.png)
Strategy Meets Reality Podcast
Traditional strategy is broken.
The world is complex, unpredictable, and constantly shifting—yet most strategy still relies on outdated assumptions of control, certainty, and linear plans.
Strategy Meets Reality is a podcast for leaders who know that theory alone doesn’t cut it.
Hosted by Mike Jones, organisational psychologist and systems thinker, this show features honest, unfiltered conversations with leaders, strategists, and practitioners who’ve had to live with the consequences of strategy.
We go beyond frameworks to explore what it really takes to make strategy work in the real world—where trade-offs are messy, power dynamics matter, and complexity won’t go away.
No jargon. No fluff. Just real insight into how strategy and execution actually happen.
🎧 New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe and rethink your strategy.
Episodes
49 episodes
Sensemaking Under The Confusion Tax | Richard Claydon
Strategy fails in the gap between the plan and the lived reality of work, and that gap is where most leaders burn out. We sit down with Richard Claydon, an organisational theorist focused on leadership in complex and ambiguous environments, to ...
Why Just Broadcasting Strategy Is Sabotaging Execution | Jurriaan Kamer
Strategy fails in a painfully predictable place: the moment it leaves the boardroom and lands in everyone else’s calendar. We sit down with Jurriaan Kamer to get brutally practical about why “alignment” so often becomes a loud broadcast, a perf...
Speed Kills In Business Strategy | Alex Vohr
Strategy falls apart in the messy middle between plans and execution, and that is exactly where we spend our time with Alex Vohr, author of Speed Kills: Leveraging John Boyd's OODA Loop to Build Organisations That Win. Alex brings a rare mix of...
The Confusion Tax | Stefan Norrvall
Strategy often fails for a boring reason: nobody knows who can decide what, and everything slows to a crawl. We sit down with Stefan Norrvall, joining us from Australia, to unpack organisational coherence and why it beats the usual push for “al...
What is Strategy For? | Mike Jones
Most organisations don’t fail at strategy because they lack ambition. They fail because they skip the one thing that has to come first: an honest read of reality. In this solo reflection, Mike Jones pulls together the strongest themes from the ...
What Really Drives Strategic Decisions? | Matt Finch
The strategy looks clean on paper. Real strategy is sweaty, uncertain, and intensely human. Mike Jones sits down with Matt Finch, a strategist, foresight practitioner, negotiator and mediator, to get underneath the slide decks and into the live...
Good Strategy Helps People Make Tough Choices Under Uncertainty | Joel Grundy
Strategy can feel like a choice between two bad options: a rigid annual plan that gets ignored by February, or constant agility that mistakes motion for direction. We sit down with Joel Grundy, Head of Strategy at Q5, to get back to what strate...
What If Everyone In Your Organisation Is Already Strategising? | Garin Rouch
Strategy can look brilliant on paper and still fail the moment it meets the organisation that has to deliver it. We sit down with Gavin Rouch, an organisational development practitioner, to get honest about why that happens and what to do inste...
Leaders Don’t Own Plans; They Own Clarity | Jayson Coil
Strategy only matters if it survives contact with reality. We sit down with operations chief Jayson Coil to unpack how intent, trust, and disciplined initiative turn a tidy plan into effective action when the stakes are high and time is short. ...
From Radio Tales To Strategic Narratives | David Sloly
Strategy doesn’t fail in spreadsheets; it fails when people can’t see themselves inside it. We sit down with David Slowly—journalist turned radio producer turned B2B strategist—to unpack a practical, repeatable way to turn direction into action...
Building Futures Literacy For Smarter Strategy | Lasse Jonasson
Strategy often treats the future like a straight road. We treat it like a landscape. With Lasse Jonasson, Chief Foresight Officer at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, we unpack how to swap predictions for preparedness and why langua...
Why Great Strategy Lives In Action, Not PowerPoint | Erik Schön
Strategy doesn’t live in a binder; it lives in motion. We sit down with practitioner-author Erik Schön to reconnect strategy with doing, drawing on Sun Tzu’s correlative pairs, Boyd’s OODA orientation, and Wardley Maps to turn abstract plans in...
You Can’t Out-Decide A Misaligned Orientation | Sarah Kernion
What if the most powerful strategy lessons aren’t found in boardrooms but in everyday life at the edge of uncertainty? We sit down with Sarah Kernion, founder of Inch Stones and mother of two non-speaking autistic children, to explore how front...
How Mission Command Solves The Strategy–Execution Gap | Stephen Bungay
Strategy only matters if it changes what people do tomorrow. We bring Stephen Bungay, author of The Art of Action, to unpack how mission command turns intent into execution without drowning teams in detail. Instead of orders that prescribe how ...
BS at Work with James Healy: Why Organisations Create Nonsense and How to Fix It
Modern work is overflowing with nonsense. Mandatory e-learning that teaches nothing, policies no one reads, collaboration that never happens, and metrics that drive the wrong behaviour.In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jone...
No Bulls**t Strategy with Alex Smith: Why Strategy Is a Doing Discipline, Not a Thinking Exercise
Most organisations overthink strategy and underdo it.In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones sits down with Alex Smith, author of No Bullsh**t Strategy, to explore why strategy has drifted into a thinking exercise ...
Freedom Within Constraints: Julian Chender on Strategy, Capabilities and Navigating Organisational Reality
In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Julian Chender—organisational design expert, strategy advisor, and founder of 11A Collaborative—to explore how to make strategy work in the messy reality of organisational life....
Rethinking Value: Andy Wilkins on the Future of Health and Strategy That Learns
What if the future of health isn’t just about fixing sickness—but creating value in how we live?In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Andy Wilkins—founder of Future of Health, futures strategist, and...
Reclaiming Strategy: Mike Jones on Perception, Structure, and the Return to Coherence
Strategy isn’t a performance—it’s a practice.In this special solo episode, host Mike Jones reflects on what 30 episodes of Strategy Meets Reality have revealed about the state of modern strategy. He explores why strategy fails fir...
The Thinking Brain: Dr. Delia McCabe on Neuroplasticity, Nutrition, and the Neuroscience of Leadership
The brain is your most powerful strategic tool—if you know how to use it.In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones talks with Dr. Delia McCabe—neuroscientist and expert in nutritional neuroscience—about how neuroplasticity, n...
Against the Grain: Saul Betmead de Chasteigner on Strategy, Structure, and the Psychology of Change
Success can be blinding. Strategy is often where complacency hides best.In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones speaks with Saul Betmead de Chasteigner—strategic advisor and transformation leader—about the hidden t...
Beehives and Viability: Mick Brian on Strategy, Feedback, and Emergent Learning
Viability doesn’t come from vision. It comes from feedback, iteration, and the courage to learn.In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Mick Brian—a consultant with a military background and a passion for learn...
Beyond OKRs: Radhika Dutt on the Performance Trap and the Puzzle Mindset
Are your goals helping you adapt—or just perform?In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Radhika Dutt joins Mike Jones to expose the hidden trap of OKRs and KPI-led management. Drawing on her latest work and the OHL Toolkit, Radhika i...
The Illusion of Progress: Paul Sweeney on Magnetic Nonsense, Corporate Culture, and Critical Thinking
Most nonsense in organisations isn’t malicious—it’s magnetic.In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Paul Sweeney—author of Magnetic Nonsense: A Short History of Bullshit at Work—to unpack the rituals,...
Antifragile by Design: Janka Krings-Klebe on Governance, Autonomy, and Building Ecosystem Organisations
Antifragile is more than a buzzword—it’s a design principle.In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones sits down with Janka Krings-Klebe—author of The Antifragile Organization—to explore what it means to design organi...
