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

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CEOs and business leaders, management consulting senior partners, ground-breaking professors, thought-provoking writers and journalists, record-setting athletes and coaches, and award-winning actors and celebrities discuss the key issues facing the business world and broader society. Get free access to our newsletter, Monday Morning at 8 am, along with sample episodes from our training programs on www.strategytraining.com. Go to https://www.firmsconsulting.com/promo.

  1. 2d ago

    682: Founder and CEO of High Alpha Innovation, Elliott Parker. The Illusion of Innovation (Strategy Skills classics)

    For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the author of The Illusion of Innovation: Escape "Efficiency" and Unleash Radical Progress, Elliott Parker. The Illusion of Innovation tackles the problem with innovation inside big companies, having activities that feel like innovation but lead to value destruction, not progress. This book explains why meaningful innovation naturally emerges from deliberate inefficiency and how large corporations can harness the power of small teams—startups—to drive radical change through systematic experimentation. Elliott Parker is the founder and CEO of High Alpha Innovation, a venture builder that partners with corporations, universities, and entrepreneurs to co-create startups that solve compelling problems. He built his career in strategy consulting at Innosight, the firm founded by Clayton Christensen, in corporate venturing, and as an entrepreneur bringing new ideas to market. To date, he has launched over 40 venture-backed startups. Originally from California, Elliott currently resides with his family in Indiana. He earned a B.S. in Finance from BYU and an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Get Elliott's new book here: https://rb.gy/hkcl2w The Illusion of Innovation: Escape "Efficiency" and Unleash Radical Progress   Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

  2. 4d ago

    681: Harvard's Cornelia Choe on How Great Leaders See Differently

    Cornelia Choe explains why being right is no longer enough for leaders operating in environments of constant change. She calls the problem "perspective blindness": we may be correct about what we see while still seeing only part of the picture. Drawing on experiences across private equity, government, nonprofits, and leadership advisory, Cornelia argues that information has become increasingly commoditized while context and judgment have become more valuable. AI can broaden our understanding and challenge our thinking, but it can also become "a very easy substitute for judgment" when leaders accept its answers without questioning them. The discussion examines two forms of perspective blindness. Reality blindness occurs when leaders fail to get close enough to different people, ideas, and situations. Projection blindness occurs when they assume others see the world as they do. Both become increasingly consequential when different members of an organization are responding to rapidly changing realities. Cornelia encourages leaders to move "from being an expert to the chief investigator of their company": continually seeking perspectives that challenge their assumptions, listening closely to customers and stakeholders, and questioning whether the value they have historically created still meets what people need today. Her advice for customer conversations is deliberately simple: "just zip it and listen." AI can support the same discipline. Cornelia uses AI personas representing people who see an issue differently from her to expose blind spots and expand the range of possibilities, while continuing to triangulate those perspectives with human judgment. Before an important decision, she recommends asking: "Who sees this differently? Why do they see this differently? What do they see? And which of my assumptions would they change?" The goal, she argues, "is not to eliminate uncertainty," but to take a wider view before making consequential decisions. Get Cornelia's book, The Panoramic Leader, here: https://tinyurl.com/57mkz4dw Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

  3. Aug 26

    680: Psychotherapist, Glenn Hutchinson, on Why Good People Cheat: What Infidelity Reveals About Decision-Making

