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

People will save for four years, eat less, and travel across the world to watch their team play. Kris and Michael walk through Berlin during the World Cup and ask what that spending really buys. This is the first episode of the Walking Masterclass. Filmed in Berlin a few hours from the Switzerland and Canada match, the conversation moves from the cost of the World Cup to the experience economy, tr...

For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the author of Job Therapy: Finding Work That Works for You , Dr. Tessa West. In her book, Dr. Tessa West helps you figure out the real reason you're unhappy and shows you how to find a new position in which you'll thrive, whether in a different role, company, or new industry altogether. Dr. Tessa West is Professor of Psycholo...

For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the author of Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing , Laura Mae Martin. In her book, Laura shows how to thrive no matter where you're working, giving concrete steps that help you focus on your priorities and keep good systems, routines, and tactics in place.  Uptime explains how to make technology w...

For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the co-author of Persuade: The 4-Step Process to Influence People and Decisions , Andres Lares. This book delivers a concise and insightful take on how to transform your ability to persuade others regardless of the setting. Persuade  is perfect for executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and other business leaders who negotiate...

For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the author of  Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times , Dr. Rebecca Homkes.  Survive, Reset, Thrive  is a playbook for leaders derived from the author's first-hand experience working with executive teams across industries from software, technology, retail, fashion, and construction thro...

For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the coauthor of the book Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI , Mark Abraham. In this episode, we explore the rise of personalization through digital tools and AI, and how companies and organizations are leveraging it to build connections and engage with their customers. We discuss companies that excel in this are...

Elizabeth Svoboda, award-winning science writer and author of The Art of Pacing , examines a question that sits at the center of many successful careers: how to sustain high performance without exhausting the very resources that make meaningful work possible. Drawing on research, conversations with elite athletes, and her own experience, Svoboda argues that pacing is not about doing less. It is ab...

George Barrios spent more than three decades moving between strategy, finance, operations, and general management before helping lead the evolution of WWE from a North American live-event business into a global media company. In this conversation, he reflects on the principles that shaped that career and the lessons learned while leading large-scale change under intense scrutiny. A central theme i...

Brooke Taylor spent more than a decade inside high-performance environments, including leadership roles at Google, before turning her attention to a question that many accomplished professionals quietly wrestle with: why does achievement so often fail to produce a lasting sense of fulfillment? In this conversation, she examines what she calls the "success wound" — the tendency to attach self-worth...

Bruce Cleveland has operated at the center of several major shifts in enterprise technology: Oracle's early growth, the creation of enterprise CRM at Siebel Systems, the rise of SaaS through investments like Marketo and Workday, and now the restructuring of software markets through AI. This conversation focuses on a core idea behind those experiences: strong products alone rarely create market lea...

In this conversation with Cheryl Strauss Einhorn , the discussion examines what happens to judgment and critical thinking as AI becomes embedded in daily decision-making. Drawing on her background as an investigative journalist at Barron's, Einhorn explains how questioning assumptions and searching for disconfirming evidence shaped the development of her AREA Method for decision-making. She argues...

Fredric Marshall spent decades helping companies including Apple, Pfizer, and Genentech solve problems in sales effectiveness, product launches, and organizational change. In this discussion, he explains why he views sales and leadership primarily as change management challenges: helping people move from where they are to where they want to be. The conversation centers on several practical ideas t...

Kristy Ellmer has spent her career leading large-scale transformations across industries, countries, and operating environments. In this conversation, she explains why most change efforts fail — not because of bad strategy, but because organizations underestimate the human side of execution. A central idea from the discussion is the imbalance between the "what" and the "how" of transformation. Lea...

Philip Jameson discusses why most organizational transformations fail despite strong strategic intent, significant investment, and broad awareness that change is necessary. Drawing on his work at Boston Consulting Group and the research behind How Change Really Works , Jameson argues that the core problem is often not strategy itself, but a poor understanding of "how humans behave during periods o...

Management advisor and author Joe Pine explores a question that sits beneath most business strategy discussions but is rarely addressed directly: what business is ultimately for. Drawing on decades of work spanning mass customization, the experience economy, and his latest research on transformation, Pine argues that many companies misunderstand the real value customers seek and therefore stop too...

Professor Mordecai Kurz argues that rising inequality is not simply the result of markets, but the combined effect of "technology, culture and policy" operating together over decades. Drawing on his forthcoming book, Private Power and Democracy's Decline, Kurz explains why he believes free market capitalism, left entirely unregulated, eventually concentrates both economic and political power. His...

Attia Qureshi examines negotiation not simply as a business skill, but as a core leadership capability that shapes influence, alignment, and decision-making. Drawing on experience across consulting, startups, academia, and international development, she explains why many capable professionals struggle in negotiations despite strong analytical skills. The discussion explores several practical theme...

This discussion explores climate change through the lens of leadership, human behavior, and systems design, drawing on Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson's experience across academia, consulting, and nonprofit leadership. Rather than revisiting scientific consensus, the conversation focuses on a more practical question: why progress remains uneven despite clear evidence and available solutions. A central...

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic featuring an interview with the author of Collaborative Disruption, Tom Muccio. In this episode, Tom Muccio shares his experience leading Procter & Gamble's collaboration with Walmart. By breaking down corporate barriers and focusing on mutual understanding, Tom helped both companies grow dramatically and expand their business from $350 mil...

Arun Gupta challenges conventional notions of career stability, arguing that "you should be seeking meaning… in meaning, you'll find your stability." As institutions become less reliable anchors, purpose—not title or employer—becomes the more durable foundation: "the constant will be why you're doing what you're doing." He rejects the idea that clarity must precede action. In fast-changing environ...

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic featuring an interview with the author of  The Problem with Change: And the Essential Nature of Human Performance , Ashley Goodall. Drawing on two decades spent leading HR organizations at Deloitte and Cisco, Ashley Goodall reveals in his book why change is not the same as improvement, and how, by prioritizing team cohesion (instead of resh...

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...

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 361, an interview with the author of  Building Trust: Exceptional Leadership in an Uncertain World , Darryl Stickel. In his book, Darryl outlines his groundbreaking Trust Unlimited blueprint for building trust. Stickel moves away from the traditional approach of influencing people's willingness to trust—the con artist's tactic—to employing one or more of ten leve...

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic featuring an interview with the author of Inside the Competitor's Mindset ,  John Horn , where he shares proven techniques to help businesses think like the competition and understand why they act the way they do.  Inside the Competitor's Mindset  presents a systematic approach to competitive intelligence that starts with three frameworks t...

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic featuring an interview with a former Monitor Associate partner and Chief Learning Officer of Teach For America, co-CEO of Transcend, and the author of  Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs In Leadership and Life,  Jeff Wetzler. In this book, Jeff offers a hands-on, surprisingly effective way to f...