May 12–May 18, 2025 releases on StrategyTraining.com

The wrong partner can cost you more than a failed strategy.

I was asked:
When is the right time to marry?

Before success, so you can grow together?
Or after success, once life feels more stable?

My answer to the question was:
Marry when you meet the right person.

This may sound like only a personal question. It’s not.

I’ve seen talented professionals stall not because they lacked vision or discipline, but because their environment made every step heavier. A partner who questions your priorities, undermines your time, or adds instability can quietly sabotage years of progress.

On the other hand, the right partner becomes a force multiplier.
They create space for you to focus.
They carry more when you need to carry less.
They stay when things get hard.

Some of my clients were left behind during health challenges, financial pressure, or periods of uncertainty.
Others were supported in difficult times beyond what most people would think is expected.

Years from now, it won’t be the awards, metrics, or milestones that stay with you the most.
It will be the hand you held through it all.

Whether you’re choosing a life partner or a training platform, choosing the right partner matters.

One client and his wife went through our training together. They used StrategyTraining.com programs to learn critical thinking, strategy, problem-solving, business-building skills, and went on to build an AI engineering firm.

There are three membership levels you should pay attention to. They are as follows:

Our reading library:

Strategy Control Room Advanced (SCRA) 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.

Our video/audio training library:

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.

As you probably know, we add additional training and resources weekly. New training episodes and resources are now live and available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, and ROKU.

Here is what is new this week:

For Strategy Control Room Advanced Members

You’ll receive this exclusive update:

Sunday

New IT, Digital, AI, and Cloud Center-of-Excellence – Update 6 (115 SLIDES) of TBD

For Insider Members

These new training episodes are being released this week.

Friday
The MasterPlan Advanced – Episode 29 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 members who are working toward building a richer, more fulfilling life, not only a career that looks successful to people around.
Episode title: Don't Negotiate a Prenup on the First Date

Saturday
The Real Reason You Are Not Being Promoted – Episode 11 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: Have You Grown and Become a Better Professional Through Your Promotions

Sunday
(New) Why Am I Not Happy? How Can I Be Happy? – Episode 6 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 the next 2 weeks to shape future episodes/related programs.
Episode title: Society Has Not, Does Not, and Will Never Teach You to Pursue Happiness. We Do.

For Legacy Members

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

Friday
A Mid-Life Strategy Update – Episode 43 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: The Most Important Audit You Will Ever Do

Saturday
How We Plant the Seeds of Relationship Turmoil – Episode 1 of 1
How We Plant the Seeds of Relationship Turmoil examines the often-overlooked link between cultural assumptions and long-term relational breakdown. Drawing on a real case of a high-performing medical professional, the program dissects how unspoken expectations, particularly around intergenerational roles, sacrifice, and filial obligation, can quietly erode trust and emotional connection over decades. Rather than focusing on dramatic conflict, the episode explores how rational planning, cultural rigidity, and absolute thinking can create an invisible system of strain that only surfaces when a child chooses a divergent path. For leaders navigating family dynamics, legacy planning, or complex cultural transitions, this is a case study in how emotional disconnection is often structured long before it is recognized.
Episode title: How We Plant the Seeds of Relationship Turmoil

Sunday
(New) I Don't Know If This Is What I Want to Do - Episode 3 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: Do You Have: Own Vision?

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

Ask Us a Question — Get Tailored Feedback

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

We also released these free resources:

Strategy Skills Podcast (top 5-10 for careers in many countries)

Monday
Artist, Leader, and Yale Fellow Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir on Rethinking Leadership Through Intuition and Inner Clarity - with Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir

In this episode, Icelandic author and global leadership advisor Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir offers a thoughtful synthesis of lived experience, scientific insight, and deep reflection on the role of intuition in high-stakes decision-making. Drawing from her early leadership in post-conflict Kosovo and a pivotal health crisis that redefined her trajectory, Hrund presents intuition not as mystical abstraction, but as an embodied, trainable form of intelligence, critical for navigating uncertainty, complexity, and personal transformation.

Listeners will walk away with tangible tools: how to use an “attention journal” to map unconscious signals, why sleep and silence outperform over-analysis in moments of pressure, and how leaders can systematically create space for intuition within teams. With a voice that blends strategic clarity and human depth, Hrund reminds us that the ability to listen inward, when trained, is structural. And it may be one of the few true advantages.

Listen to the episode here (you can also watch or read the transcript).

Wednesday
Microsoft Director on How to Empower Anyone to Innovate – with JoAnn Garbin

JoAnn Garbin has spent her career proving that breakthrough ideas come from structure. As former Director of Innovation at Microsoft Cloud and co-author of The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft, she reveals how innovation really works inside one of the world’s most complex organizations.

In this episode, JoAnn unpacks what many leaders get wrong about innovation and how to do it right. She explains how orchestrated collaboration, disciplined experimentation, and the courage to email a CEO can unlock opportunity others miss. From building political capital without playing politics, to reshaping your network across decades, she shows how innovation becomes a repeatable craft when powered by conviction and community.

Listen to the episode here (you can also watch or read the transcript).

Additionally, here are the recent releases on FIRMSconsulting / StrategyTraining.com / Kris Safarova YouTube Channels:

The Systems Behind Sustained High Performance with ADHD - with Kris Safarova
Access here.

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?