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

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 333, an interview with Gaia Bernstein, a Law Professor, Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute for Law Science and Technology at the Seton Hall University School of Law. She writes, teaches and lectures in the intersection of law, technology, health and privacy. Gaia is also the mother of three children who grew up in a world of smartphones, iPads and social networks. Her forthcoming book: Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies shatters the illusion that we can control how much time we spend on our screens by resorting to self-help measures. Unwired shifts the responsibility for a solution from users to the technology industry, which designs its products to addict. The book draws out the legal action that can pressure the technology industry to re-design its products to reduce technology overuse. Gaia has academic degrees in both law and psychology. Her research combines findings from psychology, sociology, science and technology studies with law and policy. Gaia’s research has been featured extensively by the media including the New York Times, Forbes, ABC News and Psychology Today. Gaia has spearheaded the development of the Seton Hall University School of Law Institute for Privacy Protection’s Student-Parent Outreach Program. The nationally acclaimed Outreach Program addresses over-use of screens by focusing on developing a healthy online-offline balance and the impact on privacy and online reputation. It was featured by the Washington Post, CBS Morning News and Common-Sense Media. Gaia delivers lectures to parents and general audiences about the harms of excessive screen time, the effectiveness of self-help measures, and the options for technology re-design through social and legal action. Get Gaia’s book here: Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies. Gaia Bernstein. https://www.amazon.com/Unwired-Gaining-Control-Addictive-Technologies/dp/1009257935 Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 332, an interview with the author of How to Listen, Oscar Trimboli. Effective communication is not all about eloquent speaking. The key sits on the ability to listen and how you react and respond to what you hear. As Oscar said in the episode, “The difference between hearing and listening is action”. In this episode, we discuss what good listening and communication is. We also highlighted the impact of good listening in your career, organization, and personal life. Oscar Trimboli is on a quest to create 100 million Deep Listeners in the world. He is an author, host of the Apple Award winning podcast—Deep Listening and a sought-after keynote speaker. He is passionate about using the gift of listening to bring positive change in homes, workplaces and the world. Through his work with chairs, boards of directors and executive teams in local, regional and global organizations, Oscar has experienced first-hand the transformational impact leaders and organizations can have when they listen beyond the words. He consults with organisations including Cisco, Google, HSBC, News Corp, PayPal, Qantas, TripAdvisor helping executives and their teams listen to what’s unsaid by the customers and employees. Oscar lives in Sydney with his wife Jennie, where he helps first-time runners and ocean swimmers conquer their fears and contributes to the cure for cancer as part of Can Too, a cancer research charity. Get Oscar’s book here: How to Listen: Discover the Hidden Key to Better Communication. Oscar Trimboli. https://www.amazon.com/How-Listen-Discover-Hidden-Communication-ebook/dp/B09XWY5PRH?ref_=ast_author_dp Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo  

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 331, an interview with the co-author of The Burnout Challenge, Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D. Burnout is one of the major contributors driving people to leave their job. It results from unsuccessfully managed workplace stress and is a combination of exhaustion, psychological distancing, and a low sense of accomplishment. So how do we address burnout and who is responsible for managing this issue? In this episode, we discuss the factors contributing to employee burnout and what leaders and managers can do to understand, protect, and manage their employees to alleviate the distress from the elements that result in burnout. “Some people are looking for something from that job that it's not providing, that there is a mismatch.” —Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D. Michael P. Leiter, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist interested in the relationships of people with their work. He has been a professor of Industrial and Organisational Psychology at Deakin University in the Faculty of Health and Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health at Acadia University. Michael lives in Nova Scotia where he writes and consults with workplaces on preventing burnout while improving respect among people.  Get Michael’s new book here: The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs. Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter. https://www.amazon.com/Burnout-Challenge-Managing-Peoples-Relationships-ebook/dp/B0B3JSJ8T3?ref_=ast_author_dp Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 330, an episode with Christina Maslach, PhD, a professor of psychology (Emerita) and a researcher at the Healthy Workplaces Center at the University of California, Berkeley.  In this episode, we discuss the causes of burnout and the factors contributing to it, and how leaders and organizations can address this issue to provide a sustainable and healthy working environment for their employees.  Christina Maslach, PhD, received her BA from Harvard and her PhD from Stanford. She is best known as the pioneering researcher on job burnout, producing the standard assessment tool (the Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI), books, and journal articles. She has received numerous awards for her work, including both academic (the 2020 award for scientific writing from the National Academy of Sciences) and public (named in 2021 as one of the top 100 people transforming business, by Business Insider). In addition, she is an award-winning teacher and was Professor of the Year in 1997. As an administrator, she was Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Instructional Technology, and the Chair of the faculty Academic Senate (twice) at UC-Berkeley. She was the president of the Western Psychological Association when it celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020. She is now interviewing women faculty who arrived at Berkeley in the 1970s, after the historic low point for women in the 1960s. Get Christina’s new book here: The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs. Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter. https://www.amazon.com/Burnout-Challenge-Managing-Peoples-Relationships-ebook/dp/B0B3JSJ8T3?ref_=ast_author_dp Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo  

