TopPodcast.com
Menu
  • Home
  • Top Charts
  • Top Networks
  • Top Apps
  • Top Independents
  • Top Podfluencers
  • Top Picks
    • Top Business Podcasts
    • Top True Crime Podcasts
    • Top Finance Podcasts
    • Top Comedy Podcasts
    • Top Music Podcasts
    • Top Womens Podcasts
    • Top Kids Podcasts
    • Top Sports Podcasts
    • Top News Podcasts
    • Top Tech Podcasts
    • Top Crypto Podcasts
    • Top Entrepreneurial Podcasts
    • Top Fantasy Sports Podcasts
    • Top Political Podcasts
    • Top Science Podcasts
    • Top Self Help Podcasts
    • Top Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Top Stocks Podcasts
  • Podcast News
  • About Us
  • Podcast Advertising
  • Contact
Not in our directory?
Add Show Here
Podcast Equipment
Center

toppodcastlogoOur TOPPODCAST Picks

  • Comedy
  • Crypto
  • Sports
  • News
  • Politics
  • True Crime
  • Business
  • Finance

Follow Us

toppodcastlogoStay Connected

    View Top 200 Chart
    Back to Rankings Page
    Business

    The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving

    CEOs and business leaders, management consulting senior partners, ground-breaking professors, thought-provoking writers and journalists, record-setting athletes and coaches, and award-winning actors and celebrities discuss the key issues facing the business world and broader society.

    Get free access to our newsletter, Monday Morning at 8 am, along with sample episodes from our training programs on www.strategytraining.com. Go to https://www.firmsconsulting.com/promo.

    Advertise

    Copyright: © COPYRIGHT 2010 - 2019 THE STRATEGY MEDIA GROUP LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    687: US Open Medalist on Principles to Succeed at Any Table in Business, Sports, and Life (Strategy Skills classics) Sep 30, 2026
    Show notes

    For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic featuring an interview with the author of Ping Pong Leadership: 18 Principles to Succeed at Any Table in Business, Sports, and Life, Justin Bookey. In this book, Justin distills lessons from a beloved global sport into 18 actionable and unforgettable "Pong Principles." Justin has spent decades as a competitive table tennis player, trained with national and world champions, and won medals at the US Open. He is an Emmy-nominated content creator and strategist, and he's worked with leaders at global companies to accomplish their business goals. As these two worlds overlapped, Justin realized that the core principles he learned while training to compete at the table also apply to success in business and leadership. Ping Pong Leadership is a powerful guide to success at any table.

    Justin Bookey is a former lawyer, an award-winning marketing strategist, and global ping pong player. He's had the good fortune of learning from some of the best and brightest in several arenas while working with leaders at Disney, Sony, Honda, Qualcomm, XPRIZE, and more. After practicing communications law for several years in Washington, DC, he transitioned to web content development. He's earned Emmy nominations for feature documentaries he produced, and Telly, Viddy, and ADDY awards for digital marketing campaigns he spearheaded.

    Upon moving to LA, Bookey stepped up his training with Olympian and world-class table tennis coach Wei Wang. His efforts with her and other national/world champions helped him win medals at the US Open and the US national championships. He learned different leadership cultures while studying in India and teaching in Japan, and has played table tennis on seven continents. He grew up in Seattle, Washington, and now lives and works in Santa Monica, California, where he also runs PongFit, a nonprofit that builds fitness and community through ping pong.

    Get Ping Pong Leadership here: https://rb.gy/wbgkae

    Here are some free gifts for you:

    Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf

    Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo


    686: How VC Shapes Startups with Benjamin Shestakofsky (Strategy Skills classics) Sep 28, 2026
    Show notes

    For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic featuring an interview with the author of Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality, Benjamin Shestakofsky. This book draws on nineteen months of participant-observation research inside a successful Silicon Valley startup, and examines how the company was organized to meet the needs of the venture capital investors who funded it. Investors push startups to scale as quickly as possible to inflate the value of their asset. Benjamin Shestakofsky shows how these demands create organizational problems that managers solve by combining high-tech systems with low-wage human labor. Behind the Startup explains how the gains generated by these companies are funneled into the pockets of a small cadre of elite investors and entrepreneurs. Shestakofsky compellingly argues that we must focus less on fixing the technology and more on changing the financial infrastructure that supports it.

    Benjamin Shestakofsky is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is affiliated with AI at Wharton and the Center on Digital Culture and Society. He is the author of Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality (on sale March 19, 2024, University of California Press).

