April 14–20, 2025 releases on StrategyTraining.com

Most professionals never get access to the right kind of training.

They focus on surface-level skills. They chase tactics. They hope things will eventually fall into place.

But to stand out requires structured, advanced training built by people who have actually done the work at the highest levels.

That’s why we built StrategyTraining.com, the most powerful library of video and audio-based training in strategy, problem solving, critical thinking, communication, executive presence, leadership, case interviews, and consulting business building.

This is not theory. It’s not motivational content. It’s effective training for people who want to be exceptional at what they do. Here is what some of our members say:

We refresh the library weekly. New content is now live and available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, and ROKU.

Insider membership is designed for long-term clients who want to deliver meaningful impact while accelerating their careers.

Legacy members receive everything in Insider, plus access to additional advanced programs and personalized guidance.

Strategy Control Room Advanced members gain access to our internal knowledge management system, including studies, proposals, Centers of Excellence, advanced books not available anywhere else, flip charts, slides from video programs, notes from The Consulting Offer, and more.

For Insider Members

These powerful new episodes are being released this week.

Friday
The Real Reason You Are Not Being Promoted – Episode 7 of 18
This 18-part Insider program challenges the conventional wisdom of career growth, helping ambitious professionals rethink promotions, leadership roles, and long-term wealth creation.
Episode title: Being Promoted Into a New Role is Not a Reward for Past Work, But We See It That Way + Action Next Steps #3 & #4

Saturday
MasterPlan Advanced – Episode 25 of TBD
The MasterPlan Advanced builds on the most transformative career strategy work we’ve done to date. Based on Michael’s and Kris’s personal experiences and decades of coaching senior executives it covers how to move from well-off to wealthy, across career, relationships, investing, health, and more. This is the next step for those ready to build a richer, more fulfilling life.
Episode title: Identity Shifting vs. Shaping

Sunday
(New) Why Am I Not Happy? How Can I Be Happy? – Episode 2 of 14
Practical insights to help you recognize the patterns that are draining your energy, and how to stop them. Members can submit questions for a limited time to shape future episodes.
Episode title: Tolerance Always Becomes Intolerable

For Legacy Members

In addition to all Insider episodes, Legacy members receive these exclusive episodes:

Wednesday
Mid-Life Strategy Update – Episode 39 of TBD
What if your health, relationships, wealth, and life’s work all demanded urgent attention, at the same time? In this real-time program, Michael shares the exact strategies he’s using to rebuild every major area of his life. It’s rare to get this level of access. Even rarer to see it in real time.
Episode title: When Your Life Experiences a Prison Break

Thursday
(New) My Work is Destroying My Health – Episode 2 of 4
There’s a point where stress stops being fuel and starts being poison, to the point that it impacts your health. Most people don’t act until the symptoms can’t be explained away. Yet, there is a way to recover your health and performance. 
Episode title: You're Living in Ayn Rand's World

Sunday
(New) I Don't Know if This Is What I Want to Do - Episode 1 of 7
Many clients are not certain that the work they are currently doing, or the industry they are currently in, is in fact the space where they want to continue building their career. If this is your situation, what is the way to decide a way forward?
Episode title: We Will Always Fail at Analyzing Happiness

Insiders can upgrade to Legacy at any time and back to Insider without losing Insider status. Just email us at team@firmsconsulting.com so we can manually restore your access.

Ask Us a Question — Get Tailored Audio Feedback

Legacy members are invited to submit one personal or professional question twice per month. We’ll respond with a custom audio answer recorded by a partner.

• Deadlines: Submit by the 15th and 30th of each month

• Format: One paragraph emailed to team@firmsconsulting.com

• Include: Context and details so we can provide tailored guidance for your unique situation

• Subject line: Legacy Question

For Strategy Control Room Advanced Members

You’ll receive this exclusive update:

Sunday
New IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center-of-Excellence – Update 4 of TBD
Most IT projects fail, not because of bad technology, but because of poor thinking. This Center-of-Excellence shows you exactly why projects go off track and how to prevent it. 

We also released these free resources:

Strategy Skills Podcast

Monday
Chief Investment Officer at T. Rowe Price on the Psychology of Leadership – with Sébastien Page.
Sébastien shares lessons drawn from 20 years of experience and in-depth research in positive and sports psychology. Sébastien introduces the PERMA model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment) and explains how it can be applied to leadership and organizational success. He also shares insights from studying billionaires and what drives their success beyond money. 

Co-founder of Peak 360 Wealth Management on Understanding Embodied Wealth – with Elizabeth Husserl.
We explore how fulfillment, stability, and meaning factor into what it really means to be wealthy. Elizabeth explains how our “scarcity brain” influences money decisions, why understanding your financial DNA matters, and how daily practices like journaling and meditation can change your relationship with money. 

Additionally, here are the recent releases on FIRMSconsulting / StrategyTraining.com YouTube Channel:

IT Strategy vs. Corporate Strategy: Microsoft - with Kris Safarova
Access here.

How to Build Consulting Storyboards in 3 Weeks (This is How McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Do It) - with Kris Safarova
Access here.

How to Feel Comfortable on Camera - with Kris Safarova
Access here.

Management Consulting Storyboard | Storyboarding used by McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, PwC et al. - with Kris Safarova
Access here.

McKinsey’s Rise to Prominence Under Marvin Bower - with Kris Safarova
Access here.

Ready to begin?

Log in to StrategyTraining.com to access new episodes, resources and keep moving forward.

How to Perform Above Average with a Brain That Works

Nothing Like Most People's

When I worked in consulting and banking, the open-plan layout (endless desks, no offices except for the most senior leaders) was pure torture.

