x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

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

53:23

630: Business Innovation and Strategic Growth...

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

2026/02/23

Lorraine Marchand, startup CEO, advisor to Johnson & Johnson, member of the Pharmaceutical Advisory Board at Columbia Business School, and faculty at Wharton, discusses how leaders can sustain growth through disciplined experimentation in an era shaped by AI and institutional risk aversion. Marchand's perspective is grounded in a career that spans large corporations and entrepreneurial ventures. Early in life, she learned to treat problem solving as an experiment rather than a test of personal

en

56:55

629: Ashley Herd, Former Head of HR North America at...

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

2026/02/18

Ashley Herd, former Head of HR North America at McKinsey, joins this episode to discuss what effective leadership looks like in practice, especially in environments defined by speed, pressure, and increasing expectations around AI. Drawing on her experience training more than 250,000 managers, she introduces a simple but rigorous framework: pause, consider, act. In fast-moving organizations, leaders often default to speed over reflection. Herd argues that the brief pause before responding to a

en

59:25

628: Northwestern Law Professor John McGinnis on...

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

2026/02/16

John McGinnis, law professor at Northwestern University and author of Why Democracy Needs the Rich, examines constitutional design, democratic stability, and the accelerating force of artificial intelligence. Drawing on the Federalist Papers, Tocqueville, and public choice theory, he argues that a realistic understanding of politics is essential to preserving both liberty and effective state capacity. McGinnis traces his intellectual formation to a "hard-headed realism" learned early in life and

en

51:52

627: How Overworked Leaders Can Find Peace Again...

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

2026/02/11

Dr. Guy Winch explains why we must treat emotional injuries with the same urgency as physical ones. "We ruminate, we beat ourselves up, we criticize ourselves, we think we're weak… and we end up compounding the emotional injury." He introduces the idea of "emotional first aid" and why we need a psychological toolbox to stop that downward spiral. Guy breaks down the difference between how we respond to physical pain versus emotional pain. "We go to the medicine cabinet for a physical injury, but we

en

55:54

626: BCG Henderson Institute Senior Director Adam Job...

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

2026/02/09

Adam Job, Senior Director at the BCG Institute and leader of its strategy research, offers a clear-eyed examination of growth, uncertainty, and value creation in today's business environment. Drawing on long-term empirical research, he explains why growth remains the primary driver of value over time, while also outlining why it has become structurally harder to achieve amid geopolitical tension, demographic shifts, affordability pressures, and changing political priorities. The discussion moves

en

55:26

625: New York Times Bestselling Author and Navy Seal...

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

2026/02/04

Daniel Coyle, New York Times bestselling author of The Culture Code and adviser to organizations ranging from Navy SEALs to global technology companies, joins the Strategy Skills Podcast to explore what truly drives leadership, performance, and flourishing. Drawing on decades of research into elite performers and high-functioning cultures, Coyle explains why performance alone is not enough, and why many highly successful people still experience emptiness and burnout. He shares pivotal moments from

en

56:01

624: From IQ to AQ: Agility as the New Leadership...

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

2026/02/02

Liz Tran, former venture capital executive and author of AQ, examines why agility—not raw intelligence or experience—has become the defining capability for leaders operating amid persistent uncertainty. She introduces Agility Quotient (AQ) as the capacity to adapt thinking, identity, and decision-making when familiar structures no longer apply. Tran explains how traditional markers of success, from credentials to past wins, can quietly become liabilities when environments shift. She describes how

en

56:20

623: Bain's Rishi Dave, the Secret of Top Sellers...

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

2026/01/28

In this episode with Rishi Dave, a partner in Bain's Commercial Excellence practice with deep expertise in B2B marketing and digital marketing, he explains the concept of a "Day 1 List" in B2B sales and marketing and the three things that will get a supplier or seller on the list. Rishi also discussed what a "sales play" is, how to build it, institutionalize the knowledge within the company, and get the sales team to adopt the sales play to fulfill their potential and increase their productivity

en

56:34

622: Leadership and Self-Deception with Arbinger...

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

2026/01/26

In this episode, we dive deep into the critical topic of self-deception and its profound impact on leadership and personal effectiveness. Mitch shares powerful insights on how self-deception can undermine our relationships and professional success, often without us even realizing it. He explains the concept of self-betrayal and how it leads to a distorted view of ourselves and others, creating unnecessary conflicts and reducing our influence as leaders. Mitch shares a valuable advice on how to

en

43:07

621: Business Longevity Principles from Immigrant...

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

2026/01/21

Neri Karra Sillaman, entrepreneurship advisor at the University of Oxford and author of Pioneers: Eight Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs, discusses why immigrant-founded companies are disproportionately successful and tend to last longer than their counterparts. Drawing on her experience as a former child refugee and on research that began with her PhD, she explains how longevity is built through clear vision, perseverance, community, shared value, and disciplined

en

50:16

620: Former McKinsey partner on How to Turn a Profit...