    Shestakofsky's research centers on the relationship between work, technology, organizations, and political economy in the age of AI.

    Articles based on his research for Behind the Startup have been awarded the 2021 Star-Nelkin Paper Award from the American Sociological Association's (ASA) Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology and the 2019 W. Richard Scott Article Award from the ASA's Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work. His research has been supported by the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy and the UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. His work has been featured in the Financial Times, Axios, and in a publication of the World Economic Forum.

    Author website: https://www.benjaminshestakofsky.com/ Book website: Behind the Startup: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520395039/behind-the-startup X/Twitter: @bshestakofsky

    Here are some free gifts for you:

    Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf

    Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo


    685: Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy (Strategy Skills classics) Sep 16, 2026
    Show notes

    For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic featuring an interview with the authors of Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy, Naomi Cahn, June Carbone, and Nancy Levit. This book explains that the system that governs our economy—a winner-take-all economy—is the root cause of these myriad problems. The WTA economy self-selects for aggressive, cutthroat business tactics, which creates a feedback loop that sidelines women. The authors, three legal scholars, call this feedback loop "the triple bind": if women don't compete on the same terms as men, they lose; if women do compete on the same terms as men, they're punished more harshly for their sharp elbows or actual misdeeds; and when women see that they can't win on the same terms as men, they take themselves out of the game (if they haven't been pushed out already). With odds like these stacked against them, it's no wonder women feel like, no matter how hard they work, they can't get ahead.

    Naomi Cahn is the Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, as well as the Co-Director of the Family Law Center. Cahn is the author or editor of numerous books written for both academic and trade publishers, including Red Families v. Blue Families and Homeward Bound. In 2017, Cahn received the Harry Krause Lifetime Achievement in Family Law Award from the University of Illinois College of Law and in 2024 she was inducted into the Clayton Alumni Hall of Fame.

    June Carbone is the Robina Chair of Law, Science and Technology at the University of Minnesota Law School. Previously she has served as the Edward A. Smith/Missouri Chair of Law, the Constitution and Society at the University of Missouri at Kansas City; and as the Associate Dean for Professional Development and Presidential Professor of Ethics and the Common Good at Santa Clara University School of Law. She has written From Partners to Parents and co-written Red Families v. Blue Families; Marriage Markets; and Family Law. She is a co-editor of the International Survey of Family Law.

    Nancy Levit is the Associate Dean for Faculty and holds a Curator's Professorship at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law. Professor Levit has been voted Outstanding Professor of the Year five times by students and was profiled in Dean Michael Hunter Schwartz's book, What the Best Law Teachers Do. She has received the N.T. Veatch Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity and the Missouri Governor's Award for Teaching Excellence. She is the author of The Gender Line and co-author of Feminist Legal Theory; The Happy Lawyer; The Good Lawyer; and Jurisprudence—Classical and Contemporary.

    Get Fair Shake here: https://rb.gy/r2q7rw

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    684: Founder and CEO of Triggers, Leslie Zane. The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion (Strategy Skills classics) Sep 09, 2026
    Show notes

    For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with an award-winning marketer, TEDx speaker and authority in harnessing the instinctive mind to accelerate brand and business growth, founder and CEO of Triggers, Leslie Zane. Leslie is the author of The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life. In her book, Leslie shows that to grow a brand, business, or even a social movement, traditional persuasion tactics fall short. Instead, you must connect to the instinctive mind. And to do this, you need to understand the science of consumer choice and employ techniques that work with a person's brain, not against it.

    Leslie Zane is an award-winning marketer, TEDx speaker and the foremost authority in harnessing the instinctive mind to accelerate brand and business growth.

    In her early career at P&G and Johnson & Johnson, Zane championed the position that what people say is unreliable and that telegraphic cues are more powerful than direct communication, but her unconventional thinking was often disregarded. In 1995, she founded Triggers®, the first brand consulting firm rooted in behavioral science, where she continued to champion the primacy of the instinctive mind in brand decisions.

    With her groundbreaking discoveries in boosting salience, the Brand Connectome® and Growth Triggers®, Zane and her team have delivered over $20 billion in incremental revenue for Fortune 100 clients.

    Today Triggers' strategies are evident in diverse fields from consumer-packaged goods, health care and insurance to fighting anti-Semitism, showcasing its versatility.

