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. 4D AGO

    589: CEO of FCLT Global and Former Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company on Turning Investor Dialogue into Strategy

    Sarah Keohane Williamson, CEO of FCLT Global and coauthor of The CEO’s Guide to the Investment Galaxy, offers a disciplined primer for executives operating at the intersection of corporate strategy and capital markets. Drawing from her background in investment banking, government, consulting, and asset management, she explains why “investors are not a single audience,” how their incentives shape corporate outcomes, and what leaders must do differently to secure durable capital and strategic flexibility.   Williamson pushes back on conventional wisdom about investor relations, replacing it with practical routines and priorities. She emphasizes a consulting-rooted discipline, “Start with the answer”, as a communications principle, and translates it into a concrete playbook for CEOs who cannot afford ambiguity when describing long-term bets. She underscores that “quarterly calls are important, but they’re often dominated by the sell side,” and CEOs should deliberately allocate their limited time toward building trust with long-term owners and anchor shareholders.   Key takeaways include: Map the owners. “Who actually owns your company? Who makes the decisions about those shares?” Owner types—retail, index funds, active managers, hedge funds—differ in incentives and time horizons, and executives should treat that map as a strategic input. Build an investor strategy like a customer strategy. Decide which kinds of capital the company needs, why, and how to attract and retain those investors. Use a long-term roadmap. Make risky investments intelligible by explaining milestones that link short-term actions to enduring value, and “don’t be afraid to update the roadmap when the assumptions change.” Translate investor signals into operational choices. Avoid reflexive short-term fixes, like cutting R&D to meet a quarter, without measuring the long-term cost. Treat disclosure and dialogue as governance tools. Clarity about ownership, voting, and incentives reduces misalignment and reputational risk. Reframe consultancy input for execution. “The hard part is not the analysis, the hard part is making it happen inside the organization.” This episode equips CEOs, CFOs, and board members with a practical framework for raising capital, defending strategic bets, and managing shareholder composition. It reframes investor engagement from a compliance exercise into a core discipline of strategy and governance.   📚 Get Sarah’s book, The CEO's Guide to the Investment Galaxy, here: https://shorturl.at/7hFeb   Here are some free gifts for you:   Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Get Exclusive Episode 1 Access of How to Build a Consulting Practice: www.firmsconsulting.com/build   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    51 min

  2. SEP 22

    588: Former CEO of Jamba Juice on Leading with Culture

    James D. White, former CEO of Jamba Juice, current board chair, and coauthor of Culture Design, shares how culture becomes a management discipline rather than a slogan. Drawing on his eight-year turnaround of Jamba, service on more than 15 boards, and leadership toolkit, he explains how listening, rituals, and disciplined systems embed values into sustained performance.   Key takeaways: Start with stakeholder listening. White began his turnaround with nearly 200 “start, stop, continue” inputs across employees, suppliers, and board members. “I always start by listening,” he says, because the people inside the company “actually know what’s required to make the company run better.” Make culture intentional. “Companies have culture by design or default.” Define what matters, create rituals that reinforce it, and remove practices that contradict stated values. Reduce the say–do gap. “The really important things from a leadership perspective is what we say versus what we do, and minimizing the say–do gap.” Simple rituals—forums, recognition, measurement—align words with actions. Invest in people individually. “People don’t care how much you know until they understand how much you care about them personally.” One-on-ones and role design that lean into strengths unlock discretionary effort. Demand transparency. White is direct: “I want bad news first.” Candor allows leaders to respond before problems multiply. Design mechanics, not just rhetoric. From anonymous feedback channels to departmental listening sessions, operating processes must “make it easier for our stores to deliver great products in the most efficient fashion.” Balance preservation and change. Protect what works—“fantastic products” and passionate employees—while reallocating resources. One example was adding steel-cut oatmeal for colder markets, paired with smoothies. Measure what matters. “Anything that matters, you always measure it.” White combines Gallup Q12 surveys, pulse checks, and qualitative indicators like recognition letters to monitor engagement. Clarify board vs. CEO roles. “The CEO is responsible for running the company… the board chair is a facilitator of the collective board.” A strong chair–CEO relationship unburdens management while channeling board expertise. Exit with care. Not every role fits every person: “You often… get to a place where you free up people’s future to go do something else. You do it with kindness and grace and thoughtfulness.” For executives facing turnaround, scaling challenges, or governance decisions, this episode offers a tested blueprint: start with listening, design culture deliberately, align actions with words, and lead with humanity.   📚 Get James’s book, Culture Design, here: https://shorturl.at/NVrs1   Here are some free gifts for you:   Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Get Exclusive Episode 1 Access of How to Build a Consulting Practice: www.firmsconsulting.com/build   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    43 min

