In the early portion of my strategic management consulting work, I’d over-empathize the importance (most of the time to myself) around this “framework” or that “systemic approach” when helping CPG companies achieve their goals. Maybe I can chalk that up as just younger me still being way too close to his business school academia mindset or maybe back then I just wasn’t able to “see the forest for the trees.” Because all those spreadsheets filled with data, all those metrics created, and all those strategic plans and recommendations weren’t just words/numbers…but human behavior. And it took me a few years, but I’ve now fully embraced that my business superpower isn’t just that “legacy mechanical strategic thinking” but understanding how evolving human needs drive consumer decisions and how those demand drivers can be connected to key aspects commercially impacting different CPG product categories. But others are just wired differently, understanding early that placing humans at the center of every aspect will make the biggest impact within the CPG industry. That’s why I was super excited to chat with Josh Wand (founder of ForceBrands and General Partner at The Family Fund) because while we share the same first name, we have diverse perspectives that make for great holistic insights. This conversation was really fun, spanning how human-led (and human-centric) CPG companies are the future, how AI is hurting (and helping) CPG brands, and why every leader needs to be looking at human performance beyond basic productivity metrics (and KPIs). We also talked about the transparency paradox that could be creating an under-the-radar downside risk for CPG brands. Finally, we talked about where the biggest impact can come from long-term with CPG-focused venture capital firms. But these are just some of the interesting topics we chatted about in this episode...

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