The Strategy Skills Podcast: Management Consulting | Strategy, Operations & Implementation | Critical Thinking

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 187, an episode with a sought-after business advisor and speaker, Jon Picoult. Jon Picoult is the founder of Watermark Consulting and a noted authority on customer and employee experience. He helps companies impress their customers and inspire their employees, creating “raving fans” that drive business growth. He worked with some of the world’s foremost brands, personally advising CEOs and other members of the C-Suite and helps organizations capitalize on the power of loyalty, both in the marketplace and in the workplace. His insights have been featured by dozens of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, The Economist, Inc., NBC News and Forbes. Jon held senior executive roles at Fortune 100 companies – leading service, operations, distribution, technology, sales and marketing. Early in his career, at the age of 29, Jon earned the distinction of becoming the youngest executive officer in the over 150-year history of a leading, global

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 186, an episode with a professor at Queensland University of Technology, Amanda Lotz. Get Amanda’s new book here: https://amzn.to/3jzSLhK Amanda Lotz is an educator, media scholar, and industry consultant. She is known for her expertise in media industries, television studies, digital distribution, the business of media, net neutrality and other aspects of digital media policy. Amanda is a professor at Queensland University of Technology and leads the Transforming Media Industries research project. She is the author, coauthor, or editor of ten books that explore television and media industries including We Now Disrupt This Broadcast: How Cable Transformed Television and the Internet Revolutionized It All, The Television Will Be Revolutionized and Portals: A Treatise on Internet-Distributed Television. Media Disrupted: Surviving Cannibals, Pirates and Streaming Wars (MIT Press, 2021). Her books explore the connections between internet-distributed services as well as the busin

For this episode, let's revisit one of the classics by Strategy Skills where we discuss why everyone should read Bill Matassoni's book. Every now and then, someone comes along and makes the subject of management both fun and insightful. That’s what Bill Matassoni has done in his memoir—a combination of compelling stories and contrarian substance—that covers his forty-year career selling what he calls “ephemeral things.” In addition to the memoir, Bill plays host to a series of videos that are entertaining, irreverent, and filled with his conviction that marketing is the primary driver of progress in both commercial and social markets. MARKETING SAVES THE WORLD: Stories Why Capitalism Works. Bill Matassoni Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 184, an episode with the Vice President for Communications of Texas Roadhouse and Kent Taylor's close friend, Travis Doster. Get Kent's new book here: https://amzn.to/30Q9SW7 Kent Taylor was the Founder and CEO of Texas Roadhouse, one of the most successful restaurant chains in America. It was founded in 1993 and is currently operating 647 restaurants in 49 states and 10 foreign countries. In 2016 and 2018, it was recognized by Forbes as America’s Best Large Employer. On the 18th of March 2021, Kent died at the age of 65; just a few months before his book was finally released in the market. In this episode, Travis Doster talks about the humble beginnings of the iconic Casual Dining food chain. He talked about how Kent made out-of-the-box strategies that contributed to the company's legendary success. He also talked about how Kent handled more than 80 rejections as he pitched the idea for his business. For business owners who are facing difficulties during these trying times,

Learn more and see the application guidelines: https://www.firmsconsulting.com/experts-published-author-program/ Apply: email team@firmsconsulting.com This is a part of a 10-episode program to help our clients and customers measurably and radically transform their careers through The Author Program. How would your career, reputation, and earnings change as a published author? Imagine your client interactions when potential and current clients saw your thinking in a published book before they met you? Imagine the time you would save not having to explain your ideas and the value you could add to them? Imagine the fee premium you could earn? Imagine avoiding awkward meetings trying to establish your credibility? Imagine how many potential clients would find you and reach out to you? Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit one of the classics by Strategy Skills where we discuss the most important concepts you need to understand in order to advance your career. Be reminded about what is Corporate Strategy and how is it different from the other types of strategies. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit one of the classics by Strategy Skills where we answer a question from our audience. Facing a "horrible" client is a common experience in the business world. You could say that it is part of the journey. It can be hard to know what you should do during this situation. But it is exactly in these types of situations that we learn a lot. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 180, an episode with the former Global Futurist at Hewlett Packard, Jonathan Brill. Get Jonathan's new book here: https://amzn.to/3uG0m2F Jonathan Brill is an expert on resilient growth, innovation, and decision-making during uncertainty. He helps organizations by preparing them to profit from radical change. As a former senior leader in HP, he directed the company's long-term strategy programs. He was also a creative director at Frog Design and the managing partner of innovation firms that created over 350 products. He is currently the managing director at Resilient Growth Partners and a board member at Frost & Sullivan, a major market intelligence firm with offices in 46 countries. He also develops products for both fictional heroes and real people as the Futurist-in-Residence at Territory Studio, the creative visionaries behind the sci-fi tech in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, Ghost in the Shell, and Blade Runner 2049. He advises globally on product innovation a