For example, having a conversation with a colleague while someone else was speaking loudly next to me was a constant test. My attention would lock onto the louder voice, and I would miss a lot of what the person I was speaking to was saying.

I did well, getting accelerated promotions, despite all of this because I built systems that allowed me to do well.

I constantly looked for quiet places to get work done. 

I found the best noise-blocking headphones you can buy. The kind that allow you to block noise completely. When possible, I would position my chair so I was facing the wall, even if it is just a cubicle wall, and that would help me focus better. The only issue is that if someone tried to talk to me, I would get startled. 

I also utilized the following:
- Unbooked boardrooms.
- Deserted corners of the office building.
- Coming at 6 am.
- Staying long after everyone else had left.
- Doing a lot of the work on weekends and at nights from home. 

Most people don’t see what it takes to get through a day when your brain isn’t wired like that of most people.

In consulting, we value structured thinking. We often expect linear thinking.

I’ve built a career in a profession where clarity, speed, and polish are the currency.

There’s tension in that.

I process differently. I work differently.

It doesn’t mean I’m unfocused or difficult.

Sometimes, I need more time, but I get a better answer than most people. 

I test more paths than most before committing.

I need quiet to think. 

Over the years, I have become better at being able to perform above average while having a brain that works differently from most people.

Here’s what helps me:

- Music that helps me stay focused
- I get up to 10x more done if I work at night (9 pm to 5 am). This is not possible or healthy on an ongoing basis but when needed, the option is there
- My mind switches on as soon as the sun sets, so while many people rest in the evening, I work until it is time to sleep. And if you look at my calendar, I have meetings and podcast recordings all the way to 9 pm. And some solitary work is done well after 9 pm. 
- I have to work in a quiet space with no one talking around me. Ideally, it needs to be a room with a closed door. An open-space office is pure torture for me
- Fresh air helps, so my windows are often open, even during the depths of winter or in the peak of summer
- It helps me focus if I work in a larger room
- I get good work done in a quiet space outside. In fact, if I work outside without any people around, I can get up to productivity level of 9 pm to 5 am (up to 10x)
- If my mind spaces out during a discussion, it is ok to ask a person to repeat. I am doing everything I can to stay focused. That is all I can ask of myself. And I know that what my mind produces (solutions, ideas, insights) is well worth the trouble for everyone involved
- Planning for what should be accomplished in a day must happen the night before, not the morning of
- I keep categorized to-do lists for a day, a week, a month, plus the main list with everything else. I also have a separate column for the highest priority tasks where I can’t drop the ball
- I have people on my team who are highly organized and keep the “trains” moving on time
- My main business partner, Michael, is the most organized person I have ever met. He is also the most talented person I have ever met. If I had to describe him in one word, it would be Godsend. And I don’t use that word lightly
- I leverage the power of my mind to see what others don’t see by regularly spending time in spaces (such as solitary walks in nature) where my mind can most effectively come up with new ideas and solutions. I am diligent about it because I get very important insights not just for my life but for our clients (e.g. for our executive coaching clients)

Neurodivergent consultants and leaders bring something unique. Not just one strength but a constellation of abilities that often show up in unexpected, high-impact ways.

1. A unique lens on the same data
Neurodivergent leaders often approach problems from non-traditional angles. This can lead to insights others overlook.

2. Focus others can’t sustain
This is characteristic of ADHD. While the focus is generally difficult to initiate or sustain on not engaging tasks, once interest and clarity are present, many experience "hyperfocus," an intense, sustained concentration that can last hours. In my particular case this also shows up as being able to remain regularly hyperfocused on the same topics for decades.

3. A natural resistance to groupthink
Many neurodivergent thinkers are less influenced by social pressure or convention. They may ask uncomfortable questions, raise red flags early, or propose contrarian ideas. This strengthens decision-making.

4. Creativity shaped by constraints
Working around neurotypical systems often forces creativity. The need to build workarounds often translates into sharper creative problem-solving.

5. Precision with language or logic
Some neurodivergent people are extremely sensitive to ambiguity, unclear phrasing, or flawed reasoning. This can elevate the rigor of a team’s thinking and the quality of the team's output. This is one reason I sometimes struggle in meetings. If a question involves a lack of clarity because of a lack of understanding of what the situation demands to be asked, I will first adjust what the question should be before I can answer it. For someone who is not paying as much attention as I do to unclear phrasing or flawed reasoning this can be frustrating.

6. Pattern recognition and systems thinking
Many neurodivergent thinkers may notice relationships across concepts, data points, or systems that others miss. In consulting, this ability to “see the whole chessboard” is a significant advantage.

7. Unusual memory strengths
Some neurodivergent people have strong episodic memory (remembering past experiences vividly), or working memory (keeping many ideas in mind simultaneously). This helps in synthesis, client conversations, and complex analysis. For example, when I was editing courses with Kevin P Coyne, such as How to Solve Big Problems, I pulled insights from all takes, not just from one selected take of a particular episode. And I stitched them together into one episode to ensure our members would not miss out on additional insights and examples. That means keeping in mind about 3-4 takes for each module. Each module has multiple episodes. If there are 10-12 modules in just one program, and I was editing multiple programs, that is a lot and most people would not do it. 

8. A deep sense of fairness or principles
Many neurodivergent leaders are extremely values-driven. They may resist political games, hold teams to high ethical standards, and be unafraid to voice dissent when something feels wrong. Personally, this trait has gotten me into trouble more than once. But it’s one I deeply respect in myself and in others.