    Glenn Hutchinson, a psychotherapist who developed the personality science behind the assessments used by Match.com, explores one of the most misunderstood aspects of infidelity: why people sometimes violate their own values without fully understanding how they arrived there. The conversation begins with a broader look at human behavior. Glenn explains that much of what drives our decisions happens outside conscious awareness. Using the familiar experience of driving on "autopilot," he argues that our unconscious mind is constantly shaping our judgments, emotions, and interactions long before we recognize it. As he puts it, "subjective experience is very deceiving," and "our behavior is more complicated. It comes from a deeper place than we realize." A central theme is how people interpret situations through mental categories rather than objective reality. Someone may believe they are "just being friendly" instead of crossing emotional boundaries, or see an affair as "a unique situation" rather than recognizing it for what it is. Glenn explains that these unconscious mental frameworks can influence behavior in powerful ways, even for people who genuinely see themselves as honest and faithful. The discussion also challenges the tendency to blame oneself after betrayal. Glenn explains that there is "no evidence" that a partner's infidelity means the betrayed person was lacking. He discusses several research-backed risk factors, including growing up aware of parental infidelity, having many sexual partners before marriage, and an anxious attachment style, while emphasizing that these are risk factors—not predictions—and that greater self-awareness and healthy boundaries matter far more. The conversation concludes with practical guidance for both preventing and recovering from infidelity. Glenn argues that no one is completely immune to temptation, making honest communication and emotional openness essential in long-term relationships. For those healing after betrayal, he advises avoiding rash decisions, finding a trusted person to talk to, and recognizing that recovery takes time. As he says, "The first thing you got to do is become aware of it." Lasting change begins by recognizing the unconscious assumptions that shape behavior and gradually aligning actions with personal values. Get Glenn's book, Unfaithful Minds, here: https://tinyurl.com/ybxtnrcs Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

  4. Aug 24

    679: Director of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research Center at MIT, Amos Winter on Global by Design

    Amos Winter, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research Center at MIT, explains how innovators can create high-performance, affordable products for resource-constrained communities and adapt them for global markets. Drawing on Global by Design, co-authored with Vijay Govindarajan, he brings together product design, engineering science, market knowledge, and business strategy. Amos traces this work to a study of wheelchair use in Tanzania. People in rural areas needed a wheelchair that could travel long distances over rough terrain while remaining compact enough for indoor use. Products developed for wealthier countries were often too expensive or insufficiently robust. The resulting Leveraged Freedom Chair later provided the foundation for the Grit Freedom Chair in the United States. The conversation examines three forms of merit that help innovators choose worthwhile problems. Problem merit asks whether solving a challenge would meaningfully benefit a substantial population and support a business opportunity. Innovation merit determines whether the problem genuinely requires innovation rather than adaptation, charity, or another mechanism. Value merit aligns the interests of customers and producers so that adoption can occur at scale. This evaluation should precede the technology. Amos cautions against "creating a hammer and then going and finding a nail." A stronger approach begins by identifying the full set of requirements, then combining market insight with technical analysis. Market knowledge reveals what users and operating environments demand; engineering science explains the limitations of existing products and suggests how a better solution might work. The Leveraged Freedom Chair illustrates how this approach supports expansion across markets. In developing countries, bicycle parts made the chair affordable and locally repairable. American users valued the same lever-powered drivetrain but needed a collapsible frame that could fit inside a car. The core value remained consistent, while selected features changed with local requirements. Amos contrasts the Honda Super Cub with the Tata Nano to show why excellent engineering does not guarantee adoption. Honda combined low cost and reliability with an accessible, aspirational identity. The Nano was an impressive engineering achievement, but positioning it as the world's cheapest car weakened its appeal. Concerns about status and perceived safety further influenced how customers judged it. The discussion also considers AI's role in product development. Amos uses AI to gather and summarize information, generate concepts, write code, and accelerate routine work. Its limitations become more significant when innovation depends on knowledge that has never been recorded, direct interaction with materials and manufacturing processes, an understanding of technical readiness, or rapport with stakeholders. He expects people to remain particularly valuable in work requiring dexterity, perception, ingenuity, interdisciplinary synthesis, and interpersonal understanding. Amos closes with a principle central to the book: "Perspective is the most powerful tool an innovator has because what it does is show you requirements." Innovators must learn to see a problem through other people's eyes while remaining realistic about their own knowledge, capabilities, and resources. He calls this being a "tempered dreamer": pursuing consequential problems with ambition, but applying one's strengths where they can contribute most effectively. Get Amos' book, Global by Design, here: https://tinyurl.com/5asv27jv Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

