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PODCAST

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

FirmsConsulting.com & StrategyTraining.com

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.

business careers

All Episodes

55:39

581: President of the Sy Syms Foundation on Legacy,...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/27

Marcy Syms, former CEO of Syms Corporation and president of the Sy Syms Foundation, reflects on leadership, governance, and the responsibilities of stewarding a family-founded, publicly traded business. Her perspective blends the operational discipline of retail with long-term thinking shaped by philanthropy and board service. Syms underscores that organizational resilience rests on clear governance, candid communication, and leaders willing to face hard choices directly. As she puts it, “Leaders

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54:56

580: The Hidden Belief Blocking High Performers: “I’m...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/25

Why do even the most successful executives and management consultants secretly struggle with the belief that they’re not good enough? In this conversation with Josh Davis, PhD (psychology & neuroscience, Columbia University, NLP trainer) and Greg Prosmushkin (trial lawyer turned entrepreneur), we unpack: Why top leaders and consultants battle with imposter syndrome How invisible mental models shape every decision and client interaction Why strategy, frameworks, and technical skill aren’t

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52:24

579: Former Accenture Partner Brad Englert on Career...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/20

Brad Englert, former Accenture partner, IT strategist, CIO, and author, shares how building genuine relationships has been the cornerstone of his career success. From his early days in technology consulting to leading large-scale initiatives, Brad reveals the mindset and habits that helped him grow, earn trust, and thrive in a competitive corporate environment. In this episode, we discuss why relationships are the ultimate career multiplier, opening doors to opportunities, mentorships, and

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51:29

578: Stanford’s Robert E. Siegel on Navigating the...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/18

Robert E. Siegel, Stanford Graduate School of Business professor, venture capitalist, and former executive, shares the leadership lessons he learned working with Intel’s legendary CEO, Andy Grove, and other amazing leaders, and how to thrive in today’s era of conflicting pressures. In this in-depth conversation, we explore the concept of the systems leader, someone who can innovate while delivering results, balance global and local priorities, and combine decisiveness with humility. Drawing from

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55:31

577: Former Submarine Commander L. David Marquet on...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/13

L. David Marquet, former nuclear submarine commander and author of Leadership Is Language, shares a precise, operational approach to leadership, one that replaces command-and-control with a language designed for clarity, ownership, and adaptability. Drawing on his experience turning the USS Santa Fe from one of the worst-performing submarines in the fleet to one of the best, David shows how seemingly small shifts in language can radically improve decision-making, learning speed, and execution.

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01:01:38

576: Bain Senior Partner Sarah Elk on Doing Agile...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/11

Sarah Elk, Senior Partner at Bain & Company and global leader of its operating model work, brings a clear, pragmatic lens to why so many large-scale change efforts fail to stick. Drawing on decades of advising multinational organizations, she diagnoses the structural and behavioral traps that cause transformations to stall, and shares the disciplines that make change durable. Elk emphasizes that transformation is not a one-off program but an enduring capability that must be “led from the top and

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01:00:42

575: Ex McKinsey Expert on War Games, John Horn: How...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/06

John Horn, professor of economics at Washington University's Olin Business School and former McKinsey strategist, shares a disciplined framework for understanding competitive behavior by applying game theory and structured simulations. In this episode, he explains how companies can elevate competitor analysis from basic intelligence gathering to actionable strategic insight. Horn begins by debunking the common misconception that many competitors behave irrationally. As he puts it: “Every single

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48:06

574: McKinsey Senior Partner, Kate Smaje: Winning in...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/08/04

For this episode, let's revisit one of Strategy Skills classics, where we interviewed Kate Smaje, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and Global Leader of McKinsey Digital. In this episode, Kate offers a clear-eyed and disciplined perspective on what it takes for organizations to succeed in digital transformation. Drawing from deep client work across industries, she outlines a practical, results-focused view of how digital can be embedded into the operating core, not treated as a parallel

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14:05

573: How and when a consultant must disagree...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/30

For this episode, let's revisit one of Strategy Skills classics, where we discuss when a consultant must dissent and how it should be done. 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

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54:53

572: Improve Your Cognitive Performance with Herbs

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/28

Rachelle Robinett, founder of Pharmakon Supernatural and educator in holistic health, offers a clear, science-aware framework for supporting energy, focus, and stress regulation, without defaulting to pharmaceuticals or overstimulation. In this episode, she explores how plant-based medicine, nutrition, and daily practices can be woven into practical, long-term routines that support resilience and cognitive clarity. Robinett challenges the assumption that performance must rely on synthetic energy

