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

• 565: Founder and CEO of GK Training on Communicating Effectively to Live a Better Life

  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 shares specific, kinesthetic methods that help clients speak more clearly under pressure. From using Lego blocks to build well-structured thoughts, to timing answers with a wiffle ball in political debate prep, Hoeppner demonstrates that improving communication is not about talent, it’s about training behavior.   “Speaking is movement. We put air into action—that’s what talking is. And you can learn to do it a lot, lot better.”   Key Insights: Delivery is Undervalued, but Often Drives Perception “Most coaching hyper-focuses on content and completely neglects delivery,” Hoeppner explains. Yet “delivery really, really determines much of the impression your audience makes about you.” Rambling, Fillers, and Anxiety Are Physical, Not Mental, Problems He critiques typical advice like “don’t say um” as “thought suppression” and instead teaches clients to physically anchor themselves. One client stopped chronic blushing mid-session by simply learning to ground her feet. Tools Like Lego Blocks Make Structure Tangible “Pick up a Lego block, say your first idea, and put it down in silence. That pause gives your brain time to think,” Hoeppner shares. These physical anchors help clients avoid word salad and clarify complex thinking. Founders with Growth Mindsets Improve Fast “They’re not held back by ego. They care deeply, they want to improve now, and that means they practice,” he says. In contrast, those with fixed mindsets (“I’m just a bad speaker”) often plateau. AI Will Make Delivery the Strategic Differentiator As language models democratize content, he argues, “delivery, how you say it, will matter more than ever.”   The episode closes with a powerful call to reframe communication not as a soft skill, but a trainable, high-leverage behavior, one that can transform not just boardrooms and keynotes, but daily leadership and presence.   Get Michael’s new book here: https://dontsayum.com/ Learn more about Michael here: https://gktraining.com/michael-chad-hoeppner/   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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• 564: Yale’s James Kimmel Jr. on the Science of Revenge

  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 bullying, he chased down his aggressors with a loaded revolver. In a pivotal moment, he recalls, “The cost of getting the revenge I wanted was far more than I was willing to pay.” That flash of insight redirected his life and seeded a lifelong investigation into how grievance, retribution, and healing operate in the human mind.   Key insights from the discussion include: Revenge Mimics Addiction in the Brain Kimmel explains that “your brain on revenge looks like your brain on drugs.” The cycle begins when a grievance activates the brain’s pain network, followed by a surge of dopamine in the reward system. Over time, the craving for retaliation can become compulsive, forming habits akin to substance abuse. Grievance Retention Impairs Judgment Unchecked rumination can degrade executive function. “If that prefrontal cortex does not stop you,” Kimmel warns, “and you really crave it… it doesn’t matter how many laws there are.” This impaired self-control is what allows otherwise rational individuals to commit extreme acts of violence. Social Exclusion Can Be a Form of Revenge “If you’re ending a relationship not for present harm, but to punish someone for a past wrong, that’s retaliation,” he explains. Even subtle acts like ghosting or ostracism can activate the same pain circuitry in the brain as physical harm. Forgiveness Interrupts the Revenge Cycle Neuroscience shows that imagining forgiveness “shuts down the brain’s pain network, silences addiction circuits, and reactivates executive control.” Kimmel calls forgiveness a “human superpower… It doesn’t just cover up the pain like revenge does, it takes the pain away altogether.” Revenge Can Be Prevented, Like a Heart Attack Kimmel proposes a new public health framework: treat revenge attacks like cardiac events. “There are warning signs,” he says, grievance fixation, revenge fantasies, acquiring weapons, and they demand the same level of emergency attention. Legal Systems Often Deliver Revenge, Not Justice Kimmel reflects on his time as a litigator: “Lawyers get paid to sell revenge under the brand name ‘justice.’” He urges professionals to be aware of how sanctioned systems can enable and normalize compulsive retribution.   For leaders in high-stakes environments, the message is clear: understanding the mechanics of grievance and retaliation isn’t just psychological, it’s strategic. Kimmel’s work offers actionable frameworks to recognize revenge-seeking before it becomes destructive, and calls for a deeper integration of neuroscience into how we define justice, manage risk, and lead with compassion.   Get The Science of Revenge here: https://www.jameskimmeljr.com/   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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• 563: Powerhouse CMOs on Global Branding: Insights from Brand Global, Adapt Local