9. Relentless curiosity
An intrinsic drive to understand can lead to better questions and better answers. This curiosity often drives deep expertise in specialized areas.

But to benefit from all that, we need to make room, not just in principle, but in how we actually work.

If you want your team, family member, a friend, or whoever you have in your life who has ADHD to deliver the value they can deliver, make it possible for them to do well.

That’s the part most people miss.

If we only reward those who perform a certain way, who think in a certain way, who come across in a certain way, we lose out on the outsized value others can bring. 

Quietly. Deeply. Differently.

And if you are the one who is neurodivergent, embrace your strengths. In my experience, they far outweigh the weaknesses if you are willing to put in the work, and what you can produce is well worth the trouble. What you can create is something the world really needs. And only you can deliver that unique work. No one else can. 

If You Think a 20% Buffer is Enough for Your IT Project...

...You Haven’t Seen the Data.

Strategy Control Room Advanced members can access the new IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center-of-Excellence, Updates 1 and 2, here. 

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A vision, as wonderful and ambitious as it may be, is not enough to
deliver a successful project.

According to a database of over 16,000 projects from 136
countries from 20+ different fields, only 8.5% of projects are
completed within the budget and on time.

Further, out of the 8.5% successful projects, only 0.5% delivered the promised benefits.

Megaprojects are almost always doomed to fail.

But why?

This slow progress-more problems pattern is driven by two distinct
forces. 

These two are constant in all projects, from major IT projects to space stations down to garden renovations. Basically, whenever someone wants to turn a dream/vision into reality.

We break these forces down in the second update for the new IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center-of-Excellence.

There is a way to achieve the opposite and finish a project on time, on budget, and with its intended benefit, if not more.

Most people are aware that budget and time overruns are common
on projects, especially on the large ones.

As mentioned earlier, 91.5% of projects result in being over budget, over time, and under benefits. This occurrence is so common that it can be considered as a natural law.

But this statistic is not yet the whole truth – which is much worse.

If 9 out of 10 projects are bound to be over budget and over time, any
sensible person would say to just increase the budget (cost and time) to allow a buffer.

But by how much?

Typically, people would make a 10-15% buffer; let’s even say that you’re very cautious and you want 20%.

But is this enough?

According to a database of large projects, the mean cost overrun of a
major building project is 62%.

I can attest that this number checks out. And not just in major IT projects but in major projects related to personal life, such as a large-scale home renovation. When I was renovating my house, the budget overrun was shocking. So was the time overun (more than 50%).

In fact, I had to move back into the house while it was still under renovation to finally pressure the contractor to finish the job.  

If you’re a project manager for a building project, and you managed to
talk to your financial backers for hundreds of millions to allow a 62%
buffer for your project, then you still drastically underestimated the risk
of project overrun.

It was found out that a lot of megaprojects are fat-tailed. 

You may say, "Kris, what do you mean by fat-tailed?"

Excuse the MBA/consulting speak. When distributions contain far more extreme outcomes in their tails, they are called “fat-tailed”.

This piece of data makes things simpler, clearer, and more alarming: Most big projects are at risk of going disastrously wrong. Yet traditional project management literature rarely addresses the systemic nature of fat-tailed risk. 
 

Events with low probability but high impact, the so-called "Black Swan events", can derail even steady progress and create lasting damage.
 

Just look at the LA fires and the damage they caused. Many families impacted by LA fires may never recover from this (emotionally or financially). 

The more complex a system is, the more susceptible it is to these events. And if your project is ambitious, with many interdependent parts and stakeholders, you are almost certainly embedded in a complex system.

Cities. Markets. Energy. Transportation. Debt. Viruses. Climate change. Organizations. These are all complex systems. And every day, the world gets more complex.

Project failures can be prevented by starting to understand what causes it. If we follow the patterns from different projects – big and small – around the world, we can infer that failing projects tend to drag on, while successful projects tend to be completed quickly. 

Imagine a project timeline as an opening. The more open it is, the more opportunity for it to catch black swans and cause trouble.

Then, the answer is obvious: simply get the project started as quickly as possible by setting aggressive timelines, right?

Unfortunately, no.

Being able to run a successful IT project requires a very different way of thinking about how projects should be planned and led.

We cover this in detail in the IT, Digital, AI & Cloud Center of Excellence. Update 2 was just released for the SCRA members and can be accessed here. 

If you have questions or want guidance on which memberships/resources are recommended given your career/business goals, email us at team@firmsconsulting.com.

Thank you for being part of the StrategyTraining and FIRMSconsulting community.

This Week on StrategyTraining.com

April 7–13, 2025

StrategyTraining.com is the world’s largest library of video and audio-based training in strategy, problem-solving, critical thinking, case interviews, consulting practice building, executive presence, communication, and leadership. We refresh our library weekly, and this week, we’ve added new episodes across several key programs.

New content is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, and ROKU.

Insider membership is designed for long-term clients who want to deliver meaningful impact while accelerating their careers.

Legacy members receive everything in Insider, plus access to additional advanced programs and personalized guidance.

Strategy Control Room Advanced members gain access to our internal knowledge management system, including studies, proposals, Centers of Excellence, published and unpublished books, flipcharts, slides from video programs, notes from The Consulting Offer, and more.

🪶For Insider Members

These powerful new episodes are being released this week:

Thursday
The Real Reason You Are Not Being Promoted – Episode 6 of 18
You’re doing the work. Why are others moving up? Promotions. Power. Pay. Legacy. Here’s what really matters, and why.

Friday
The Annual – Episode 9 of TBD
Most people drift through the year. The Annual is for those who want to decide what matters and commit to it. We’ll help you stay focused, make progress, and finish the year stronger than you started.