  5. Aug 19

    678: Social Organizational Psychologist, Jeremy Pollack, on Why Smart Leaders Still Fail at Conflict Resolution

    Jeremy Pollack, PhD, argues that most workplace conflicts cannot be resolved by negotiating solutions alone. Before people can solve a problem together, they must first feel understood, respected, and heard. As he explains, conflict resolution has "two parts": "There's care, and then there's solution." When organizations skip the first, they often leave the underlying conflict untouched. Much of the conversation focuses on the psychological needs that drive conflict beneath the surface. Promotions, compensation, authority, and recognition are often the visible issues, but Jeremy explains that they are usually attempts to satisfy more fundamental needs for safety, belonging, positive self-concept, autonomy, engaging activities, and purpose. Identifying which need feels threatened helps leaders address the real source of disagreement instead of debating symptoms. The discussion also examines why some destructive workplace behaviors persist despite feedback or mediation. Jeremy explains that power over others is not a universal human need but may reflect deeper unmet needs for significance, belonging, or security. In these cases, conflict resolution alone is often insufficient. Lasting change requires personal insight and sustained psychological work. Jeremy also revisits Maslow's hierarchy of needs. While he agrees with Maslow's description of human needs, he argues that people pursue them simultaneously rather than in sequence. The conversation explores how unmet needs, including the need for challenge or novelty, can quietly influence career decisions, and why recognizing those patterns allows people to satisfy them in healthier, more deliberate ways. A particularly practical section explains why conflict often feels so personal. Jeremy notes that "our brains are predictive processing machines." Rather than responding only to what another person says or does, we respond to predictions shaped by previous experiences. That helps explain why two people can interpret the same conversation or email in completely different ways. The conversation concludes with a practical approach to reconditioning our response to conflict. Instead of automatically associating disagreement with threat, Jeremy argues that people can learn to approach conflict as an opportunity for learning, understanding, and stronger relationships. He also recommends using AI as a private coach to brainstorm ideas, role-play conversations, and explore different approaches while avoiding AI-generated messages that replace authentic communication. Key insights from this discussion include: Address the relationship before the problem. "There's care, and then there's solution." Look beneath stated demands to identify the psychological need driving the conflict. Many workplace conflicts reflect threatened needs for safety, belonging, autonomy, or esteem rather than the issue people are arguing about. Question your first interpretation. Past experiences often shape present reactions more than current events because "our brains are predictive processing machines." Use AI to prepare for difficult conversations, but rely on your own judgment and voice when communicating with others. Jeremy closes with a hopeful reminder that humans are "wired for peace" more than conflict. While we are capable of defending ourselves when necessary, our strongest biological inclination is toward cooperation, trust, and healthy relationships—provided we create the conditions for them. Get Jeremy's book, Wired for Peace, here: https://tinyurl.com/yh3ke5v5 Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

  6. Aug 17

    677: Global by Design: Vijay Govindarajan on Building Better Innovations

    Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and co-author of Global by Design, explains how innovations developed for emerging markets can also serve wealthier countries. Building on his earlier work on reverse innovation, he argues that successful innovation requires business strategy and engineering science to be considered together. Vijay places this work within his Three Box Solution, a framework for improving the efficiency of the core business while simultaneously creating new businesses. The central challenge is developing the capabilities to manage efficiency and exploration at the same time. He describes effective innovators as "tempered dreamers." They think ambitiously without becoming detached from what is possible. This requires leaders to understand their current capabilities, determine which capabilities they can acquire, and remain humble enough to learn from others. Innovation should begin with a clear understanding of the customer's problem, independent of any proposed solution. Customers may not be able to articulate what they need, so Vijay recommends ethnographic research, direct observation, and immersion in their lives. Once the problem is understood, teams should divide the solution into components, test the most critical part first, learn, adjust, and proceed. His advice is to run innovation "as a marathon race, as a series of 400 meters," with each stage creating an opportunity to test and pivot. The conversation also addresses AI and the distinction between intelligence and judgment. AI can process extensive data and generate many options, but people must decide which option to pursue, persuade colleagues, and navigate organizational realities. As Vijay says, "AI doesn't substitute thinking. AI doesn't substitute judgment." It should be used to "augment human creativity," not replace independent reasoning. To prevent "cognitive surrender," Vijay asks students to analyze a case independently before consulting AI, compare their reasoning with its response, and refine their conclusions. He reports that this approach has improved the quality of their judgment, while requiring him to reconsider both what he teaches and how he teaches it. Vijay closes by explaining how his collaboration with MIT engineering professor Amos Winter strengthened Global by Design. Their different perspectives produced disagreements, but those disagreements led to a better book because they were examined with rigor and mutual respect. The broader lesson is that complex innovation benefits from multiple disciplines and perspectives, including those of customers, manufacturers, engineers, scientists, and business leaders. Get Vijay's book, Global by Design, here: https://tinyurl.com/5asv27jv Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