    An alumna of Yale, Harvard Business School and Bain & Company, Zane is a recipient of the Congressional Women of Distinction and the Ogilvy Award. In 2021, she coined the term "Covid-stasis" forecasting the pandemic's lasting psychological and behavioral effects. Zane has been published in prestigious publications including Knowledge@Wharton, Harvard Business Review, World Economic Forum, Newsweek and Ad Age. Zane is a board member of El Centro Hispano, the leading non-profit empowering Hispanic immigrants with skills to thrive in the United States.

    Get The Power of Instinct here: https://rb.gy/l3ofdo

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    683: Professor of Finance at Copenhagen Business School, Jesper Rangvid, on the End of 40 Years of Falling Interest Rates Sep 07, 2026
    Show notes

    Jesper Rangvid, professor of finance at Copenhagen Business School, explores what leaders should understand about interest rates, inflation, the cost of capital, prioritization, and AI.

    Rangvid explains why the roughly 40-year decline in interest rates was "a completely unique historical period" and why executives should not assume borrowing will continue to get cheaper. Falling inflation and demographic changes helped drive rates lower, while low rates also contributed to rising house prices and increased borrowing. As he puts it, "lower and lower interest rates are not always good."

    He discusses the post-pandemic shift toward higher inflation and interest rates, including the growing financing needs of governments and major AI companies. For executives, the key question is how changing financing costs affect investment and strategic decisions.

    The conversation also explores prioritization and reflection. Rangvid describes scaling back his media commitments because "it simply takes too much time" and using running as "a time of reflection" to think through difficult problems from different angles.

    Finally, Rangvid shares a cautiously optimistic perspective on AI and argues that technology does not eliminate the value of human judgment. Even when AI can produce an answer in seconds, "facilitating a discussion among executives is still unbelievably useful" because different perspectives help people challenge assumptions and think more deeply.

    Get Jesper's new book, How Low Interest Rates Change the World, here: https://tinyurl.com/fbjzvwkz

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    682: Founder and CEO of High Alpha Innovation, Elliott Parker. The Illusion of Innovation (Strategy Skills classics) Sep 02, 2026
    Show notes

    For this episode, let's revisit a strategy skills classic interview with the author of The Illusion of Innovation: Escape "Efficiency" and Unleash Radical Progress, Elliott Parker. The Illusion of Innovation tackles the problem with innovation inside big companies, having activities that feel like innovation but lead to value destruction, not progress. This book explains why meaningful innovation naturally emerges from deliberate inefficiency and how large corporations can harness the power of small teams—startups—to drive radical change through systematic experimentation.

    Elliott Parker is the founder and CEO of High Alpha Innovation, a venture builder that partners with corporations, universities, and entrepreneurs to co-create startups that solve compelling problems. He built his career in strategy consulting at Innosight, the firm founded by Clayton Christensen, in corporate venturing, and as an entrepreneur bringing new ideas to market. To date, he has launched over 40 venture-backed startups. Originally from California, Elliott currently resides with his family in Indiana. He earned a B.S. in Finance from BYU and an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

    Get Elliott's new book here: https://rb.gy/hkcl2w

    The Illusion of Innovation: Escape "Efficiency" and Unleash Radical Progress

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    681: Harvard's Cornelia Choe on How Great Leaders See Differently Aug 31, 2026
    Show notes

    Cornelia Choe explains why being right is no longer enough for leaders operating in environments of constant change. She calls the problem "perspective blindness": we may be correct about what we see while still seeing only part of the picture.

    Drawing on experiences across private equity, government, nonprofits, and leadership advisory, Cornelia argues that information has become increasingly commoditized while context and judgment have become more valuable. AI can broaden our understanding and challenge our thinking, but it can also become "a very easy substitute for judgment" when leaders accept its answers without questioning them.

    The discussion examines two forms of perspective blindness. Reality blindness occurs when leaders fail to get close enough to different people, ideas, and situations. Projection blindness occurs when they assume others see the world as they do. Both become increasingly consequential when different members of an organization are responding to rapidly changing realities.

    Cornelia encourages leaders to move "from being an expert to the chief investigator of their company": continually seeking perspectives that challenge their assumptions, listening closely to customers and stakeholders, and questioning whether the value they have historically created still meets what people need today. Her advice for customer conversations is deliberately simple: "just zip it and listen."

    AI can support the same discipline. Cornelia uses AI personas representing people who see an issue differently from her to expose blind spots and expand the range of possibilities, while continuing to triangulate those perspectives with human judgment.

    Before an important decision, she recommends asking: "Who sees this differently? Why do they see this differently? What do they see? And which of my assumptions would they change?"