Saturday
Why Am I Not Happy? How Can I Be Happy? – Episode 1 of 14
You’ve followed the rules, hit the milestones and still feel off. This program explores why success alone doesn’t deliver happiness, and what to do when the life you built no longer fits.

Why the symbol for Insider?
The feather represents discretion, quiet privilege, and access to deeper knowledge. The kind passed on from mentor to mentee. It’s a mark of quiet power, elevated thought, and meaningful insight.

🏛️ For Legacy Members

In addition to all Insider episodes, Legacy members receive these exclusive episodes:

Thursday
The Existential Mistake When Immigrating – Episode 9 of 11
This 11-part program helps you think through relocation the same way top investors assess risk. The cost of getting it wrong is rarely visible, until it’s too late.

Friday
Mid-Life Strategy Update – Episode 38 of TBD
What if your health, relationships, wealth, and life’s work all demanded urgent attention, at the same time? In this real-time program, Michael shares the exact strategies he’s using to rebuild every major area of his life. It’s rare to get this level of access. Even rarer to see it in real time.

Sunday
My Poor Health Is Impacting My Work – Episode 1 of 4
You can recover your health and performance. It starts here.

Why the symbol for Legacy?
The classical pillar represents gravitas, enduring wisdom, and the kind of leadership that shapes institutions and families. It reflects what Legacy members are building: not just success, but something timeless.

Insiders can upgrade to Legacy at any time using any remaining credit from their annual Insider membership. If you decide to return to Insider later, you won’t lose your Insider status. Just email us at team@firmsconsulting.com so we can manually restore your access.

Ask Us a Question — Get Tailored Audio Feedback

Legacy members are invited to submit one personal or professional question twice per month. We’ll respond with a custom audio answer recorded by a partner.

• Deadlines: Submit by the 15th and 30th of each month

• Format: One paragraph emailed to team@firmsconsulting.com

• Include: Context and details so we can provide specific guidance

• Subject line: Legacy Question

🗝️ For Strategy Control Room Advanced Members

You’ll receive this exclusive update:

Sunday
New IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center-of-Excellence – Update 3 of TBD
Most IT projects fail, not because of bad technology, but because of poor thinking. This Center-of-Excellence shows you exactly why projects go off track and how to prevent it. 

Why the symbol for SCRA?
The key symbolizes privileged access to insights few receive. SCRA is always recommended as an add-on to, not replacement for, Insider or Legacy, helping you unlock the systems and thinking required for your next level.

Ready to begin?

Log in to StrategyTraining.com to access new episodes, resources and keep moving forward.

Your Address is Part of Your Portfolio of Assets.

When we think about moving someplace, for the majority of people, they get these starry eyes and they think:

“I can finally sit on the beach, work on my laptop, be a digital nomad, live the dream.”

But you’ve got to think of the address, your location, as one part of your portfolio of assets.

It always comes down to risk and investment. Because that’s what we’re doing. We’re investing here.

A very fundamental question to ask is: how does the new address and location compare against your old one?

Because where you live confers status, legitimacy, and certain assets and rights, just based on where you’re located, where you run your business, and where you operate.

Certain addresses confer more legitimacy. More prestige.

When I buy something and people look at my address, their behavior changes. People who live in a certain area have a certain stature. There’s a cost to doing business if you put yourself in a location considered less prestigious.

The cost of capital. The cost of insurance. The cost of borrowing. The cost of customers seeing your location and deciding they don’t know it well, don’t trust it, and don’t want the transaction to go through.

What are you giving up when you change locations?

Because from the eyes of the consumer, they’re going to know you were in one place, and now you’re in another. And they are going to judge you, whether or not they want to do business with an entity in that new region.

There are jurisdictions that confer more certainty, more safety.

And some that don’t.

There are places in the world that are not set up for appeals. Not set up for civil disagreements.

We call this the destination tax.

It’s a term we use when advising companies moving headquarters, manufacturing, or even just relocating senior leadership.

If someone knew a Porsche was made in a different part of the world, and wouldn’t buy it, that’s a destination tax.

It’s real. And it applies to you too.

If you’re willing to leave California to avoid 13.3% in personal income tax, then clearly you’re willing to make a trade. But what if the trade ends up being much more than you expected?

What are you giving up in terms of capital cost, legitimacy, consumer trust, or ability to operate?

Are you funding a lifestyle… or giving up the structure that funds your life?

And that’s just the first layer.

Let’s say something goes wrong.

What would happen if you had a disagreement with a powerful government or corporate entity like a bank or immigration?

What would happen if a check bounced?

If you passed a debt threshold?

If you went into bankruptcy?

Some countries hit your credit score. Some hit you.

Some let you file for bankruptcy. Some don’t.

Some protect you in a civil dispute. Some don’t care.

There are a lot of things we take for granted where we are.

The right to appeal. The right to recourse. The right to just live life normally, even if something goes wrong.

But will those rights be there where you’re going?

And then there’s ownership.

Corporate finance is not just valuation and return on investment.

It’s governance. Asset control. Your ability to allocate and repatriate.

Do you really own your business, your property, your copyrights, your capital?

Because you can own something and have no ability to do anything with it.

You may not be able to move it.

You may not be able to exit it.

You may not even be able to prove it’s yours.

And that’s a problem when your life and assets are tied to systems that operate under different rules.

Every country is different.

Some let you liquidate. Some don’t.

Some let you move money. Others require permission.

Some let you keep assets as a non-resident. Others don’t.

So the question is not just where you want to go.

The question is: do you know how that country treats people like you when something goes wrong?