  3. SEP 17

    587: Globally Recognized Marketing Strategist on How to Build Brands That Dominate

    Laura Ries, globally recognized marketing strategist and author of The Strategic Enemy, outlines a category-first approach to brand building. As she explains, “while people talk in brands, they really think in categories. The category is king.” Her core message: focus, contrast, and clarity determine whether a brand leads or disappears.   The conversation emphasizes why narrowing focus creates strength, when to launch a new brand name rather than extend an old one, and how visible, repeatable signals, what Ries calls a “visual hammer”, turn a positioning into dominance. She draws on vivid examples: Kodak’s misstep in naming its first digital cameras, Toyota’s use of Lexus to enter the luxury market, Subaru’s turnaround through all-wheel-drive focus, and Target’s positioning as “cheap chic” against Walmart.   Strategic takeaways for leaders include: Define and own a category. “The power is in owning a singular idea, and the even more powerful thing is to dominate and own a category.” Choose a strategic enemy. As Ries argues, “the mind understands opposition faster than superiority.” Standing against something clarifies what you stand for. Use new names for new categories. Legacy names can trap perception in the old category. Deploy the visual hammer. A simple, memorable image or symbol cements positioning more powerfully than words alone. Keep the message simple and repeat it. Brands like BMW (“The Ultimate Driving Machine”) and Chick-fil-A (“Eat More Chicken”) succeeded through decades of repetition, not campaign churn. Invest in leadership visibility. Well-known figures, from Anna Wintour at Vogue to Elon Musk at Tesla, can embody and amplify brand positioning. Treat AI as a tool, not a substitute. Ries uses it for research synthesis but insists, “there’s a great human element that is still incredibly valuable.” For executives shaping brand portfolios or launching new products, this discussion offers a disciplined playbook: narrow the focus, name carefully, define the enemy, and repeat until the position is instinctive in customers’ minds.   📚 Get Laura’s book, The Strategic Enemy, here: https://shorturl.at/PUuwc   Here are some free gifts for you:   Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    46 min

  4. SEP 15

    586: Father of the Cable Modem Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard on Innovation and the Global Broadband Transformation

    Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard, founder of LANcity, author of The Accidental Network, and widely known as the “father of the cable modem”, shares the story of how broadband was built and the lessons it offers for today’s leaders navigating AI and emerging technologies.   Arriving in the U.S. with $750 in savings, Yassini-Fard envisioned carrying “voice, data and video… over one cable instead of two” at a time when few believed homes would ever need to be connected. Over nine years, with just 13 employees and seven consultants, he built a working product, proved its reliability, and persuaded the cable industry to adopt it. By 1996, his team had driven device costs from $8,000 down to under $300 and helped create DOCSIS, the global broadband standard, released royalty-free to speed adoption.   Reflecting on today’s tech landscape, he cautions: “It’s not just really money… you need more than that. It’s a proven prototype and a product that actually does the talking.” Valuations without execution, he warns, will accelerate failure.   Key lessons include: Prototype before scale: Capital is wasted without demonstrable performance in real environments. Treat infrastructure as strategy: Broadband enabled Silicon Valley, Netflix, telehealth, and remote work; leaders must model today’s energy, compute, and connectivity constraints when sizing AI opportunities. Open standards matter: Royalty-free interoperability can turn a niche idea into an industry platform. Execution trumps valuation: LANcity beat Motorola and Intel with disciplined engineering, resilient supply chains, and relentless customer trials. Anchor to customer economics: Early users became advocates because the modem delivered day-to-day value. Looking forward, Yassini-Fard stresses that AI and robotics will stall without addressing power and infrastructure: “For some of these AI companies to be successful, they need gigawatts of power… it takes 10 years to build a nuclear reactor that gives you one.” He highlights quantum computing and network management as the next frontiers, and calls for workforce retraining in mathematics, physics, and the skilled trades that sustain digital systems.   For executives evaluating platform bets or emerging technologies, this conversation offers a grounded blueprint: start with the prototype, model the infrastructure honestly, choose standards deliberately, and align capital with execution discipline.   📚 Get Rouzbeh’s book, The Accidental Network, here: https://shorturl.at/rUB1T   Here are some free gifts for you:   Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Get Exclusive Episode 1 Access of How to Build a Consulting Practice: www.firmsconsulting.com/build   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    56 min