  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 Adaptability Nataly Kelly reflects, “I used to believe that branding required absolute consistency... but when I began to work in global marketing, I realized there is adaptability that's required to really succeed.” True global branding, both argue, means creating a consistent brand core with local expressions, not rigid replication.   Cultural Blind Spots Undermine Strategy Ray recalls early leadership at Nike, where “the common refrain was, for women’s shoes… ‘shrink it and pink it.’” She urges leaders to “listen with your eyes,” emphasizing the importance of nonverbal cues and lived experience, especially when HQ-based assumptions fail abroad.   Responsiveness Is Not the Same as Reactivity As AI reshapes marketing operations, Kelly warns, “You can’t outsource your strategy… Judgment and strategy are the two things that I think humans will start to realize [must stay human].” Rapid action without clear values can erode trust.   Brand Trust Is Repetition, Not Rhetoric Ray notes, “At the end of the day, a brand is all about a promise… people support brands that they trust.” In an age of AI-generated messaging, staying aligned with core values, through actions, not just language, is critical to maintaining consumer confidence.   Structure Signals Strategy Kelly shares a story from Dashlane, a startup that eliminated the term “headquarters” to create structural parity across regions. “It was a strong statement about how to build a globally equitable organization… Employees are brand ambassadors, and status differences send signals.”   The episode closes with a powerful reminder: As technology advances, human competencies like cultural literacy, curiosity, and creativity will only become more essential. “The more we rely on technology, the more we must double down on our humanity,” Ray says.   Get Brand Global, Adapt Local here: https://shorturl.at/f4EnF   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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• 562: Award-winning Author on How to Achieve Creative Velocity in the Age of GenAI

  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 ambiguity with resilience, sustaining momentum in the absence of external validation, and solving unfamiliar problems with resourcefulness rather than prescribed playbooks. These competencies, shaped by years in unpredictable contexts, later enabled her to thrive in zero-to-one product environments at scale.   Grandy also offers insight into organizational enablers and constraints for creative velocity. She identifies cultures that treat creativity as the remit of all functions, not just design or strategy, as more adaptive and resilient. Conversely, she cautions against consensus-driven thinking and status quo bias, which she sees as systemic inhibitors. The most effective environments, she argues, reward structured risk-taking and integrate post-mortem learning with equal weight to successes.   Reflecting on her time reporting to Steve Jobs, Grandy explains the discipline of brand stewardship and decisiveness under uncertainty. Jobs' intolerance for diluted brand signals, whether in product UX or retail merchandising, was less a quirk and more an intentional design principle. She recounts how even small misalignments, such as offering engraving suggestions on iPods, were swiftly reversed to preserve narrative clarity.   The discussion also explores her recent book, Creative Velocity, and its guiding premise: creativity is not a fixed trait but a repeatable discipline. Through structured techniques like the generic parts technique and SCAMPER, she argues that anyone, including those outside “creative” job titles, can develop idea fluency and confidence. She emphasizes the role of generative AI as a tool for exploratory dialogue rather than one-shot answers, calling for greater patience and iterative engagement to unlock its full potential.   For senior leaders, this episode surfaces a precise question: Are you designing your organization to perform or to invent? And are you personally equipped to model the latter?   Get Leslie’s book here: https://rb.gy/d5zr69 Creative Velocity: Propelling Breakthrough Ideas in the Age of Generative AI   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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• 561: Harvard’s Bill George on Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace

  In this wide-ranging and direct conversation, Bill George, former Medtronic CEO and Harvard Business School professor, offers a disciplined framework for leading in conditions of persistent volatility. Drawing from decades of leadership experience and research, George emphasizes that leadership today is no longer about managing processes, it is about confronting ambiguity, enabling experimentation, and sustaining purpose across shifting conditions.   Five themes stand out: Opportunity Must Be Created, Not Awaited. George argues that emerging leaders should not wait for promotions or formal permission. Instead, they should identify unaddressed problems, volunteer to lead, and deliver results without demanding titles. Career growth, he suggests, is a function of action, not seniority. Innovation Begins at the Front Lines. Whether referencing his early decision to cancel a Medtronic pacemaker program that lacked patient benefit, or urging leaders to spend less time in conference rooms and more with customers and staff, George insists that enduring breakthroughs stem from direct observation and empathy, not from internal data analysis alone. Risk Tolerance Determines Strategic Renewal. George contrasts firms that institutionalize risk such as Medtronic’s venture incubation model, with those that allow internal resistance to block change. Innovation, he asserts, must be structurally protected from corporate inertia, and leaders should be judged on the courage to champion unpopular ideas that later prove transformative. Culture Must Reward Learning Over Defensiveness. Drawing parallels between U.S., European, and Japanese innovation cultures, George critiques over-regulated, failure-averse systems that suppress experimentation. True progress, he says, requires the willingness to learn through trial, adaptation, and even initial failure. AI Is a Strategic Imperative, Not a Cost Play. Rather than using AI to drive out labor costs, George advocates for using it to rethink business models entirely, supporting frontline autonomy, enabling new services, and unlocking unmet needs. He cautions leaders against adopting a defensive posture and urges them to fund experiments that explore the true potential of the technology. Throughout, George offers a leadership mindset anchored in authenticity, courage, and customer-centric design. His advice is clear: future leaders must raise their hands, operate at the edge, and move fast before the window of relevance closes.   Get Bill’s book here: https://shorturl.at/3iHRb True North, Emerging Leader Edition: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace   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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