    The goal, she argues, "is not to eliminate uncertainty," but to take a wider view before making consequential decisions.

    Get Cornelia's book, The Panoramic Leader, here: https://tinyurl.com/57mkz4dw

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    680: Psychotherapist, Glenn Hutchinson, on Why Good People Cheat: What Infidelity Reveals About Decision-Making Aug 26, 2026
    Show notes

    Glenn Hutchinson, a psychotherapist who developed the personality science behind the assessments used by Match.com, explores one of the most misunderstood aspects of infidelity: why people sometimes violate their own values without fully understanding how they arrived there.

    The conversation begins with a broader look at human behavior. Glenn explains that much of what drives our decisions happens outside conscious awareness. Using the familiar experience of driving on "autopilot," he argues that our unconscious mind is constantly shaping our judgments, emotions, and interactions long before we recognize it. As he puts it, "subjective experience is very deceiving," and "our behavior is more complicated. It comes from a deeper place than we realize."

    A central theme is how people interpret situations through mental categories rather than objective reality. Someone may believe they are "just being friendly" instead of crossing emotional boundaries, or see an affair as "a unique situation" rather than recognizing it for what it is. Glenn explains that these unconscious mental frameworks can influence behavior in powerful ways, even for people who genuinely see themselves as honest and faithful.

    The discussion also challenges the tendency to blame oneself after betrayal. Glenn explains that there is "no evidence" that a partner's infidelity means the betrayed person was lacking. He discusses several research-backed risk factors, including growing up aware of parental infidelity, having many sexual partners before marriage, and an anxious attachment style, while emphasizing that these are risk factors—not predictions—and that greater self-awareness and healthy boundaries matter far more.

    The conversation concludes with practical guidance for both preventing and recovering from infidelity. Glenn argues that no one is completely immune to temptation, making honest communication and emotional openness essential in long-term relationships. For those healing after betrayal, he advises avoiding rash decisions, finding a trusted person to talk to, and recognizing that recovery takes time. As he says, "The first thing you got to do is become aware of it." Lasting change begins by recognizing the unconscious assumptions that shape behavior and gradually aligning actions with personal values.

    Get Glenn's book, Unfaithful Minds, here: https://tinyurl.com/ybxtnrcs

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    679: Director of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research Center at MIT, Amos Winter on Global by Design Aug 24, 2026
    Show notes

    Amos Winter, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research Center at MIT, explains how innovators can create high-performance, affordable products for resource-constrained communities and adapt them for global markets. Drawing on Global by Design, co-authored with Vijay Govindarajan, he brings together product design, engineering science, market knowledge, and business strategy.

    Amos traces this work to a study of wheelchair use in Tanzania. People in rural areas needed a wheelchair that could travel long distances over rough terrain while remaining compact enough for indoor use. Products developed for wealthier countries were often too expensive or insufficiently robust. The resulting Leveraged Freedom Chair later provided the foundation for the Grit Freedom Chair in the United States.

    The conversation examines three forms of merit that help innovators choose worthwhile problems. Problem merit asks whether solving a challenge would meaningfully benefit a substantial population and support a business opportunity. Innovation merit determines whether the problem genuinely requires innovation rather than adaptation, charity, or another mechanism. Value merit aligns the interests of customers and producers so that adoption can occur at scale.

    This evaluation should precede the technology. Amos cautions against "creating a hammer and then going and finding a nail." A stronger approach begins by identifying the full set of requirements, then combining market insight with technical analysis. Market knowledge reveals what users and operating environments demand; engineering science explains the limitations of existing products and suggests how a better solution might work.

    The Leveraged Freedom Chair illustrates how this approach supports expansion across markets. In developing countries, bicycle parts made the chair affordable and locally repairable. American users valued the same lever-powered drivetrain but needed a collapsible frame that could fit inside a car. The core value remained consistent, while selected features changed with local requirements.

    Amos contrasts the Honda Super Cub with the Tata Nano to show why excellent engineering does not guarantee adoption. Honda combined low cost and reliability with an accessible, aspirational identity. The Nano was an impressive engineering achievement, but positioning it as the world's cheapest car weakened its appeal. Concerns about status and perceived safety further influenced how customers judged it.

    The discussion also considers AI's role in product development. Amos uses AI to gather and summarize information, generate concepts, write code, and accelerate routine work. Its limitations become more significant when innovation depends on knowledge that has never been recorded, direct interaction with materials and manufacturing processes, an understanding of technical readiness, or rapport with stakeholders. He expects people to remain particularly valuable in work requiring dexterity, perception, ingenuity, interdisciplinary synthesis, and interpersonal understanding.