That’s what we cover in Episodes 6–8 of The Existential Mistake Made When Immigrating.

They’re available now for Legacy members.

And if you haven’t gone through this program, I would seriously recommend you do. Before you’re forced to.

[Join Legacy (Scroll Down to Membership Options) & Access the New Episodes Now]

Watch the trailer for “The Existential Mistake Made When Immigrating”: http://www.strategytraining.com/programs/the-existential-mistake-made-when-immigrating-trailer

Access New 11-Part Program (Legacy Members)

There is a Critical Step in Strategy That Only
Audit Firms are Equipped to Deliver ...

... And Most Never Do

We just released the full new program for Insiders and Legacy members, The Superior Advantage Only Audit Firms Have. You can access the program here.

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You’ve likely seen this before.

The charismatic new CEO steps into a legacy company. He promises bold moves. Announces a daring pivot. The media claps. Analysts cheer. And the share price bumps just enough to make everyone feel clever.

But then come the actual numbers.

That’s what happened here.

A global commodities giant, one of the best-run organizations in its sector, saw a 15-year supercycle forming. China’s insatiable demand. A new commodity group, still relatively untouched. Ten years of unrelenting volume growth. Four times the demand of their existing portfolio. Everyone at the table agreed it was the opportunity of a generation.

They moved fast. Structured a JV. Hired an operational wizard as CEO. Began building infrastructure before contracts were even finalized.

And then it all quietly unraveled.

They got the growth curve right. They got the supply model right. They even got the internal cost structure mostly right.

But they made one assumption that never should have survived the first executive workshop.

A single blind spot, small enough to miss in a boardroom, big enough to derail billions.

They lost capital. Years of momentum. Eventually, the division was offloaded in shame.

The markets punished them for it. Their board still speaks about it in hushed tones. And the worst part?

It was entirely avoidable.

We advised against the move. We showed them the flaw.

We recommended bringing in Big 4 firm to complete the final calculations. The CEO declined.

This program is a forensic breakdown of how a single overlooked decision point, one audit firms are uniquely positioned to lead, was ignored.

And why most consulting teams will never even see it.

What we reveal in this program changes how you build business cases. It reframes how you define value creation. And it will likely shift the way you see the role of audit firms...
 

Forever.

The insight we uncover is rarely spoken about. Because it's usually buried beneath pages of ratios and return models, passed around in late-night partner meetings, or discussed only after something has gone wrong.

You’ll see how a strategy that was flawless on paper unraveled in practice.

You’ll learn the critical point where good consulting becomes great value protection.

You’ll understand why Big 4 professionals, when equipped correctly, can outperform pure strategy firms on engagements that move markets.

This program is available to Insider and Legacy members on StrategyTraining.com.

If you're already a member, log in and watch the full program now.
If you're not, this is your moment to enroll (select Insider or Legacy membership).

Because the difference between a celebrated strategy and a capital catastrophe often comes down to one thing. And most will never know what it is.

But you can.

Why join as an Insider member on StrategyTraining.com?

Get access to the same partner-level strategy, leadership, and problem-solving skills taught behind closed doors at McKinsey, BCG, and other top firms. These are the tools and approaches senior partners use to advise Fortune 500 leaders on their toughest challenges.

Insider members unlock full Insider programs, step by step consulting studies designed to help you think, lead, and deliver like a senior partner, whether you're navigating a corporate career or building something of your own.

(Enroll as an Insider or Legacy member at StrategyTraining.com below.)

Access Insider

Most Disasters Don’t Come From Bad People. They Come From People Who Don't Care Enough.

Today, I want to talk to you about negligence.

Why negligence?

You would think there are so many other topics that seem to be a higher priority. But make no mistake, negligence rules this world. It's omnipresent and omnipotent. It impacts every area of your career, business, and life. 

As good critical thinkers, let's start with a definition.

Negligence is a failure to take proper care of something.
In law, it is a breach of a duty of care that results in damage.

Where do you stand on negligence?
Do you believe some errors are healthy to make? 

Where was I recently impacted by negligence?

You probably guessed it: LA fires.

- Were the fire hydrants ready and functional?
- Was there enough water available to fight fires in the most dangerous season on record?
- Were residents given enough time to evacuate, or could that warning have come sooner?
- Were there plans in place that could have made a difference? And if so, were they implemented in time?

There is a reason certain businesses were able to preserve their structures in areas where everything else burned. They had a plan. They were taking their duty of preserving their assets seriously.

I was interviewing a Strategy Skills guest recently, and once the cameras stopped rolling, she asked me about fires. Over the last 3 months, I have learned not to talk to people about fires. Nothing good generally comes from it. And that was no exception. She ended the conversation by saying that everyone tells her, “Who cares about these people. They are rich. They will rebuild.”

Well, many of my neighbours will never be able to rebuild. Many of them lost everything. Some lost their jobs. Others lost their health being exposed to fire fumes and the aftermath of nervous breakdowns. Many of them lost their furry friends because they were not allowed to go back and get them. Others could not withstand the stress and had severe neurological effects, such as the inability to walk without help. Some have nowhere to live and live in shelters with other displaced people. Yes, to this day, many displaced people, those "rich people" our podcast guest was referring to, don't have any stability, merely have basic necessities, and don't know how they will be able to "rebuild" their lives.

I’m incredibly grateful to the fire department workers, police, and emergency responders who gave their all in unimaginable conditions.
At the same time, the experience left me wondering: what happens when systems are strained past their limits? When something, or someone, falls just short of what’s needed?

Growing up in the former Soviet Union, I have seen negligence on a nearly daily basis. 

I have seen my History teacher beating a schoolboy with a book, with the boy having to be hospitalized with a severe concussion.

I have seen people dying due to doctors’ negligence. This one hits home severely, as my grandmother died this way. She went to doctor after doctor over the years trying to understand what was wrong with her. She was then diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and died. 

Once, if I remember correctly, it was my 16th birthday, I was standing at a bus stop. It was deep winter. Snow and ice everywhere. Many people tried to get on the bus, and someone pushed me. I fell and slid halfway under the bus. The doors closed, and the bus started moving.

That is negligence on the part of the bus driver, who has the responsibility to check if it is safe to start moving. This was also negligence on the part of all the people who were around me, who saw me trying to get from under the bus but sliding back due to ice and did nothing to help.

As the bus wheels started to get near my body, a man pulled me out. My hero. The doors of the bus opened again, and he jumped in before I could thank him. No one asked me if I was ok as I saw the bus drive away.

My father was gallivanting around the city with his mistress (nearly my age) at this time, around the area where I was. That is also negligence. He could have picked me up. He knew how cold it was to stand at a bus stop and then try to squeeze onto a full bus and then stand on that bus for 1.5 hours trying to get home with endless bus stops along the way. If his family was a priority for him, he would have picked me up. If he took his duty as a father seriously, he would have picked me up. At least, on that day, in honor of my birthday. I understand that he was "living his life" and trying to be happy, but what he was doing was also negligence. 

Shortly after, a young lady was killed by a bus around the same area, under similar circumstances. The negligence was widespread.

The change has to start with us. Especially for those in professions where negligence means severe damage or death, higher standards should be a requirement, not an option. And in navigating the world, in selecting healthcare providers and nannies for our children, we have to pay attention to a person’s standards, not just qualifications. 

If I were hiring a nanny, I would rather hire a straight-A student, someone who demands excellence from themselves, without any child care background, than hire someone who has 20 years of experience with no track record of high standards.

This is not to say that only straight-A students have higher standards. Life circumstances have to be taken into account. It is just one of the indicators that this particular person may be demanding more of themselves than most people do. 

Where in your life do you tolerate lower standards than you should?

Who in your life has low standards in a critical area that impacts you?
And should you do something about it?

And where in your work should you level up what you expect of yourself and your team (if relevant)?

Making mistakes is completely normal and healthy. There is a place and time for it. Triple-checking everything can be a huge time-waster. But there are certain things in life where normal standards are not an option. Only the highest standard of care is acceptable.

Within StrategyTraining.com, we groom leaders and business owners to set higher standards where appropriate. Higher standards in terms of value our members bring to their clients. Higher standards in terms of value system. Higher standards when it comes to the level of contribution our members demand of themselves.

Being a person who demands higher standards of oneself is as high a calling as any. And I’m grateful that in our community, we have chosen that path. Not just because of the positive, immediate impact it has but also because of the example we set and the subsequent ripple effect. 

Negligence thrives in silence. Standards rise when someone, just one person, chooses not to look away.

In our homes, in our businesses, and in our leadership, let’s be that person.

Not perfect. Not infallible. But committed.

And when we raise the standard for ourselves, we quietly raise it for others around us.

Your IT, Digital, AI, Cloud Project is...

...Likely Going To Fail.

Strategy Control Room Advanced members can access the new IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center-of-Excellence here. Full article and all associated exhibits can be viewed here: https://firmsconsulting.com/it-digital-ai-cloud/

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You do not want to hear this, especially if you're knee-deep in an IT project. If you have spent more than a year speaking to IT experts and meticulously planning your project and about forty percent into delivering the project, this is the last thing you want to hear.

Yet, you need to hear this.

IT projects have the worst track record of any project, including those notoriously delayed defense contracts you read about in the news. IT projects are frequently over budget, behind schedule, and fail to deliver what they promised (outcomes). This poor performance is typical across industries, regions, and types of IT projects. This is a finding across several consulting firms, universities that study projects, and our own experience with clients.

You can ignore this Center of Excellence (CoE), assume your project will be the exception, and plow ahead, but chances are you'll become another failed IT statistic. 

Or you can learn from this IT, Digital, AI, Cloud Center-of-Excellence. 

It is far better to do the work today to either fix your IT project or plan for the next IT project. The reality is that all of us, at some point or another, will be a part of or impacted by some IT project.

The findings in this CoE broadly apply across all projects, and we will, at times, use non-IT examples to explain some concepts.

Across all the IT projects we have managed, advised on, or reviewed, we have distilled the insights on what makes a successful IT project. These insights come from years of working with clients, including digital transformation efforts and large-scale AI implementations. 

This includes our significantly more extensive archive of projects than what members have seen within Insider, Legacy, or SCRA over the last 15 years. We have yet to publish those to StrategyTraining.com and SCRA. As you can see from all our updates, this is an ongoing process. We hold the largest available repository of management consulting analyses, tools, toolkits, methodologies, proposals and studies, and sales techniques, and it keeps growing.

Those IT project related insights have been condensed into a single ~168-page internal guide we use when advising on IT projects. We hand this internal document to our teams, and we are now making it available to you.

We're releasing the first two sections for the SCRA members and will continue to share more over the next month. 

The Hidden Reason IT Projects Fail

There's a subtle, powerful reason most IT projects fail. And it's not what you think.

It has nothing to do with budgets, timelines, vendors, or technology. It's rooted in how decisions are made and defended inside organizations. It's about the psychology of teams under stress.

You won't find this insight in traditional project management literature, but it has played a decisive role in nearly every IT failure we've seen. It's part of the unique insights we make available only to our clients and members.