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 329, an episode with a Senior Partner and the global leader in the Tech and Telecommunication practice at McKinsey and Company, Venkat Atluri. In this episode, we defined the emerging ecosystem economy and how most successful companies navigate and thrive in this new world.  Venkat Atluri is a thought leader at McKinsey, a prolific author, and a sought-after speaker at industry events. He collaborates with top executives, boards, and investors to create value through end-to-end performance transformation, programmatic M&A, and new business building from scale-up to IPOs. He is keenly focused on the future of technology, with special emphasis on the cross-sector opportunities at the intersection of new technologies and emerging business models. He serves clients in the high-tech, media and telecommunications, advanced industries, and consumer sectors. He has a passion for advising venture capital and private equity investors. Venkat is a leading expert on vast and emerging opportunities created by the network connectivity of devices, systems, platforms, and people that are powered by software and hardware. He draws on this expertise to guide clients through the design and deployment of network and ecosystem-based businesses across sectors. He has held many leadership positions throughout his tenure at the firm. He co-founded and led McKinsey’s IoT (Internet of Things) Practice. He also created a group that aims to incubate new analytic and digital assets, develop innovative client offerings, and build alliances and partnerships with innovators. He previously spearheaded digital, analytics, and tech-enabled transformations for clients in advanced industries, and also led the firm’s global efforts in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice to help clients fast-track and sustain transformational impact through leadership alignment, execution support, capability-building, and leadership development via a distinctive set of assets and exceptional digital-learning programs. Prior to joining McKinsey, Venkat held global operating leadership roles overseeing large businesses and functions, with a focus on product development, management, and deployment. Outside of McKinsey, Venkat serves on the board of 1871, a world-leading not-for-profit start-up incubator. He is the current chairman of the board and a founding member of Current Water, a not-for-profit that seeks sustainable solutions to water challenges through innovation and collaboration for developing and deploying the tools, practices, and technologies to promote sustainable blue economy growth. Get Venkat’s new book here: The Ecosystem Economy: How to Lead in the New Age of Sectors Without Borders. Venkat Atluri and Miklós Dietz. https://www.amazon.com/Ecosystem-Economy-Sectors-Without-Borders/dp/1119984785 Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo  

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we go back to the visioning workshop part of the study and re-visit some of the most important points you need to keep in mind. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube: Structure of the visioning workshop Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic from week 4 of the Corporate Strategy & Transformation study. Promoting women into leadership roles is a hot topic and, sadly, a debate. Why is it a debate? What are the elements that require further analysis? To paraphrase Marvin Bower, one does not ask a client if a woman should take over the relationship, one simply tells a client a woman is taking over. It is not the client’s job to decide what is right. In this podcast, we explain why we have more female than male partners at FC and how we constantly develop them to serve in more and more senior roles. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss how your cost of capital changes as you take on more debt and how this change is different between organizations. It's a crucial concept for this utility. We explain how the cost of capital change usually takes place and then we review the drivers at play that are different for this power utility vs. an average company. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube: When too much debt is a good thing Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we use economics to explain what is the role of government, when governments should intervene, how they should intervene, and when they should hand over certain activities to the private sector. If you want to further your understanding of strategy at the highest possible level you should listen to this. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we interviewed the author of LET THEM LEAD: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America's Worst High School Hockey Team. This book is a true story filled with unforgettable characters, stories, and lessons that apply to organizations everywhere. It includes the leader’s mistakes and the reactions of the players, who have since achieved great success as leaders themselves. Let Them Lead is a fast-paced, feel-good book that leaders of all kinds can embrace to motivate their teams to work harder, work together, and take responsibility for their own success. John U. Bacon has written twelve books on sports, business, health, and history, and the last seven are all National Bestsellers. Bacon's radio essays earned him NPR's PRNDI Award for best commentary in 2014. He appears often on national TV, gives speeches across North and South America, and teaches at the University of Michigan, where he won the 2009 Golden Apple Award for "exceptional teaching." In 2006, he was inducted into the Ann Arbor Huron High School Hall of Fame for turning around the hockey team. Bacon is a decent hockey player, a mediocre Spanish speaker, and a poor piano player, but that has not prevented him from enjoying all three. Get John’s book here: LET THEM LEAD: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America's Worst High School Hockey Team. John U. Bacon. https://www.amazon.com/Let-Them-Lead-Unexpected-Leadership-ebook/dp/B08NWWG72Y?ref_=ast_author_dp Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo