The most effective leaders today deliver results by setting a clear direction, building trust, and taking disciplined action. With demands on executives growing, success relies on applying effective and uncommon frameworks for growth, influence, and team performance.

This week's releases introduce practical tools for commercial and personal decision-making, drawing on fresh case examples from industry, client development, and leadership transitions. You will find proven methods for elevating key conversations, reframing challenges, and securing lasting impact in both team and client settings.

Clients, boards, and colleagues expect more than technical expertise. They look for advisors who can clearly define issues, challenge assumptions, and focus teams on meaningful outcomes. Our new programs are built to help you prioritize, communicate with impact, and maintain discipline under pressure.

As you review these resources, consider how each framework or lesson applies to your immediate priorities and long-term objectives. Consistent use of structured thinking and clear communication remains the foundation for sustainable success.

Now let's look at all the new resources available for members:

For Strategy Control Room Advanced Members

Beyond AI: Where Technology Is Heading – Part 2 of TBD

AI and digital technologies are reshaping asset-heavy industries, shifting the focus from physical capital to data-driven strategies. With examples like John Deere, Tesla, and Cruise, this latest SCRA update from the Center of Excellence shows how innovations such as statistical maps and AI systems are transforming industry standards, driving sustainability, and underscoring the need for digital adoption to stay competitive.

For Insider Members

These new training episodes were released this week.

Reprogramming the Need for Approval - Episode 1
In this program, Kris Safarova addresses one of the most damaging patterns holding professionals back: the relentless need for external validation. She explains why the recognition you receive will never be enough, how early experiences create this dependence, and most importantly, how to reprogram yourself to operate from an internal center of control. You will walk away with a disciplined framework to replace the drain of seeking approval with the clarity, confidence, and authority required to lead and perform effectively.
Episode title: Episode 1

Building a Consulting Practice. Level II – Episode 11 of TBD
Level II moves beyond the fundamentals of establishing or rebuilding a consulting business to focus on the advanced discipline of turning everyday engagements into engines of sustained growth.

Through real-world examples, including an operations strategy project that evolved into an entirely new consulting practice, you’ll learn how to:

- Redirect client discussions from transactional tasks toward high-value, strategic issues.
- Identify opportunities even when no obvious “problem” is on the table.
- Position yourself as a trusted advisor where your input is taken into account for critical decisions.

Follow how strategic thinking can be applied in operational contexts, discussions can be triangulated toward your strengths, and growth can be designed to outlast any single engagement. Together with Level I and programs such as Partnership Memoir, Rebuilding a Consulting Practice, and How to Sell >$10MM Consulting Studies. The Andrew Program, this series offers a powerful roadmap for building a resilient, high-impact consulting practice.
Episode title: The Proposal. The Approach Section

The Bill Matassoni Show, Season 3 (Part 2 - Nicholas Gertler) – Episode 6 of 15
In this episode, Bill Matassoni engages in a deep strategic dialogue with Nicholas Gertler, a former McKinsey colleague, on how to redesign systems to create value for all stakeholders. Moving beyond traditional advertising and sales approaches, they explore the role of storytelling and influence as levers to reshape industries, organizations, and relationships.

Filmed at the iconic Philip Johnson Glass House, the conversation challenges leaders to reconsider how value is defined, created, and sustained, and how their own work can drive meaningful, long-term change. The series, now followed by senior leaders and executives from major organizations, offers practical tools to broaden perspective and uncover opportunities often missed by others.
Episode title: Focusing on Lasting Impact

For Legacy Members

Legacy members gain access to all Insider content, plus these exclusive episodes:

How to Make Tough Personal Decisions - Episode 1 of 8
What happens when one life-changing decision collides with your other responsibilities? In this program, Michael unpacks a client’s dilemma, three prestigious career paths, and reveals the lens you can use before making choices that shape both your life and theirs.
Episode title: An extremely challenging situation that MUST be reframed

Landing a Signature Consulting Sale - Episode 2 of 5
When building client relationships, are you treating every engagement the same, or are you thinking like a strategist, choosing battles that open the door to far greater opportunities? This program reveals how a single well-placed move can reshape your entire sales strategy.
Episode title: The lensing problem. What is your lens?

Earning a Seat in the Core Group - Episode 3 of 4
Many professionals focus on how to get into the inner circle of decision-makers. But the real question is... what will you do once you’re there, especially if your goals don’t align with the company’s priorities?
Episode title: Where does this take your career?

Insiders can upgrade to Legacy at any time and revert to Insider without losing Insider status.

To upgrade: While logged in, select any Legacy program and follow the upgrade prompt.

To return to Insider: Email team@firmsconsulting.com, and we will restore your Insider status, provided there are no gaps in your subscription or gaps are covered.

Legacy Member Q&A — Tailored Partner Feedback
Legacy members may submit one personal or professional question twice per month. A partner will respond with a custom recorded answer.

Submission deadlines: 15th and 30th of each month

Format: One paragraph emailed to team@firmsconsulting.com

Include: Relevant context and details so we can provide precise, actionable guidance

Subject line: Legacy Question

Strategy Skills Podcast (ranked among the top 5–10 career podcasts in many countries for over 10 years)
These episodes are now available on iTunes, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms.