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53:00

570: Multi-Award-Winning Researcher Vanessa Druskat...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/23

Vanessa Druskat, organizational psychologist and professor at the University of New Hampshire, discusses team emotional intelligence (EI) as a predictor of sustained performance. Building on her foundational work with Daniel Goleman, Druskat focuses not on individual EQ, but on the group-level norms and practices that distinguish effective teams, particularly in complex, high-stakes environments. Druskat identifies three core team norms essential to cultivating group EI: mutual trust, constructive

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45:55

570: Former Biotech CEO and Harvard Medical School...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/21

Margaret Moore, faculty member at Harvard Medical School and former biotech CEO, brings decades of experience at the intersection of science, strategy, and human development to this conversation. In this episode, she unpacks The Science of Leadership, the forthcoming book she co-authored after reviewing hundreds of meta-analyses and large-scale studies, ultimately synthesizing leadership science into a framework of nine essential capacities. Moore emphasizes the role of conscious leadership,

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48:31

569: Advisor to Microsoft, Google, and Hilton...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/16

In this conversation with Bree Groff, author of "Today Was Fun" and who has advised executives at Microsoft, Google, Target, and Hilton through periods of organizational change, shares specific observations about leadership blind spots in large corporations and offers practical frameworks for creating workplace cultures that drive both performance and employee satisfaction. Key Insights: The Professional Conformity Trap: Large organizations often mistake formality for competence, creating

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08:52

568: The one thing every consulting case study must...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/14

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss one important thing every consulting case study must produce. Subscribe to FIRMSconsulting's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/Firmsconsultingsubscribe 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

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39:47

567: From Refugee to U.S. Marine pilot to...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/09

Quang Pham went from being a 10-year-old refugee airlifted out of Vietnam to becoming a Marine pilot, and the CEO of a NASDAQ-listed biotech company. In this conversation, he shares the exact lessons that guided each transition. Key insight: On decision-making: “As a young officer, we were taught to make decisions… there’s not enough time to consult with everybody. You gotta make a decision to keep moving and then adjust along the way.” This became his foundational leadership principle across

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56:43

566: Silicon Valley’s CEO Whisperer on Why Most...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/07

Rich Hagberg, often referred to as “Silicon Valley’s CEO Whisperer, psychologist and co-author of Founders Keepers, has advised over 1,000 executives and founders. In this conversation, he outlines why most startup leaders fail, and what the data reveals about those who succeed. Some key insights include: “Founders, overwhelmingly, are visionary evangelists… but they’re not particularly good at execution.” Hagberg’s research shows that unsuccessful founders often score low on execution and

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56:30

565: Founder and CEO of GK Training on Communicating...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/07/02

Michael Chad Hoeppner, CEO of GK Training and adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, brings a deeply practical lens to one of the most undervalued professional skills: spoken communication. With roots in professional acting and over two decades coaching executives, Hoeppner challenges conventional wisdom, arguing that most communication advice is either vague (“slow down”) or abstract (“just be confident”), and fails to address the real issue: communication is physical. In this episode, he

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57:40

564: Yale’s James Kimmel Jr. on the Science of Revenge

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/06/30

James Kimmel, Jr., lawyer, Yale psychiatry lecturer, and author of The Science of Revenge, joins us in the Strategy Skills podcast to explore the neuroscience and behavioral dynamics of revenge. Drawing on law, psychiatry, and over two decades of research, Kimmel offers a sobering view: revenge is not a form of justice, it’s a “pleasure-seeking behavior” that operates like an addiction, fueled by unresolved pain. He opens the conversation with a deeply personal story: as a teenager, after years of

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52:52

563: Powerhouse CMOs on Global Branding: Insights...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/06/25

In this episode, global brand experts Katherine Melchior Ray and Nataly Kelly discuss how international brands must evolve to stay relevant in an era marked by cultural shifts, technological acceleration, and rising consumer expectations. Drawing on their leadership experience at companies like Nike, Louis Vuitton, HubSpot, and Zappi, they highlight the urgency of embedding trust, cultural fluency, and adaptability into brand strategy. Key insights include: Localization Requires Strategic

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54:47

562: Award-winning Author on How to Achieve Creative...

The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership |... ·

2025/06/23

Leslie Grandy, a seasoned executive with leadership roles at Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, and T-Mobile, discusses the underestimated nature of creative capability and how leaders can systematically cultivate it. Drawing from her early career in the film industry and later product leadership across Fortune 50 companies, she presents a grounded, practical perspective on how creativity functions in high-performance environments. She outlines three foundational skills transferable across domains: enduring

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174 results

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