Learn more and see the application guidelines: https://www.firmsconsulting.com/experts-published-author-program/ Apply: email team@firmsconsulting.com This is a part of a 10-episode program to help our clients and customers measurably and radically transform their careers through The Author Program. How would your career, reputation, and earnings change as a published author? Imagine your client interactions when potential and current clients saw your thinking in a published book before they met you? Imagine the time you would save not having to explain your ideas and the value you could add to them? Imagine the fee premium you could earn? Imagine avoiding awkward meetings trying to establish your credibility? Imagine how many potential clients would find you and reach out to you? Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Learn more and see the application guidelines: https://www.firmsconsulting.com/experts-published-author-program/ Apply: email team@firmsconsulting.com This is a part of a 10-episode program to help our clients and customers measurably and radically transform their careers through The Author Program. How would your career, reputation, and earnings change as a published author? Imagine your client interactions when potential and current clients saw your thinking in a published book before they met you? Imagine the time you would save not having to explain your ideas and the value you could add to them? Imagine the fee premium you could earn? Imagine avoiding awkward meetings trying to establish your credibility? Imagine how many potential clients would find you and reach out to you? Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 177, an episode with the CEO and Co-Founder of Bolster, Matt Blumberg together with his Co-Founder Jack Sinclair. Get Matt's book here: https://amzn.to/3oqmBsv Matt Blumberg is a technology entrepreneur. He spent his entire career creating startups, scaling them, and sharing best practices of what works and what doesn't work for other CEOs and team members in the entrepreneurial community. His innovative email marketing company, Return Path, grew to $100mm in revenues and helped it to a successful exit in a strategic sale to Validity in 2019. Blumberg's company Bolster, an on-demand executive talent marketplace, helps accelerate companies' growth by connecting them with experienced, highly-vetted executives for various roles. It recently conducted a study on Independent Board Members and Board Diversity, which revealed that most early-stage startup boards lack racial and gender diversity as much as boards of more established startups. In this episode, Matt and Jack talked ab

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 176, an episode with a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company (Amsterdam), Kayvan Kian. Get Kayvan's book here: https://amzn.to/3kntLLF Kayvan Kian is the founder of the Young Leaders Forum, a program that helps high potential future leaders with the necessary skills, ways of thinking, and insights to become better leaders in a world of constant change. He also has given guest lectures at Harvard Business School, HEC, Sciences Po, and other leading institutions. He believes that we can make this world a better place by sharing hard-fought lessons with each other, that we gained through the most challenging times in our lives. In this episode, Kayvan talked about how to move forward by taking a step back and identifying the things we can control. For those leaders who feel stuck, this is for you. WHAT IS WATER?: How Young Leaders Can Thrive in an Uncertain World. Kayvan Kian: https://amzn.to/3kntLLF Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here:

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 175, an episode with the Eugene O'Kelly II Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Leadership at Stanford Graduate School of Business, David Bradford. Get David's new book here: https://amzn.to/3lAmUhi David Bradford is one of the two researchers behind Stanford's most popular class: Interpersonal Dynamics, where students and leaders learn how to greatly improve personal and professional relationships. He has produced six books, numerous articles, three training programs, and a massive open online course on leadership, team performance, and the influence process. He has worked with and helped some of the biggest companies in the world including Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, IBM, Levi Strauss, Raychem, etc. He is currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the Academy of Management Learning & Education, the Journal of Applied  Behavioral Science, and the Journal of Management Education. In this episode, David talked about how leaders can shift their way of thinking and have a bet