It's one of the most important ideas we've uncovered, and we walk through it in detail in the CoE. Once you see it, you can't unsee it, and you'll start to recognize it everywhere.

If your project is already underway, this one blind spot may become the reason it quietly derails. 

We explain exactly how this works and how to fix it in the complete IT, Digital, AI, Cloud Center-of-Excellence.

Case Studies: Why IT Projects Fail

The IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center of Excellence also outlines the best-practice guidelines for IT projects (and any project, whether you are building a road or an airport, since the principles are the same).

We have included detailed case studies explaining why specific projects failed and how they deviated from best practices.

We follow the advice we always offer to management consultants and industry leaders.

1. Never go broad in a case study unless there is a clear reason for doing so.

2. Find the one issue that needs to be studied rather than analyzing an entire company, which is practically impossible and yields little useful information.

3. Case-study specific failures versus broad successes.

4. Failures teach more than successes.

5. We cannot know what was successful when the project is just completed due to the hidden reason IT projects fail. We cover this in detail in this CoE.

The full article and associated exhibits can be viewed here: https://firmsconsulting.com/it-digital-ai-cloud/

What is The Strategy Control Room Advanced?

The Type Of Materials That Consulting Firms Never Share, Never Want to Teach Their Clients, and Guard with Their Lives.

Enroll for the Strategy Control Room membership and gain access to FIRMSconsulting.com and StrategyTraining.com private knowledge management system. >$500M value created. $200M value reported by a single client in one year by using the blueprint in the operations strategy study.

This is not a duplicate of the slides used to produce the StrategyTraining.com videos. It contains much more. We have used the same files in our consulting studies, winning >$1 million consulting proposals and client workshops. Access all our books, including bestselling books no longer available to the public and books that were never available to the public, as well as book drafts. Peruse flipcharts used for client relationship building and project workshops, private strategic planning documents, and Centers of Excellence. 

The type of content we produce cannot be found anywhere else accessible to the public. Unrivaled and curated.

The reason we call our knowledge management system the Strategy Control Room is that it allows you to have a place where you can go in and gain access to superior IP that can help you not only set apart your deliverables, not only gain an edge over your internal and external competitors, but access materials that can become an intelligence that powers the growth of your unit, practice, team, or even of your entire organization.

Imagine a control room with access to information your internal and external competitors dream of having. You go in, you pull relevant advanced IP, you see what you can integrate into your work today or this week/this month, and you integrate on the fly. Rinse and repeat. Do this at least once a week, and it can set you on a very different career trajectory.
 

Enroll for SCRA here.

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If you're an SCRA member, the IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center of Excellence is now available here.

Not a member yet? Enroll here: strategytraining.com/pages/scr and select Strategy Control Room Advanced.

We care about your success. Feel free to reach out with questions at team@firmsconsulting.com.

Thank you for being part of the StrategyTraining community.

Access New IT/Digital/AI/Cloud Center-of-Excellence

Strategy analyses are complicated. They are ambiguous and rarely present a definitive answer. We have to predict the future and tell a client where/how to operate in that predicted future. That is incredibly hard to do. It's unlike short-term trading, where traders can quickly adjust positions and minimize risk. Investors often move through trades in split seconds to minimize future volatility. Traders who work with commodities etc., usually have a buyer before they find a seller, thereby having strong certainty in the profit from a trade.

Investors who take long-term bets sometimes win, but often lose. Successful long-term investing is rare because it requires a qualified bet on an uncertain future, much like strategy. They have to take a qualified bet on the future. In that sense, long-term investing shares similarities with strategy work. For every George Soros, many more people made the wrong bets and were driven out of business.

Strategy is difficult for similar reasons but with even greater consequences. You are taking a bet on the future, and you must determine how to increase confidence in your predictions despite uncertainty. Since all data you could use is either from the present but often from the past, you have to extrapolate some version of the past while modifying your reasoning. 

Since strategy plays out in years, the predictions have to consider everything from shifting regulations, consumer behavior, competitor behavior, and the client's ability to fund the changes. More analyses and more detailed analyses do not remove the uncertainty. Unlike investors, who can exit a bad position, strategists often commit to decisions that are difficult or costly to reverse. Yet, CEOs and leaders have to act.

So, how do we do this? How do we make decisions under extreme uncertainty, with data that is always incomplete? How do you make high-stakes decisions when certainty is impossible? How do you convince peers and the board to act despite the unknowns?

This is why we are creating the Strategy Analyses Center of Excellence.

1. We will show you twelve complete studies (within the Strategy Control Room Advanced/SCRA)

2. These are the core twelve that will teach you about strategy.

3. Through Insider/Legacy videos, we will explain the...

   1. ...strategy and operational challenges faced by the client.

   2. ...process we used to frame challenges.

   3. ...engagement structure proposed.

   4. ...proposal process.

   5. ...core analyses.

   6. ...ambiguity in the recommendations.

   7. ...why/how the bets on the future were taken.

   8. ...how we minimized uncertainty around the future.

   9. ...why the data could never be conclusive.

   10. ...how the board/management/employees responded.

   11. ...what happened years after the recommendation.

Here are the principles we followed:

1. First-person narrative. We were there and giving you the behind-the-scenes playbook.

2. Focus on making decisions with little certainty.

3. Just enough analyses to answer a question.

4. Focus on the challenges leaders face.

And, of course, 1-on-1 coaching clients can get our direct personalized guidance in our weekend clinics given their particular career/engagement challenges or opportunities. We do a deep dive with each client at each results clinic.

Below are the studies we will cover. Again, these are the core engagements that taught us the foundational principles of strategy and analyses. We may adjust this list, but this is the plan for now.

