Lancefield on the Line

What does strategy really mean when the word is everywhere, yet real strategic practice remains so rare?
In this solo episode, David Lancefield takes on one of the most overused and misunderstood ideas in business. Drawing on nearly 30 years advising CEOs, C-suite leaders, founders, and leadership teams, he makes the case for a broader, more practical, and more human view of strategy.
David explores why strategy so often gets trapped in decks, town halls, and top-level statements, while people across organisations are left unclear on the choices they can make and the contribution they can bring. He argues for a different approach: one that connects strategy with foresight, participation, ecosystems, self-management, and the wise use of AI — and brings it into the everyday moments that shape how we live and lead.
If you want to think more clearly, act more intentionally, and raise your strategic game in your organisation, your team, and your own life, this episode will give you a fresh lens and a practical way forward.
“Strategy is a practice for everyone, professional or personal.” – David Lancefield
You’ll hear about:
Why strategy is treated as distant and elite
Strategy defined: choices that move you to better
Why strategy and execution must stay together
Strategies that get announced but never translated down
Why more people need confidence to be strategic
The growing importance of foresight within strategy
What open strategy looks like in practice
Why ecosystems should shape strategy design and delivery
How self-managed teams raise the bar for strategy
Where AI helps in strategy and where it doesn't
The seven daily moments that make or break a day
Why strategy is a practice for everyone
More about David
David Lancefield is a strategy and leadership advisor, coach, writer, and speaker who works with CEOs, C-suite executives, and founders at some of the world’s top organisations. Over nearly 30 years, he has worked with more than 60 CEOs and hundreds of senior leaders on strategy, leadership, culture, decision-making, and growth.
He writes for Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Review, strategy+business, Fast Company, and Forbes, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Times, and The Guardian. David is a former senior partner at Strategy&/PwC, a guest lecturer at London Business School, and the author of the newsletter Every Day is a Strategy Day.
My resources:
Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ).
Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj).
Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.
For more details about me:
●      Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.
●      About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.
●      Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds).
●      Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP).
●      Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI).

What if failure hits differently depending on your gender?
In this episode I speak with Deborah Grayson Riegel, an executive coach and author whose research across 1,100 women in 60 countries reveals why women experience setbacks more intensely than men, and what to do about it.
We dig into why women tend to ruminate longer, and see failure as identity rather than event, and where those patterns come from.
We explore the practical tools that can shift all of that: how to reframe failure, ask for better feedback, tackle invisible work, and build the kind of support network that helps you aim higher and recover faster.
If you are a woman navigating setbacks, this episode will change how you think about failure and what becomes possible on the other side. And if you lead or work alongside women, it will make you a better teammate and leader.
"Women see failure as their identity, not an event." — Deborah Grayson Riegel
You’ll hear about
What failure really means and why it's broader. 
Why women personalise and ruminate more after setbacks. 
The five types of failure and which hit hardest. 
How failure patterns start from age five. 
The confidence gap versus the consequence gap. 
Shifting from "what if" to "even if I fail." 
How to ask for better, more specific feedback. 
Navigating non-promotable and invisible work. 
The Ground, Gather and Go framework. 
About Deborah:
Deborah Grayson Riegel is a keynote speaker and consultant who teaches leadership communication for Wharton Business School, Duke Business School, and Columbia Business School. She is a regular contributor for Harvard Business Review, Inc., Psychology Today, Forbes, and Fast Company. Deb consults and speaks for clients including Amazon, BlackRock, Bloomberg, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, and The United States Army. Her work has been featured in worldwide media, including Bloomberg Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. She is the co-author of the new book, “Aim High and Bounce Back: A Successful Woman’s Guide to Rethinking and Rising Up from Failure”.
Website: https://deborahgraysonriegel.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Deborah-Grayson-Riegel
Book Link: https://shorturl.at/nuPna and https://shorturl.at/OsWtU 
My resources:
Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ).
Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj).
Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.
For more details about me:
Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.
About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.
Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds).
Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP).
Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI).

How many of us are chasing a version of success that was never really ours to begin with?
My guest is Janine Mathó, author of Live Your Opus and executive coach to ambitious leaders. After navigating burnout and the loss of her mother, she went on a multi-year quest to answer one question: how can ambitious people achieve healthy, meaningful success without losing themselves along the way?
We explore what it really takes to sustain high performance over time, why energy is the architecture of how you show up as a leader, and why the answer isn't to lower your ambition but to raise your capacity to meet it.
If you want to lead at your best without burning out, this conversation will give you a new way to think about your life, your energy and what high performance really requires.
"Energy is the architecture of how you show up as a leader." — Janine Mathó
You’ll hear about
Treating your life as your greatest work.
Energy as your earliest signal of misalignment.
Burnout forcing a complete redefinition of success.
Inherited success stories blocking real change.
Why energy is the architecture of performance.
Starting the conversation in hard-edged cultures.
Overcoming fear of being seen as weak.
Diagnostic questions every leader should ask themselves.
Best day habits and micro practices.
Why upgrading yourself beats just upskilling.
About Janine:
Janine Mathó is a former Harvard and Pearson executive and a trusted advisor to senior leaders running large, complex institutions. Her work focuses on strengthening the leadership capacity required to sustain high performance in today’s high-pressure environment. Over a 25-year career spanning corporate, nonprofit, and academic sectors, she has helped organisations navigate transformation at scale, shaped global strategy on the future of learning and work, and raised more than $30 million for learning innovation. She received a Massachusetts Congressional Award for her service to education. Her focal areas include sustainable high performance, leadership capacity under pressure, aligning ambition with human capacity, and decision-making in complex systems. She is the author of Live Your Opus (Amplify, 2026).
Profile: https://shorturl.at/Z19to
Book: Live Your Opus: Reclaim Your Energy, Redefine Succes, and Create a Life That Truly Matters https://shorturl.at/30KEL
Newsletter: Live Your Opus  https://shorturl.at/Ixvxj
Website: https://shorturl.at/XY1hh
My resources:
Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ).
Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj).
Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.
For more details about me:
Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.
About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.
Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds).
Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP).
Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI).