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

2026/01/19

This episode examines what happens when strategy is applied in environments where institutional stability, reliable data, and conventional partners cannot be assumed. Former McKinsey partner and University of Notre Dame Professor Emerita Viva Ona Bartkus draws on decades of experience across management consulting, academic research, and frontline fieldwork in conflict-affected regions to explain why many standard strategy doctrines collapse outside developed markets. Bartkus reflects on her path

en

49:13

619: Founder of McKinsey's Strategy and Corporate...

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

2026/01/14

In this episode, Tim Koller, co-author of Valuation and a leading authority on corporate finance, offers a substantive examination of capital allocation decisions under real-world constraints. The discussion moves beyond theory to explore how CEOs and CFOs should approach resource deployment in mature, capital-rich companies—where investment opportunities are limited not due to lack of ambition but due to economic reality. Key insights include: - Share Buybacks as Rational Policy: Many firms

en

48:05

618: Rethinking Capitalism, Innovation, AI, and the...

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

2026/01/12

Elizabeth McBride and Seth Levine return to discuss the ideas behind their book Capital Evolution and the shifts they see across capitalism, innovation, and work. They describe conversations with young people who believe "socialism is the right answer," and explain why "nearly half of people under forty now don't think that capitalism works." They share experiences from a World Bank launch event where one attendee "jumped in his car and raced to get there" because he was "so engaged in

en

53:35

617: Inc 5000 fastest growing company on Psychology...

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

2026/01/07

Michael explains that people often struggle because "adding and adding must be more effective," yet humans are "more confident when just one advantage is presented." He shares that Five Guys succeeded because they "only do burgers and fries" and that "if you say you are best at one thing most of all, they're more likely to believe that." He emphasizes that "buyers…have a top force-ranked prioritization of the most important thing," and focusing on the thing you are "best in the world at" is "more

en

52:07

616: NYU Stern's Prof on How AI Is Rewriting the...

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

2026/01/05

When most executives discuss AI, they focus on automation. Dr. Ben Zweig, NYU Stern professor and CEO of Revelio Labs, explains why the real disruption isn't machines replacing people, it's our failure to rethink how work is structured. "Labor markets are not as sophisticated as capital markets," Ben explains. "We allocate capital efficiently, but not labor. That's a huge weakness in how our economy operates." In this conversation, we explore: Why every company must learn job architecture, seeing

en

52:16

615: $12B Investment Firm CEO on Saving the American...

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

2025/12/31

In this conversation, Mark explains that "we often build our lives on things we are certain about that simply are not true." He describes how "we don't actually see the world… we see screens of how we think the world is." He explains that these screens create "a double paradox" shaping what we think is safe, what we think is risky, and how we choose to act. Mark describes the difference between someone who sees a large employer as stability versus an entrepreneur who sees it as danger, saying "which

en

55:51

614: Why Executive Leaders Feel Lonely

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

2025/12/29

Adam McGraw is a Fortune 100 VP turned entrepreneur and co-founder of CREW, a leadership community. "We try and really curate it for folks that are in the VP and above through CEOs as well, founders, etc., so that they have this kind of safe white space atmosphere to really consistently plug in and build community." "Not just transact network-wise in things that are typically narrow and niche… we really love the idea of a melting pot for leaders." "This is kind of the new normal: constant change,

en

54:03

613: Microsoft CTO on AI, Human Agency and the Future...

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

2025/12/25

Technology is reshaping the world at a pace few people, inside or outside the industry, expected. But every so often, you meet someone who has not only witnessed the major waves of technological change, but helped build them. In this conversation, Marcus Fontoura, Technical Fellow and Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, CTO for Azure Core, walks us through the story of AI, what leaders are getting wrong, and how to develop the one thing that will matter more than any model or algorithm: human

en

53:16

612: How to Have More Hope with Dr. Julia Garcia

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

2025/12/22

In this episode, Dr. Julia Garcia explains why hope is a habit and why it is critical for us to remove what blocks hope. She describes what happens inside teams when leaders lose hope, including "the culture that creates, the burnout that leads to, the discouragement and defeat." Julia shows how unprocessed emotions drain leaders even when they appear high-functioning. "If we emotionally feel disconnected, we're going to start looking elsewhere or we're going to end up in a place of hopelessness

en

53:00

611: Former U.S. Intelligence Officer on AI,...

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

2025/12/17

In this conversation, Anthony Vinci explains that "AI is going to be able to do more and more of what people do." He describes a future where "AI is going to get better and better at doing what people do," and highlights that leaders must understand "how do you figure out what AI is good at and then implement it to do that" and "how do you manage your workforce so that they are able to partner with that AI." He warns that leaders often "overestimate what AI can do and underestimate it at the same

en

203 results

Similar Podcasts

TaxTalent.com The Golden Rule Podcast

Adam Golden

TaxTalent.com Podcast

Tony Santiago

Handelsblatt Crime - spannende Streitfälle der deutschen Wirtschaft

Ina Karabasz, Solveig Gode, Sönke Iwersen

Deffner und Zschäpitz – Der Wirtschafts-Talk von WELT

WELT

Black Box - La scatola nera della finanza

Guido Brera e Gian Luca Comandini -...