  5. SEP 10

    585: Former Goldman Sachs Executive, Erin Coupe, on Rituals for Success, Meditation, and Self-Leadership

    Former Goldman Sachs executive Erin Coupe shares how she transformed her life and career by replacing routines with rituals, practicing meditation, and stepping into self-leadership.   In this episode of the Strategy Skills Podcast, Kris Safarova and Erin dive deep into practical lessons for entrepreneurs, consultants, and online business owners who want more clarity, energy, and independence.   Based on her book, I Can Fit That In: How Rituals Transform Your Life, Erin explains how to: Build rituals that fuel focus, creativity, and business growth. Use meditation to calm your mind and access deeper ideas. Lead yourself first — so you can lead teams, clients, and businesses better. Align achievement with values to avoid burnout and emptiness. See AI not just as a tool for efficiency, but as a partner in self-discovery.   This conversation is perfect for online business owners, consultants, authors, and executives building a life and career on their own terms.   Learn more about Erin here: https://www.erincoupe.com/ 📚 Get Erin’s book, I Can Fit That In, here: https://www.erincoupe.com/i-can-fit-that-in   Here are some free gifts for you:   Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    54 min

  6. SEP 8

    584: ESSEC Business School Professor on How Geopolitics Shapes Corporate Strategy

    Srividya Jandhyala, professor of management at ESSEC Business School and author of The Great Disruption, offers a clear framework for how geopolitics is reshaping corporate strategy. Her central thesis is direct: “The fundamental idea, ‘Where are you from?’—the nationality of the company—is the defining feature of the type of reactions you face from all stakeholders, not just governments, but also customers, suppliers, and clients”.   She explains why geopolitics now sits inside business decisions rather than adjacent to them. Corporate choices create externalities that trigger responses from states and nonmarket actors. For example, decisions around semiconductors illustrate how commercial moves collide with concerns about national security and dependence in key markets. The implication is that access, permissions, and standards increasingly compete with price and product as decisive variables.   Jandhyala distills four structural foundations every multinational should monitor: Market access — Where tariffs, export controls, or rivalries may close doors. Level playing field — Corporate nationality can tilt advantage or disadvantage against competitors. Investment security — Whether assets, workforce, and property rights will be safe and returns can be repatriated. Institutional alignment — The “USB vs. power plug” analogy: some systems work seamlessly, while others clash. Geopolitics is increasingly a contest of standards   Practical Takeaways Build a repeatable discipline. Go beyond headline news by scanning developments, personalizing them to the firm’s footprint, planning responses, and pivoting as conditions change. Map exposure by corporate nationality. Quantify where origin shapes market permissions, customer sentiment, or partner constraints. Treat corporate diplomacy as a core capability. Relationship-building with governments and stakeholders now consumes significant CEO time, creating both opportunities and trade-offs. For CEOs: View geopolitical flux as a field for advantage, not just risk. “Be imaginative about how you can exploit your corporate nationality, your position in the value chain, and your global market presence.” For middle managers: Expect new roles and metrics; government engagement, redundancy planning, and cross-functional information brokering are becoming central. Use the right cognitive frame. Executives must decide explicitly whether and where geopolitics deserves share of mind, recognizing that equally astute observers may reach different conclusions. Jandhyala’s counsel is rigorous but pragmatic: geopolitics is now part of the operating environment. Companies that treat it as noise will miss risks and opportunities. Those that build structural awareness and corporate diplomacy into strategy will be better positioned to compete when “permissions, politics, and standards” define the terms of play.   📚 Get Srividya’s book, The Great Disruption, here: https://shorturl.at/SWrdT   Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    46 min

  7. SEP 3

    583: The Four Pillars of Elite Teams (with Colin M. Fisher)

