Strategy Meets Reality Podcast

Most strategy documents belong in a drawer. Real strategy is lived, spoken, and constantly adapted.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Professor Donald MacLean—physicist, strategist, and founder of Strategy Story—to unpack what makes strategy real, why we confuse it with policy and vision, and how governance is quietly killing adaptability.

Donald shares why strategy is emotional before it’s intellectual, why leadership is about enabling sensemaking, and why conversation—not control—is the engine of execution.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why real strategy is spoken, not written
• The difference between policy, vision, and strategy
• Why governance often strangles adaptability
• The human side of strategic commitment
• How to re-personalise strategy without dumbing it down
• What Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and football managers have in common

🎧 Keywords: Emergent Strategy, Governance, Strategic Execution, Complexity, Systems Thinking, Organisational Design, Engagement, Clausewitz, Storytelling, Open Strategy

📬 Connect with Donald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professordonaldmaclean/

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🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Most strategy frameworks promise clarity—but what happens when there is no map?

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Elsa Henderson—consultant, facilitator, and PhD researcher on “wayfinding” in complexity. Drawing on her work with impact networks and her doctoral research into real-world leadership practice, Elsa explores what it means to make decisions, build strategy, and lead effectively when the future is unclear.

They unpack why traditional navigation fails in dynamic environments, why capacity matters more than capability, and how the aesthetics of leadership—the felt experience—shape what we notice, trust, and act on. It’s a rich, grounded conversation for leaders rethinking how strategy and sensemaking really work in practice.

🔍 In this episode:

• What wayfinding means—and why it matters in strategy
• The difference between capability and capacity in leadership
• Why frameworks are only useful if you can adapt them
• Practical wisdom and anticipatory capacity in action
• The emotional and aesthetic dimension of leadership decisions
• Rethinking time, identity, and feedback in organisational change

🎧 Keywords: Wayfinding, Strategy, Capacity, Complexity, Anticipatory Capacity, Practical Wisdom, Leadership, Dynamic Environments, Change, Sensemaking, Aesthetics, Tacit Knowledge, Adaptation

📬 Connect with Elsa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elsa-henderson-48b720132/

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🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Most organisations measure success by profit. Hunter Hastings says that’s the wrong compass.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Hunter Hastings—strategist, author, and leading voice in systems thinking—to challenge the way businesses define and deliver value. They unpack why profit maximisation blinds leaders to opportunity, how autonomy unlocks creativity, and why removing barriers is the real work of leadership.

From shifting the paradigm away from efficiency to focusing on effectiveness, to breaking down the power structures that stifle action, this episode offers a practical roadmap for leaders who want to organise for adaptability and meaningful impact.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why value creation should drive strategy—not profit targets
• How autonomy fuels speed, creativity, and innovation
• The limits of efficiency as a business strategy
• Rethinking power dynamics in modern management
• Removing barriers to action across the organisation
• Why systems thinking is essential in a boundaryless business world

🎧 Keywords: Systems Thinking, Value Creation, Autonomy, Organisational Design, Leadership, Efficiency vs. Effectiveness, Power Dynamics, Strategy, Adaptability, Empowerment

📘 Learn more about Hunter: Hunter’s LinkedIn

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Planning isn’t about precision—it’s about possibility.

In this episode, Mike Jones is joined by Johan Ivari—Swedish Armed Forces officer, lecturer at the Swedish Defence University, and author of A Set-Based Approach: Searching for the Problem–Solution Eclipse. Together, they explore how strategy and execution can remain viable in a world shaped by unpredictability and complexity.

Johan challenges the illusion of control, unpacks why detailed plans often collapse on contact with reality, and explains how the set-based approach protects adaptability by expanding options, not narrowing them. From mission command and viable systems to cognitive agency and feedback loops, this episode is a rich exploration of thinking, learning, and leading in real time.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why narrative—not metrics—should lead execution
• The danger of detailed plans and false certainty
• How viable systems enable distributed action and coherence
• Why leaders must protect their organisation’s capacity to act
• The value of affordances and ‘coarse’ planning
• Why set-based planning improves decision quality and learning

🎧 Keywords: Set-Based Planning, Viable Systems, Mission Command, Complexity, Strategy Execution, Feedback Loops, Agency, Command and Control, Adaptive Leadership

📘 Read Johan’s paper: A Set-based Approach
📬 Connect with Johan: LinkedIn

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Leadership is no longer about maintaining the old—it’s about shapeshifting into the new.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Louise Le Gat, creator of the purpose-led roadmap, to explore how leaders must evolve in the face of global disruption, systemic shifts, and societal transformation.

Louise challenges us to stop being good soldiers of the status quo and become brave builders of the future. From mental model upgrades to organisational reinvention, this is a deep dive into the inner and outer shifts leaders must make to shape what comes next.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why we’re still acting like we’re safely in port—but we’re already in the storm
• The move from control to coherence, from managing to shaping
• How imagination and purpose redefine value in uncertain times
• Dismantling survival mechanisms and embracing uniqueness
• The inner system shifts that must accompany outer change
• Creating spaces for intrapreneurial agility and reinvention

🎧 Keywords: Leadership, System Shifts, Mental Models, Purpose-Led, Inner Work, Shapeshifting, Reinvention, Positive Impact, Complexity, Legacy Leadership

📘 Learn more about Louise’s work: https://www.louiselegat.com/
📬 Connect with Louise: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louiselegat

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Engagement isn’t a soft skill—it’s a strategic advantage.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Marcus Dimbleby—former RAF, red teaming expert, and founder of Effective Direction—to explore how critical thinking and challenge cultures sharpen execution in complex environments.

Marcus explains why most organisations suffer from self-inflicted complexity, why outputs are mistaken for outcomes, and how empowerment without clarity or capability leads nowhere. From psychological safety to adaptive planning and human-led strategy, this is a grounded conversation on execution that works under pressure.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why red teaming unlocks the best ideas—not just hierarchy-approved ones
• The ROI of engagement and the real cost of quiet quitting
• Why complexity isn’t the enemy—but confusion is
• How psychological safety enables challenge, not comfort
• The problem with planning theatre and faux empowerment
• Critical thinking as the foundation of execution

🎧 Keywords: Red Teaming, Strategy Execution, Critical Thinking, Leadership, Organisational Complexity, Psychological Safety, Empowerment, Engagement, Mission Command, Organisational Design

📘 Learn more about Marcus’s work: https://www.effectivedirection.com/
📬 Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Viability isn’t about predicting the future—it’s about preparing for many.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Norman Chorn—strategist, scenario thinker, and author—to challenge conventional planning and explore how leaders can make better strategic decisions under uncertainty.

Norman explains why conventional alignment makes organisations fragile, why strategic adaptability depends on coherence, and how low-regret bets create resilience without wasting effort. From complexity and culture to leadership ego and strategic ambiguity, this is a grounded take on how to think, plan, and act when nothing is certain.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why efficiency is fragile and redundancy builds resilience
• Coherence vs alignment—and why it matters for viability
• Scenario thinking and low-regret bets
• The role of purpose and culture in strategic adaptability
• Strategy as continuous learning, not annual ritual
• Why humility and decentralisation are strategic strengths

📘 Learn more about Norman’s work: https://www.drnormanchorn.com/

🎧 Keywords: Strategy, uncertainty, scenario planning, coherence, resilience, complexity, strategic alignment, futures, leadership, organisational design

📘 Learn more about Norman’s work: [Insert link to Norman’s website or LinkedIn]

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

We don’t just fight wars with weapons, we fight them with ideas, metaphors, and assumptions we don’t even question.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Ben Zweibelson—veteran, military strategist, and author of Reconceptualizing War—to explore why our dominant paradigms of strategy are failing us. They unpack the hidden structures behind military thinking, why complexity demands more than doctrine, and how multi-paradigm design can unlock radically different ways of seeing and acting.

This is not just about warfare. It’s a challenge to how we think, how we plan, and how we lead in a world that refuses to conform.

🔍 In this episode:

Why most strategy is trapped in a single paradigm

The difference between functionalism, complexity, and interpretivism

How militaries (and organisations) mistake activity for understanding

Why the irreversibility of time matters for decision-making

What multi-paradigm thinking looks like in practice

How language, design, and philosophy shape strategic failure or success

🎧 Keywords: Strategy, military thinking, complexity, war, paradigms, decision-making, design, multi-paradigm, functionalism, interpretivism, uncertainty

📘 Learn more about Ben’s work: https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/reconceptualizing-war-.php

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Control is comforting, but in complexity, it’s often a trap.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Michael Negendahl, founder of Exaptive Labs and a former emergency nurse, to explore why many leadership responses are performative rather than practical. They unpack the psychological need for certainty, the danger of chasing tidy plans in messy environments, and the difference between solving a problem and solving the wrong one.

This is a candid conversation about power, ego, and the courage to admit we don’t know. For leaders navigating real-world uncertainty, this one goes deep.

🔍 In this episode:

Why control is often just a performance

How strategy becomes theatre when leaders avoid discomfort

The gap between perception and reality in problem-solving

The difference between control and the illusion of control

What distributed intelligence looks like in practice

Why proximity to the customer changes everything

🎧 Keywords: Leadership, complexity, risk, control, decision-making, distributed intelligence, strategy, systems thinking, safety, problem-solving

📘 Learn more about Michael’s work: https://www.exaptivelabs.com/aboutus

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

Innovation isn’t a brainstorm. It’s a way of thinking, organising, and acting in uncertainty.

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones sits down with Paul Frobisher—engineer, strategist, and founder of Strategic Innovation—to explore how organisations often misdiagnose the innovation challenge. From solving the wrong problems to collapsing under performance pressure, Paul breaks down the real reasons innovation fails—and what leaders can do instead.

They explore the value of TRIZ and IDEF0, the emotional cost of failed innovation, and how to build innovation systems that work over time—not just on slides. With insight from automotive and energy disruption, this is a sharp look at how to think better, decide better, and act with intent.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why most innovation fails before it starts
• How to solve the right problem—not just move fast
• Using TRIZ, IDEF0 and models to design innovation processes
• The emotional and political side of innovation
• Hydrogen, EVs, and the long game of disruption
• Why innovation isn’t about creativity—it’s about clarity

🎧 Keywords: Innovation, TRIZ, IDEF0, uncertainty, strategy, engineering, EV disruption, hydrogen, decision-making, organisational design

📘 Learn more about Paul’s work: https://strategic-innovation.co.uk/

Send Mike a Message

Enjoying the show?

Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/