  7. Aug 12

    676: The key strategy question most boards do not answer, and cannot answer

    Porsche just announced workforce cuts because of dropping sales in China. Every board reads that as an operations problem. It isn't. It's a risk problem — and it's the wrong risk almost every board is looking at. Here's what nobody asks in the boardroom: once a strategy is successfully implemented, what new risk did it just add to the business? Not the risk of getting there. The risk of what you've built once you have. That's the question 99% of boards never answer, because most don't have a way to see it.In this video I walk through how we use Michael, our internal AI, to build a digital clone of a company, plot its actual risk and return position against the efficient frontier, and test what a proposed strategy does to that position before a single dollar moves. I use Porsche as the live example: what happens to their risk profile if they cut back cautiously versus if they fully rebalance toward EV and the Americas. This isn't a theoretical framework. It's portfolio modeling — the same logic that governs a diversified investment portfolio — applied to a company's revenue streams and cost base. Correlated streams add risk. Diversified ones don't. Most executive teams have never plotted their own business this way, which means most boards are approving strategy without knowing if it moves them toward more return for the same risk, or just more risk they haven't priced. If you sit on a board, run a strategy function, or advise one, this is the question you should be asking before the next planning cycle — not after.   Free resource library. Choose the one that fits you: → Business leaders, consultants, and serious operators (strategy, leadership, executive presence): https://specialoffers.firmsconsulting.com/leaders → Authors and online business owners (growing your brand and business): https://specialoffers.firmsconsulting.com/builders Free newsletter for corporate leaders: http://www.firmsconsulting.com/gift Download our resume template: http://www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf

  8. Aug 10

    675: Porsche to Cut 5000 More Jobs After Sales Collapse. Here's What Their Strategy Is Missing

    Michael has said, all other things being equal, there's only a 10% chance of this working.  Porsche just announced 5,000 more job cuts ,on top of 3,900 already gone. That's 8,900 positions, 21% of the workforce. The headline story is China's collapsing sales. Topics: Porsche layoffs, Porsche crisis, Porsche hybrid, Porsche strategy, business case study, brand positioning, pricing strategy, Porsche China, automotive business, corporate strategy, management consulting, AI strategy analysis, strategic analysis, scenario planning, layoffs, german automakers, luxury car brand, career development  #Porsche #Strategy #jobcuts    Free resource library. Choose the one that fits you: → Business leaders, consultants, and serious operators (strategy, leadership, executive presence): https://specialoffers.firmsconsulting.com/leaders → Authors and online business owners (growing your brand and business): https://specialoffers.firmsconsulting.com/builders Free newsletter for corporate leaders: http://www.firmsconsulting.com/gift Download our resume template: http://www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf

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CEOs and business leaders, management consulting senior partners, ground-breaking professors, thought-provoking writers and journalists, record-setting athletes and coaches, and award-winning actors and celebrities discuss the key issues facing the business world and broader society. Get free access to our newsletter, Monday Morning at 8 am, along with sample episodes from our training programs on www.strategytraining.com. Go to https://www.firmsconsulting.com/promo.

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