What does love have to do with leadership? More than most leaders dare to admit.
My guest is Gianpiero Petriglieri, a professor at INSEAD and one of the most original and provocative voices on leadership today. We explore his idea of leadership as a kind of love, not sentimental or naive, but deeply relational. He makes a compelling distinction between performance and outcome, arguing that what you can control is not the result but the daily choices and gestures you make.
We go into the practical too. Gianpiero shares why curiosity and generosity shift everything, and why what really develops leaders is relationships with people who tell you the truth.
If you lead a team or organisation, this conversation will invite you to look differently at the small moments of time, attention and care that make leadership real, credible and human.
"Leadership is a relationship, not a toolkit." - Gianpiero Petriglieri
You’ll hear about:
Leadership reframed as a kind of love.
Instrumental versus humanistic relationships.
Curiosity and generosity as leadership habits.
Feeling safe and free at the same time.
Why passion without devotion disappoints.
Balancing reality and imagination.
People, not programmes, develop leaders.
Advice for leaders in a new role.
Culture lives in the spreadsheet.
Investment as leadership credibility.
Quick-fire round on presence and connection.
Gianpiero's best day habits.
About Gianpiero Petriglieri:
Gianpiero Petriglieri is Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD and an expert on leadership and learning in the workplace.
His award-winning research and teaching focus on what it means, and what it takes, to become a leader. He is particularly interested in the meaning and practice of leadership in the age of “nomadic professionalism,” an age in which people have deep bonds to work but loose affiliations to organisations, and authenticity and mobility have replaced loyalty and advancement as hallmarks of virtue and success. A Medical Doctor and Psychiatrist by training, Gianpiero has worked as an executive coach, practiced as a psychotherapist, and served on the staff of group relations conferences in Europe and the United States.
Profile: https://shorturl.at/WYvT1
Instagram: https://shorturl.at/qMHeZ
Writing: https://shorturl.at/rHAbb 
Research: https://shorturl.at/Bj650 
My resources:
Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ) 
Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj)
Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.
For more details about me:
·      Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.
·      About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.
·      Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds).
·      Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP).
·      Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI).

What really blocks capable leaders from progressing, even when performance looks strong on the surface?
In this conversation, I’m joined by executive coach and author Muriel Wilkins to examine how beliefs and assumptions operate like a personal strategy model, shaping the decisions we make.
Muriel draws on her coaching work and personal experience to unpack the seven common beliefs that limit leadership growth. We discuss how these beliefs show up as micromanagement, frustration or dissonance between intent and impact.
We also explore Muriel’s three stage framework of uncovering, unpacking and unblocking beliefs, how reframing creates new choices, and what it looks like to coach yourself before coaching others.
Which belief is shaping how you lead today?
“Leadership blocks are signals, not flaws.” - Muriel Wilkins
You’ll hear about:
Why beliefs work like a personal strategy model
The seven beliefs that commonly block leaders
Why micromanagement limits leading at scale
External versus internal signals of being blocked
How dissonance reveals leadership growth moments
The belief behind feeling you do not belong
Working strategically within systems
The three step unblock framework
Reframing beliefs to change leadership impact
Coaching yourself before coaching others
Why culture change starts with beliefs
Muriel’s best day habit of adaptive focus
About Muriel Wilkins:
Muriel M. Wilkins, founder and CEO of Paravis Partners, is a sought-after C-suite adviser and executive coach with a twenty-year track record of helping senior leaders take their performance to the next level. She is the author of Leadership Unblocked: Break Through the Beliefs That Limit Your Potential and coauthor of Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence. Muriel is the host of the Harvard Business Review podcast Coaching Real Leaders, consistently ranked as a top-ten podcast in Apple's Management category. She was recently shortlisted for the 2025 Thinkers50 Coaching and Mentoring Award.
Resources:
Website: Murielwilkins.com
Podcast: https://www.murielwilkins.com/podcast-coaching-real-leaders
Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1647827264
Social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murielwilkins/ and https://www.instagram.com/coachmurielwilkins/
My resources:
Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ) 
Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj)
Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.
For more details about me:
Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.
About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.
Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds)
Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP)
Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI)