Strategy Meets Reality Podcast

59 Episodes

Reverse

From Strategy To Reality Through Better Operations | Ben Chappell

2026-09-2949:54

A strategy you can't deliver isn't ambitious; it's wishful thinking. Mike sits down with Ben Chappell, founder of Cove Ops, to get brutally practical about the gap between strategy and execution and why “operations” is the missing piece in so many SMEs that are scaling, preparing for investment, or gearing up for a sale. We unpack how strategy drift happens when teams go back to business as usual, mistaking constant activity for progress. Ben reframes strategy as intent and a daily decision ...

Who Leads When AI Thinks | Adrian Wolfberg

2026-09-1553:47

AI is moving faster than our organisations can make sense of, and that gap is where strategy breaks. We sit down with Adrian Wolfberg, a former national security practitioner and author of Who Leads When AI Thinks, to unpack a tough reality: success with AI is not mainly a technology problem; it is a leadership, context, and knowledge integration problem. We start with boundaries and organisational intelligence, the way functions and hierarchies shape what people see, what they value, and wh...

Reality First Strategy | Mike Jones

2026-09-0137:30

Most strategy starts in the wrong place. Someone picks the destination, the deck gets built, and nobody stops to examine the ground the organisation is actually standing on. No guest this week. Mike Jones is solo to talk about where the podcast is heading, why he wants more leaders inside organisations rather than commenting from outside them, and what it's been like finishing the book, which is now with the publisher and out on 2nd of March. Then he gets into the thing he keeps having to arg...

Innovation That Survives Reality | Robyn Bolton

2026-08-1849:20

If your organisation keeps saying "we need to be more innovative" while doing everything possible to crush experimentation, this conversation is for you. I'm joined by Robyn Bolton, founder and Chief Navigator at MileZero, to get brutally practical about what it takes to turn a growth strategy into results when uncertainty, incentives and internal politics get in the way. We explore the core tension leaders face: most people rise by mastering operating excellence in a high-knowledge en...

Making Strategy Real | Evan Campbell

2026-08-0455:45

A strategy can look flawless on a slide deck and still fail the moment it reaches the real world. I’m joined by Evan Campbell, technology executive, former management consultant, and author of Adapt to Win, to unpack why organisations with “good strategy” so often struggle with strategy execution, strategic alignment, and making day-to-day work match leadership intent. We get practical about what breaks: strategy decay as clarity gets lost down the hierarchy, the inertia of an organisation a...

#box-pro-ellipsis-179117891232997{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}Strategy Meets Reality Podcast