    In this rigorous and insight-rich episode, Dr. Colin Fisher, author of The Collective Edge, deconstructs high-performing teams using decades of organizational research and field-tested frameworks. If you lead, manage, or influence teams, the insights here can recalibrate how you build and guide collaboration.   We explore four foundational elements (Composition, Goals, Tasks, and Norms) and dismantle prevalent myths that often derail even experienced leaders.   Key insights include: Composition: A team’s effectiveness begins with clarity. In a landmark study, only 7% of top management teams agreed on how many people were actually on their team. “We can’t compose the team thoughtfully unless we agree on who’s in the team in the first place.” The ideal team size? 4.5 people. Why? It balances task performance and member satisfaction, minimizing coordination cost while maximizing cohesion. Goals: Most teams fall apart not because of conflict, but because “members don’t share the same understanding of what the group’s goals are.” Dr. Fisher emphasizes that goals must be clear, challenging, and consequential, repeated often, and refined constantly. Tasks: Don’t assign group work to solo tasks. Effective team tasks must require interdependence and diverse expertise. Leaders must provide “clear goals but autonomy over process.” Micromanagement erodes both accountability and innovation. Norms: Often invisible yet decisive. Norms around psychological safety and information sharing distinguish resilient teams from dysfunctional ones. Without them, even the most capable groups collapse under miscommunication or fear of speaking up.   Dr. Fisher’s core thesis is deceptively simple: The secret sauce is sustained attention to the basics. His research confirms that elite leaders are not mystical intuitives but methodical questioners and attentive listeners.   If you care about sustainable performance and intelligent team design, this conversation delivers a precise blueprint.   📚 Get Colin’s book, The Collective Edge, here: https://shorturl.at/91Khp   Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    58 min

  8. SEP 1

    582: McKinsey's Venkat Atluri, How to thrive in the ecosystem economy (Strategy Skills classics)

    Venkat Atluri, McKinsey senior partner and coauthor of The Ecosystem Economy: How to Lead in the New Age of Sectors Without Borders, explains how value creation is shifting from stand-alone enterprises to coordinated networks of collaborators. Drawing on two decades advising leaders in technology, media, and telecom, he outlines what makes ecosystem businesses distinct from traditional conglomerates—and the governance required to make them work at scale.   Atluri emphasizes that ecosystems aren’t about diversification for its own sake, but about following a customer-led thread: “Start with the customer and then follow the thread—what other problems does that customer have that you can solve together with partners?”   Key Insights from the Conversation Beyond Suppliers: Many firms mistake a supplier list or procurement process for an ecosystem. Atluri is clear: “A supplier list is not an ecosystem. An ecosystem is about mutual value creation and sharing in the upside.” Role Clarity Matters: Some firms will anchor the platform, continuously raising the bar for developers and users. Others will participate as contributors, protecting privacy, quality, and customer experience. Scale only comes when “responsibilities, incentives, and accountability” are explicit. Discipline in Operating Models: He advises executives to integrate ecosystem thinking into strategy, but then run deeper, dedicated workstreams to define roles, economics, and governance. Competition Is Ecosystem vs. Ecosystem: Scenario planning must account for new types of disruptors and ask, “What would an ecosystem leader do here?” Over time, Atluri expects the economy to consolidate into a few macro-ecosystems with multiple micro-ecosystems nested beneath them. History as a Control: Symbian and BlackBerry illustrate that large user bases are not moats. “Unless you keep raising the bar on your proposition, you lose.” Customer Experience Sets the Standard: Consumer expectations now apply in B2B as well: “If something doesn’t work out of the box, that tells you the company is focused on itself, not the customer.” 🎯 Practical Takeaways for Senior Leaders Map a customer segment’s biggest problems and use that to prioritize expansion. Deliberately choose whether to anchor a platform or participate in one—and align capital and talent accordingly. Replace vendor transactions with value-sharing constructs that reward partners for enlarging the pie. Establish governance, metrics, and cultural norms that enable collaboration at scale. Continuously improve the platform to keep developers, customers, and partners engaged. Atluri’s message is simple but powerful: “Ecosystems win when they deliver ever-rising value to customers and fair economics to contributors.” Companies that treat ecosystems as procurement exercises will stall. Those that treat them as strategic systems will build compounding advantages over time.   📚 Get Venkat’s book, The Ecosystem Economy, here: https://shorturl.at/XawOb   Here are some free gifts for you:   Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

    58 min
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103 Ratings

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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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