Restructuring a Bank

How does one fix a loss-making bank which is struggling to raise equity capital as its risk exposure is growing?

Restructuring a Large Industrial Concern

How does a large industrial business that measures product cycles in decades leave its loss-making business as it is battling to gain regulatory and licensing approval to join the fastest-growing and most profitable segments of the market?

Expanding a Bank

How does a bank that has realized its balance sheet can never support its ambitions seek out alliances with other lenders when it has very little to offer?

Changing a Business Model

How does a large company realize and convince its entire board and leadership team that it is pursuing the wrong strategy and facing a catastrophic future unless it changes direction immediately?

Developing an R&D Strategy

Does a corporate R&D division develop cutting-edge technologies, license in what it needs, and/or try to grow its nascent technology consulting business while deciding to invest in costly next-gen technologies?

Developing a Financial Services Product

How does a bank define the parameters of a product, test its profitability, decide which parts of the product will be within its control, which parts will reside with partners, build the product, launch the product, and calculate the returns from the product?

IT / Digital Strategy Study

How does a company decide how much of the IT team controls IT, AI, digital, and process control, and how does it manage and govern the parts under its control to support an organization rolling out a new digital infrastructure, while managing legacy mainframe systems?

Portfolio Planning Strategy

How do you prove a technology is worth the investment when it is not the cheapest, is a new technology to the client/region, has not been proven to work internationally, and would require costly new infrastructure to bring it online?

Making the Case for Market Entry

Why would a company enter a new market in which it would take many years to realize a return, where it has no expertise and there are no synergies with the other profitable and fast-growing parts of the business?

Operations Strategy - A New Approach

How does one develop an all-encompassing operations strategy to guide the entire operations of a large diversified business that is considered the best performer in its sector, especially when the client believes there are only minor/isolated operations problems?

Pharmaceutical / Healthcare Strategy Study

How does one move clients from an entrenched view of trying to cut the cost of employee healthcare towards focusing on the returns from funding even more comprehensive and costly treatment for employees?

Innovative Ways to Fund Growth & Expansion

How does a highly leveraged client find ways to fund its growth when its primary asset is co-owned by a founding investor who is unwilling to change the terms of the original investment?

Three Options to Join + Add-On:

1. Subscribe to Insider - gain access to a vast video/audio library and materials we will be releasing related to this program.

2. Subscribe to Legacy - everything within Insider plus more advanced programs plus be able to submit your question in writing and get an audio reply from us which takes into account your particular situation.

3. Subscribe to SCRA - see the full studies, proposals, books, centers of excellence and more.

4. 1-on-1 results clinics (most effective and powerful) - Apply to team@firmsconsulting.com. Please submit your resume (in any format you have it available).

Add-on - Article + Book - Published Author program to help you write your article/book. If you are in the executive coaching EB1A program, we will also guide you through your articles writing/publishing process if we will jointly determine that articles publishing should be used as part of your program to help you qualify for EB1A.

[NEW SCRA] Investor Relations Strategy Proposal

We remain focused on a Year of Consulting Sales. In an earlier post, we laid out the program and explained the five sales meetings. The documents from those meetings and the explanation will soon be loaded.

1. We have just released the Investor Relations Strategy Proposal, the third engagement generated by those five sales meetings. It is accessible within the Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level.

2. The full engagement from this proposal is also available in SCRA.

In Building a Consulting Practice, our big theme is how we built out the practice from those five meetings.

***

This proposal template outlines an 8-week engagement to help a company better understand and address potential gaps between share price and intrinsic value. The proposal establishes a structured approach divided into four key phases: developing a shareholder value measurement framework, creating a targeted questionnaire, implementing the questionnaire with shareholders, and analyzing feedback to inform strategy. The document includes specific timelines for each phase and clearly defines deliverables, team structure, and fees. 

The proposal shows how to evaluate whether undervaluation stems from communication issues or operational fundamentals through shareholder segmentation and analysis. 

This template would be valuable for consultants working with publicly traded companies facing investor relations challenges, particularly when needing to align board understanding with shareholder expectations. It provides a professional framework for presenting complex financial analysis processes while maintaining a focus on actionable outcomes that links strategic planning and shareholder communication.

HOW TO FIND INVESTOR RELATIONS STRATEGY:

1. Log in to The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, membership area.
2. See the "PROPOSALS" dropdown. 
3. Select "36 Investor Relations Strategy Proposal"

If you are The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, member, here is the direct link to this particular update.

If you joined an Advanced Level of the Strategy Control Room today, you would find the most powerful strategy, problem-solving, consulting, and results-oriented leadership reading library in the world. The resources include:

• Michael's explanation slides for selected programs on StrategyTraining.com

• 13 full engagements

• Change Management Influence & Persuasion Center of Excellence 

• Detailed Business Case Methodology Center of Excellence 

• Encyclopedia of Strategy Analyses Center of Excellence 

• Corporate Training Center of Excellence

• One-Week Immersion: Consulting Onboarding / Consulting Mastery Center of Excellence

• 36 proposals

• Flipcharts

• Layout guides

• 17 strategy and problem-solving books which we do not make available anywhere else

• 2 brand new strategy and problem-solving books just released and not available anywhere else

• 11 book drafts never before available and not available anywhere else

• Case interview materials for Felix, Rafik, Samantha, and Sanjeev, case interview exhibits, case interview solutions

• The evolution of corporate strategy

• The business case toolkit

• Implementation and operation toolkit

• Corporate strategy toolkit

• Strategy maps

• And more 

Enroll as a Strategy Control Room Advanced Member