Learn more and see the application guidelines: https://www.firmsconsulting.com/experts-published-author-program/ Apply: email team@firmsconsulting.com This is a part of a 10-episode program to help our clients and customers measurably and radically transform their careers through The Author Program. How would your career, reputation, and earnings change as a published author? Imagine your client interactions when potential and current clients saw your thinking in a published book before they met you? Imagine the time you would save not having to explain your ideas and the value you could add to them? Imagine the fee premium you could earn? Imagine avoiding awkward meetings trying to establish your credibility? Imagine how many potential clients would find you and reach out to you? Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Learn more and see the application guidelines: https://www.firmsconsulting.com/experts-published-author-program/ Apply: email team@firmsconsulting.com This is a part of a 10-episode program to help our clients and customers measurably and radically transform their careers through The Author Program. How would your career, reputation, and earnings change as a published author? Imagine your client interactions when potential and current clients saw your thinking in a published book before they met you? Imagine the time you would save not having to explain your ideas and the value you could add to them? Imagine the fee premium you could earn? Imagine avoiding awkward meetings trying to establish your credibility? Imagine how many potential clients would find you and reach out to you? Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 172, an episode with a sought-after public speaker and an influential thought-leader, Charlene Li. Get Charlene's new book here: https://amzn.to/2XhSdFv Charlene Li is a guide on digital transformation, leadership, customer experience, and the future of work. Her career is focused on helping people see the future and thrive with disruption. She is currently a Senior Fellow at Altimeter, a Prophet company. In this episode, Charlene talked about how disruption serves as a key element in order for a company to determine their future and set their path to growth. For those who wants to learn more on how to advance through the future, this is for you. THE DISRUPTION MINDSET: Why Some Organizations Transform While Others Fail. Charlene Li: https://amzn.to/2XhSdFv Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo We use affiliate links whenever possible (if you purchase items listed above using our affiliate links, we will get

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 171, an episode with one of the world's leading female futurists, April Rinne. Get April's new book here: https://amzn.to/38iGhFp April Rinne is a navigator in a world of flux. She is guiding individuals and organization operate in these fast-paced changing times. Her solo travels to over 100 countries in a span of 25 years has developed her to see how the world changes and how the trends will be set in the future. April is a well-known advisor of startups, companies, financial institutions, non-profits, think tanks and government agencies around the globe. In this episode, April talked about a few key points that would make us rethink our views and help us be prepared for what's coming in the future. For those who wants to better understand uncertainties in order to anticipate and adapt to what's ahead of us, this is for you. FLUX: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change. April Rinne: https://amzn.to/38iGhFp Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 170, an episode with one of the world's most influential and innovative business thinkers, Gary Hammel. Get Gary's new book here: https://amzn.to/3DkAvRZ Gary Hammel is the founder of the international consulting firm Strategos and the Director of the Woodside Institute. He has worked with top companies around the world and is a sought-after management speaker. Throughout his career, he has helped numerous companies in designing and building innovation-friendly management practices, tools and platforms. His concepts of "strategic intent", "core competence", "industry revolution" and "management innovation" have changed the management of organizations worldwide. He's been teaching at the London Business School for over 30 years now as a Visiting Professor. In this episode, Gary talked about how some of the largest companies in the world has gone ahead of their competition by implementing radical changes inside their respective organizations. For those leaders who also want to

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 169, an episode with the Howard Stevenson Professor of Business Administration of Harvard Business School, Tom Eisenmann. Get Tom's new book here: https://amzn.to/3Dmxqkl Tom Eisenmann, as a Harvard Business School professor for the past 24 years, has guided over a thousand Harvard Business students and alumni as they launch new ventures up to their success. But not every startup story is like this. In this episode, Tom talked about a glimpse of his new book  where he carried out numerous case studies about failed startups. And from these, he found 6 patterns why a lot of startups fail. For those founders, at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, this is for you. WHY STARTUPS FAIL: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success. Tom Eisenmann: https://amzn.to/3Dmxqkl Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo We use affiliate links whenever possible (if you purchase items listed above using our affiliate links,

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 168, an episode with Jeff Kavanaugh. Get Jeff's new book here: https://amzn.to/3Bfd8Hr Jeff Kavanaugh is the global head for Infosys Knowledge Institute - the research and thought leadership arm of global IT powerhouse Infosys, a leader in digital services and consulting. Aside from speaking on conferences, he also teaches at the Business School of University of Texas at Dallas as an adjunct professor. He serves on boards of the Institute of Business Analytics at Indiana University, and the Marketing Analytics Advisory Board at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is the author of the best-selling book Consulting Essentials. THE LIVE ENTERPRISE: Create a Continuously Evolving and Learning Organization. Jeff Kavanaugh: https://amzn.to/3Bfd8Hr Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo We use affiliate links whenever possible (if you purchase items listed above using our affiliate links, we will get a bonus).