    Amos closes with a principle central to the book: "Perspective is the most powerful tool an innovator has because what it does is show you requirements." Innovators must learn to see a problem through other people's eyes while remaining realistic about their own knowledge, capabilities, and resources. He calls this being a "tempered dreamer": pursuing consequential problems with ambition, but applying one's strengths where they can contribute most effectively.

    Get Amos' book, Global by Design, here: https://tinyurl.com/5asv27jv

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    678: Social Organizational Psychologist, Jeremy Pollack, on Why Smart Leaders Still Fail at Conflict Resolution Aug 19, 2026
    Show notes

    Jeremy Pollack, PhD, argues that most workplace conflicts cannot be resolved by negotiating solutions alone. Before people can solve a problem together, they must first feel understood, respected, and heard. As he explains, conflict resolution has "two parts": "There's care, and then there's solution." When organizations skip the first, they often leave the underlying conflict untouched.

    Much of the conversation focuses on the psychological needs that drive conflict beneath the surface. Promotions, compensation, authority, and recognition are often the visible issues, but Jeremy explains that they are usually attempts to satisfy more fundamental needs for safety, belonging, positive self-concept, autonomy, engaging activities, and purpose. Identifying which need feels threatened helps leaders address the real source of disagreement instead of debating symptoms.

    The discussion also examines why some destructive workplace behaviors persist despite feedback or mediation. Jeremy explains that power over others is not a universal human need but may reflect deeper unmet needs for significance, belonging, or security. In these cases, conflict resolution alone is often insufficient. Lasting change requires personal insight and sustained psychological work.

    Jeremy also revisits Maslow's hierarchy of needs. While he agrees with Maslow's description of human needs, he argues that people pursue them simultaneously rather than in sequence. The conversation explores how unmet needs, including the need for challenge or novelty, can quietly influence career decisions, and why recognizing those patterns allows people to satisfy them in healthier, more deliberate ways.

    A particularly practical section explains why conflict often feels so personal. Jeremy notes that "our brains are predictive processing machines." Rather than responding only to what another person says or does, we respond to predictions shaped by previous experiences. That helps explain why two people can interpret the same conversation or email in completely different ways.

    The conversation concludes with a practical approach to reconditioning our response to conflict. Instead of automatically associating disagreement with threat, Jeremy argues that people can learn to approach conflict as an opportunity for learning, understanding, and stronger relationships. He also recommends using AI as a private coach to brainstorm ideas, role-play conversations, and explore different approaches while avoiding AI-generated messages that replace authentic communication.

    Key insights from this discussion include:

    • Address the relationship before the problem. "There's care, and then there's solution."

    • Look beneath stated demands to identify the psychological need driving the conflict.

    • Many workplace conflicts reflect threatened needs for safety, belonging, autonomy, or esteem rather than the issue people are arguing about.

    • Question your first interpretation. Past experiences often shape present reactions more than current events because "our brains are predictive processing machines."

    • Use AI to prepare for difficult conversations, but rely on your own judgment and voice when communicating with others.

    Jeremy closes with a hopeful reminder that humans are "wired for peace" more than conflict. While we are capable of defending ourselves when necessary, our strongest biological inclination is toward cooperation, trust, and healthy relationships—provided we create the conditions for them.

    Get Jeremy's book, Wired for Peace, here: https://tinyurl.com/yh3ke5v5

    Claim your free gift:

    Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF

    Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions

    Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom

    Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build

    Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach

    Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift


    1 2 3 51 Next

    Related Podcasts

    How I Built This with Guy Raz

    1

    How I Built This with Guy Raz Business
    Planet Money

    2

    Planet Money Business
    Inside Strategic Coach: Connecting Entrepreneurs With What Really Matters

    3

    Inside Strategic Coach: Connecting Entrepreneurs With What Really Matters Business
    BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

    4

    BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast Business
    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast

    5

    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast Business
    Bad With Money With Gabe Dunn

    6

    Bad With Money With Gabe Dunn Business
    footer-logo

    Contact Us

    Toll Free: 844-670-7747

    Links

    • Home
    • Top Charts
    • Networks
    • Apps
    • Independents Podcasts
    • Podcast Advertising
    • Podcast News
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Analytics & Insights

    Stay Connected

      Privacy, Terms of Use & Our Code of Ethics Protecting Content Creators Copyrights