Former Goldman Sachs Executive, Erin Coupe, on Rituals for Success, Meditation, and Self-Leadership - with Erin Coupe

Former Goldman Sachs executive Erin Coupe shares how she transformed her life and career by replacing routines with rituals, practicing meditation, and stepping into self-leadership.

In this episode of the Strategy Skills Podcast, Kris Safarova and Erin dive deep into practical lessons for entrepreneurs, consultants, and online business owners who want more clarity, energy, and independence.

Based on her book, I Can Fit That In: How Rituals Transform Your Life, Erin explains how to:

Build rituals that fuel focus, creativity, and business growth.
Use meditation to calm your mind and access deeper ideas.
Lead yourself first — so you can lead teams, clients, and businesses better.
Align achievement with values to avoid burnout and emptiness.
See AI not just as a tool for efficiency, but as a partner in self-discovery.

This conversation is perfect for online business owners, consultants, authors, and executives building a life and career on their own terms.

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

ESSEC Business School Professor on How Geopolitics Shapes Corporate Strategy - with Srividya Jandhyala

Srividya Jandhyala, professor of management at ESSEC Business School and author of The Great Disruption, offers a clear framework for how geopolitics is reshaping corporate strategy.

She explains why geopolitics now sits inside business decisions rather than adjacent to them. Corporate choices create externalities that trigger responses from states and nonmarket actors. For example, decisions around semiconductors illustrate how commercial moves collide with concerns about national security and dependence in key markets. The implication is that access, permissions, and standards increasingly compete with price and product as decisive variables.

“The fundamental idea, ‘Where are you from?’ the nationality of the company is the defining feature of the type of reactions you face from all stakeholders, not just governments, but also customers, suppliers, and clients”.

Jandhyala distills four structural foundations every multinational should monitor:

Market access — Where tariffs, export controls, or rivalries may close doors.
Level playing field — Corporate nationality can tilt the advantage or disadvantage against competitors.
Investment security — Whether assets, workforce, and property rights will be safe, and returns can be repatriated.
Institutional alignment — The “USB vs. power plug” analogy: some systems work seamlessly, while others clash. Geopolitics is increasingly a contest of standards.

Practical Takeaways
Build a repeatable discipline. Go beyond headline news by scanning developments, personalizing them to the firm’s footprint, planning responses, and pivoting as conditions change.

Map exposure by corporate nationality. Quantify where origin shapes market permissions, customer sentiment, or partner constraints.

Treat corporate diplomacy as a core capability. Relationship-building with governments and stakeholders now consumes significant CEO time, creating both opportunities and trade-offs.

For CEOs: View geopolitical flux as a field for advantage, not just risk. “Be imaginative about how you can exploit your corporate nationality, your position in the value chain, and your global market presence.”

For middle managers: Expect new roles and metrics; government engagement, redundancy planning, and cross-functional information brokering are becoming central.

Use the right cognitive frame. Executives must decide explicitly whether and where geopolitics deserves share of mind, recognizing that equally astute observers may reach different conclusions.

Geopolitics is now part of the operating environment. Companies that treat it as not important enough will miss risks and opportunities. Those that build structural awareness and corporate diplomacy into strategy will be better positioned to compete when “permissions, politics, and standards” define the terms of play.

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

The Four Pillars of Elite Teams - with Colin M. Fisher

Dr. Colin Fisher, an Associate Professor of Organizations and Innovation at University College London's School of Management, deconstructs high-performing teams using decades of organizational research and field-tested frameworks. If you lead, manage, or influence teams, the insights here can recalibrate how you build and guide collaboration.

We explore four foundational elements (Composition, Goals, Tasks, and Norms) and dismantle prevalent myths that often derail even experienced leaders.

Key insights include:

Composition: A team’s effectiveness begins with clarity. In a landmark study, only 7% of top management teams agreed on how many people were actually on their team. “We can’t compose the team thoughtfully unless we agree on who’s in the team in the first place.” The ideal team size? 4.5 people. Why? It balances task performance and member satisfaction, minimizing coordination cost while maximizing cohesion.

Goals: Most teams fall apart not because of conflict, but because “members don’t share the same understanding of what the group’s goals are.” Dr. Fisher emphasizes that goals must be clear, challenging, and consequential, repeated often, and refined constantly.

Tasks: Don’t assign group work to solo tasks. Effective team tasks must require interdependence and diverse expertise. Leaders must provide “clear goals but autonomy over process.” Micromanagement erodes both accountability and innovation.

Norms: Often invisible yet decisive. Norms around psychological safety and information sharing distinguish resilient teams from dysfunctional ones. Without them, even the most capable groups collapse under miscommunication or fear of speaking up.

The secret sauce to leading well is sustained attention to the basics. Effective leaders are not mystical intuitives but methodical questioners and attentive listeners.

If you care about sustainable performance and intelligent team design, this conversation can be very helpful.

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:

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Succession: Greg Abel and 7 Lessons for Leaders - with Kris Safarova
Access here.

How Elite Consulting Partners Structure Corporate Strategy Engagements - 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.

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

How to Enroll in Insider, Legacy, or Strategy Control Room Advanced

Enrollment in Insider, Legacy, and Strategy Control Room Advanced is currently open.

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To return from Legacy to Insider: Email team@firmsconsulting.com. We will restore your Insider status if your subscription has remained continuous or if any gap has been covered.

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