260: Adam Markel, How to build long-term resilience

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we interviewed the former Amazon Digital Media VP, Bill Carr. Bill is the coauthor of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives. Bill Carr joined Amazon in 1999 and spent more than 15 years with the company. As the former Vice President of Digital Media, Bill launched and managed the company's global digital music and video businesses, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. After Amazon, Bill was an Executive In Residence with Maveron LLC, an early-stage, consumer-only venture capital firm. Bill later served as the Chief Operating Officer of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S. Today, Bill is the co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Bill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colby College and a Masters in Business Administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Get Bill's book here: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Bill Carr and Colin Bryar. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

23 Jan 20231h 15min

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic from the Corporate Strategy & Transformation study. In this podcast, we look at the problem of superficial financial analysis. One way to save the client money, before they run out of cash in about 16 months, is to stop all investments which lose money. This, however, is a terrible idea that will cause enormous damage to the client's core business, consumers, and the economy. We discuss how we handle this recommendation and what we proposed in the study to fix the problem. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

18 Jan 20239min

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we address how to answer difficult questions raised by the client during an executive workshop or another type of client's executive group meeting. We start with discussing the right mindset any consultant requires to be able to effectively handle difficult questions from a client. We thereafter review the particular steps in addressing a client's difficult questions raised during a workshop or a presentation. Lastly, we dive into which skills are required to be able to handle difficult questions, especially the kind of questions for which you don't have an immediate answer. Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

16 Jan 202315min

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we discuss how accurate our financial model for the market entry strategy study is. Watch the video version here: How accurate was our financial model for the market entry strategy study? Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

11 Jan 202313min

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic about the top-down view of energy. It is crucial to provide boundaries when discussing sector-wide issues or the executives may get lost in the details and miss the key levers. Watch the video version here: Top-Down View of Energy Click here to see the full study and here to see the merger study and market entry study. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

9 Jan 20239min

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we interview an amazing neuroscientist, Dr. Wendy Suzuki. Wendy and Michael discuss how much many of us compromise our cognition and what can be done to improve our performance. You may be able to brag about that 1 a.m. email but if you could monitor your level of cognition you would quickly see, "Oh my God! This is not good." What is it doing for your brain? What is it doing for your executive functions in the prefrontal cortex? Leadership is not just about managing a team and setting goals for them. This is such a one-dimensional definition of leadership. Leadership is whether you can be fulfilled by what you are doing, be able to get up in the morning, and not kill yourself in the process of meeting a goal that some shareholder wants you to meet. You have to distinguish between health and performance. You can be performing quite high but you can be doing some dangerous things to push those numbers up or to push that productivity up. Just because you are performing well does not mean you are doing it in a sustainable way. If you enjoy the conversation and would like to learn more from Wendy, we recommend you read her engaging and practical book "Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better." Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

4 Jan 20231h 14min

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we share one of our more in-depth episodes taken as a sample video from one of our strategy studies. This episode is complimentary and available on iTunes, Youtube, Spotify, and many other podcast players. Watch the video version here: How do I build the storyboard and why is it done so early?  Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

2 Jan 202320min

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 307, an episode with the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review Group, Adi Ignatius. In this episode with Adi Ignatius, we discussed timeless pieces from the Harvard Business Review, deep-dived into the business ideas and concepts within, and discussed how its perspective on business ideas helps us prepare for the future. Adi shared how HBR's mission changed from the time it was founded and how it is improving for readers. Adi Ignatius oversees the editorial activities of Harvard Business Review, hbr.org, and HBR's book-publishing unit. Prior to joining HBR in 2009, Mr. Ignatius was the No. 2 editor at TIME. He is the editor of two books: President Obama: The Path to the White House and Prisoner of the State: The Secret Diaries of Premier Zhao Ziyang. Both made the New York Times Bestseller List. Adi lived and worked overseas for nearly 20 years. He was Editor of Time's Asian edition and served as Beijing Bureau Chief and Moscow Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal. He is also host of the HBR Channel. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

28 Des 202249min