New This Week On StrategyTraining.com
The best leaders today do more than manage. They bring clarity and certainty when others are uncertain. They focus teams, challenge assumptions, and drive progress with discipline.
This week’s releases are built around that same mindset. You’ll find practical programs that help you make better decisions, build stronger client relationships, and lead conversations to make meaningful progress.
As you go through the resources, ask one question: What is the root problem this helps me solve? The answer will reveal how each idea connects to your own growth and long-term goals.
Now let's look at all the new resources available for members this week:
For Strategy Control Room Advanced Members
Beyond AI: Where Technology Is Heading – Part 3 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.
The Hidden Cost of Easy Answers - Episode 1 of 3
This program is designed to counteract the profound erosion of identity and cognitive skills caused by the pervasive overload of information and the documented brain-dulling effects of Artificial Intelligence, which can leave individuals feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, and with weakened critical thinking skills.
Episode title: The slow forgetting
Building a Consulting Practice. Level II – Episode 12 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. Implementation delays
The Bill Matassoni Show, Season 3 (Part 2 - Nicholas Gertler) – Episode 7 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: Aligning stakeholder interests
For Legacy Members
Legacy members gain access to all Insider content, plus these exclusive episodes:
How to Make Tough Personal Decisions - Episode 2 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: First 2 of the 2-3-3 Lens
Landing a Signature Consulting Sale - Episode 3 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: Enduring sales come from pattern recognition
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.
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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.
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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.
Father of the Cable Modem Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard on Innovation and the Global Broadband Transformation - with Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard
Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard, founder of LANcity, author of The Accidental Network, and known as the “father of the cable modem”, shares the story of how broadband was built and the lessons it offers for today’s leaders navigating AI and emerging technologies.
At the start of his career, Yassini-Fard envisioned carrying “voice, data and video… over one cable instead of two” at a time when few believed homes would ever need to be connected. Over nine years, with just 13 employees and seven consultants, he built a working product, proved its reliability, and persuaded the cable industry to adopt it. By 1996, his team had driven device costs from $8,000 down to under $300 and helped create DOCSIS, the global broadband standard, released royalty-free to speed adoption.
Key insights include:
Prototype before scale: Capital is wasted without demonstrable performance in real environments.
Treat infrastructure as strategy: Broadband enabled Silicon Valley, Netflix, telehealth, and remote work; leaders must model today’s energy, compute, and connectivity constraints when sizing AI opportunities.
Open standards matter: Royalty-free interoperability can turn a niche idea into an industry platform.
Anchor to customer economics: Early users became advocates because the modem delivered day-to-day value.
Looking forward, Yassini-Fard stresses that AI and robotics will stall without addressing power and infrastructure. He highlights quantum computing and network management as the next frontiers.
Listen to the episode here (you can also watch or read the transcript).
How to Build Brands That Dominate - with Laura Ries
Laura Ries, globally recognized marketing strategist and author of The Strategic Enemy, outlines a category-first approach to brand building. She is also the daughter of Al Ries, who co-wrote the seminal book "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind," which shaped modern marketing thinking. After starting her career at an advertising agency, Laura joined her father’s firm, becoming his apprentice and later partner, working with top brands worldwide and advancing the field of positioning and brand strategy.
As she explains, “while people talk in brands, they really think in categories. The category is king.” Her core message: focus, contrast, and clarity determine whether a brand leads or disappears.
The conversation emphasizes when to launch a new brand name rather than extend an old one and how what Laura calls “visual hammers” turn a positioning into dominance. She draws on vivid examples: Kodak’s misstep in naming its first digital cameras, Toyota’s use of Lexus to enter the luxury market, Subaru’s turnaround through all-wheel-drive focus, and Target’s positioning as “cheap chic” against Walmart.
Key takeaways for leaders include:
Define and own a category. “The power is in owning a singular idea, and the even more powerful thing is to dominate and own a category.”
Choose a strategic enemy. As Ries argues, “the mind understands opposition faster than superiority.” Standing against something clarifies what you stand for.
Use new names for new categories. Legacy names can trap perception in the old category.
Deploy the visual hammer. A simple, memorable image or symbol cements positioning more powerfully than words alone.
Keep the message simple and repeat it. Brands like BMW (“The Ultimate Driving Machine”) and Chick-fil-A (“Eat More Chicken”) succeeded through decades of repetition, not campaign churn.
Invest in leadership visibility. Well-known figures, from Anna Wintour at Vogue to Elon Musk at Tesla, can embody and amplify brand positioning.
Treat AI as a tool, not a substitute. Ries uses it for research synthesis but insists, “there’s a great human element that is still incredibly valuable.
Listen to the episode here (you can also watch or read the transcript).
Former CEO of Jamba Juice on Leading with Culture - with James D. White
James D. White, former CEO of Jamba Juice, current board chair of The Honest Company, and coauthor of Culture Design, shares how culture becomes a management discipline rather than a slogan. Drawing on his eight-year turnaround of Jamba and service on more than 15 boards, he shares how listening, rituals, and disciplined systems embed values into sustained performance.
Key takeaways:
Start with stakeholder listening. White began his turnaround with nearly 200 “start, stop, continue” inputs across employees, suppliers, and board members. “I always start by listening,” he says, because the people inside the company “actually know what’s required to make the company run better.”
Make culture intentional. “Companies have culture by design or default.” Define what matters, create rituals that reinforce it, and remove practices that contradict stated values.
Reduce the say–do gap. “The really important things from a leadership perspective are what we say versus what we do, and minimizing the say–do gap.” Simple rituals (forums, recognition, measurement) align words with actions.
Invest in people individually. “People don’t care how much you know until they understand how much you care about them personally.” One-on-ones and role design that lean into strengths unlock discretionary effort.
Demand transparency. “I want bad news first.” Candor allows leaders to respond before problems multiply.
From anonymous feedback channels to departmental listening sessions, operating processes must “make it easier for our stores to deliver great products in the most efficient fashion.”
Balance preservation and change. Protect what works (“fantastic products” and passionate employees) while reallocating resources. One example was adding steel-cut oatmeal for colder markets, paired with smoothies.
Measure what matters. “Anything that matters, you always measure it.” White combines Gallup Q12 surveys, pulse checks, and qualitative indicators like recognition letters to monitor engagement.
Clarify board vs. CEO roles. “The CEO is responsible for running the company… the board chair is a facilitator of the collective board.” A strong chair-CEO relationship unburdens management while channeling board expertise.
Exit with care. Not every role fits every person: “You often… get to a place where you free up people’s future to go do something else. You do it with kindness and grace and thoughtfulness.”
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.
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