows down for Christmas and the noise of the year finally softens, a rare opportunity appears. Stillness. Space. Perspective.This Spark episode offers one powerful question to carry with you into that quiet moment. A question designed to stretch your thinking far beyond the next week or even the next year. If you look ahead to 2035, which decision in front of you today will still matter? Most decisions fade. A few become foundations.This episode helps you notice the difference. Inside this short Spark, you will get:• A single reflection that sharpens long term clarity• A gentle pause to reset your internal compass• A moment to honour how far you have come in 2025 As we wrap up the year, thank you for making The Strategic Thinker part of your journey. Many of you placed the show in your top five podcasts of the year, and I am deeply grateful. Wishing you a season of calm, clarity, and meaningful rest.I cannot wait to see what 2026 brings. Until next time, keep getting better every day.

    2 min

  6. 12/09/2025

    2025 Year in Review: What This Year Taught Us About Growth and Direction

    2025 moved fast.Technology accelerated, industries shifted, and certainty felt harder to hold. Yet beneath all the noise, something quieter was taking shape: growth. Not dramatic or loud, but the kind that reshapes perspective one decision at a time. In this special end of year episode, we slow down to make sense of the year we just lived. We explore the lessons hidden inside our choices, the surprises that stretched us, and the changes that pushed us to evolve. We also look at how The Strategic Thinker transformed in 2025, from the launch of the Path to Greatness series to the addition of Sparks and the topics that resonated most with this community. You will hear: • Why uncertainty became the defining theme of 2025 and how to navigate it with clarity• The evolution of TST and the stories behind Kobe Bryant, Walt Disney, and Sherlock Holmes• A guided five year visualization to help you step into 2026 with intention• An AMA segment answering three questions that shaped our conversations this year• A closing reflection on the ideas that matter most for the year ahead This episode is not about reviewing headlines. It is about reviewing meaning.It is an invitation to pause, recalibrate, and carry only what serves your direction into 2026. If you want to think long term, live with intention, and design your next chapter with clarity, this reflection is for you. ----- For deeper tools and insights, join The Compass newsletter at maisonTST.com.And for early access and upcoming private audio, join the waitlist for The Listening Room at maisonTST.com/listeningroom. Here is to closing the year with purpose, and beginning the next one with strength.

    22 min

  7. 11/25/2025

    Antifragile Habits: Thriving in a Fast-Changing World

    Antifragile Habits: Thriving in a Fast-Changing World What do you do when the world evolves faster than your ability to keep up?Every day brings something new. A breakthrough in AI. A shift in markets. A rule rewritten overnight. What once took decades now changes between software updates. The pace is real, and we can feel it. In a world moving this fast, stability cannot be the goal anymore. By the time you find your balance, the ground has already shifted. The people who thrive are not the ones who hold tight to what they know. They are the ones who learn, adjust, and grow under pressure. That is what this episode explores.Antifragile habits. The kind that do not just survive stress but grow stronger because of it. Inside this episode, you will learn:• Why change feels faster than ever• The difference between fragile, resilient, and antifragile mindsets• How micro experiments accelerate learning• Why the P.A.R. Loop helps you adapt in a world of constant motion• How to learn, unlearn, and relearn with confidence• Why great questions matter more than quick answers in the age of AI• The story of Sony, Apple, and Kodak, and what they teach us about adapting before it is too late This is an episode about building habits for a world that refuses to slow down. If answers are becoming commoditised, your edge will come from how fast you can learn, and how good your questions are. ----- 🎧 Listen now to learn how to turn uncertainty into strength and motion into growth. For more tools, reflections, and long-term thinking, join The Compass newsletter at maisonTST.com. And if you want to go deeper, join the waitlist for The Listening Room at maisonTST.com/listeningroom, our private space for those ready to reach the next level on their path to greatness.

    23 min

  8. 11/11/2025

    Funding the Leap: Building the Financial Runway for Your Next Big Move

    🎙️ Funding the Leap: Building the Financial Runway for Your Next Big Move What would you do if money were no concern? If your bills were covered, your savings secure, your future certain, how would you spend your time and energy? That single question reveals what most financial plans overlook: that money is not just about numbers. It’s about freedom: the time and space to pursue what matters most. In this episode of The Strategic Thinker, we explore how to fund your leap, how to design the financial runway that turns courage into confidence. Whether you’re dreaming of a career pivot, creative project, or life transition, financial preparation is what transforms vision into possibility. Because confidence doesn’t come from ignoring fear, confidence comes from planning for it. You’ll learn: Why financial fear is not weakness but awareness, and how to use it strategically.How to adopt the runway mindset, transforming savings into time and calm.The core pillars of a financial foundation, resources, requirements, and resilience.How slow launches reduce risk, create clarity, and increase your chances of lasting success.A real-life story of deliberate transition, from corporate consulting to ten years of independent freedom.This isn’t a conversation about budgets or spreadsheets. It’s about how to buy yourself time: to think, to build, and to create a future that feels both ambitious and aligned. Because the real reward of financial freedom isn’t the absence of limits. It’s the presence of choice. This episode is part of The Strategic Thinker, a podcast designed to help you think long term, act with intention, and live with purpose. For early access and deeper insights, join the waitlist for The Listening Room at MaisonTST.com/listeningroom. To receive frameworks and reflections straight to your inbox, sign up for The Compass newsletter at MaisonTST.com.

    25 min
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✨ Sharpen your strategic edge with The Strategic Thinker ✨ Hosted by Allen, this podcast is where high-performers, decision-makers, and lifelong learners elevate their thinking, because when we rise, we raise the whole game. Discover practical frameworks, mental models, and inspiring stories to navigate life’s challenges, cultivate a growth mindset, and make thoughtful decisions. Tune into topic-focused insights and Path to Greatness, where we break down the strategic moves behind iconic success. 🎧 Listen now and step into your next level!

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