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

Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and co-author of Global by Design, explains how innovations developed for emerging markets can also serve wealthier countries. Building on his earlier work on reverse innovation, he argues that successful innovation requires business strategy and engineering science to be considered together.
Vijay places this work within his Three Box Solution, a framework for improving the efficiency of the core business while simultaneously creating new businesses. The central challenge is developing the capabilities to manage efficiency and exploration at the same time.
He describes effective innovators as "tempered dreamers." They think ambitiously without becoming detached from what is possible. This requires leaders to understand their current capabilities, determine which capabilities they can acquire, and remain humble enough to learn from others.
Innovation should begin with a clear understanding of the customer's problem, independent of any proposed solution. Customers may not be able to articulate what they need, so Vijay recommends ethnographic research, direct observation, and immersion in their lives. Once the problem is understood, teams should divide the solution into components, test the most critical part first, learn, adjust, and proceed. His advice is to run innovation "as a marathon race, as a series of 400 meters," with each stage creating an opportunity to test and pivot.
The conversation also addresses AI and the distinction between intelligence and judgment. AI can process extensive data and generate many options, but people must decide which option to pursue, persuade colleagues, and navigate organizational realities. As Vijay says, "AI doesn't substitute thinking. AI doesn't substitute judgment." It should be used to "augment human creativity," not replace independent reasoning.
To prevent "cognitive surrender," Vijay asks students to analyze a case independently before consulting AI, compare their reasoning with its response, and refine their conclusions. He reports that this approach has improved the quality of their judgment, while requiring him to reconsider both what he teaches and how he teaches it.
Vijay closes by explaining how his collaboration with MIT engineering professor Amos Winter strengthened Global by Design. Their different perspectives produced disagreements, but those disagreements led to a better book because they were examined with rigor and mutual respect. The broader lesson is that complex innovation benefits from multiple disciplines and perspectives, including those of customers, manufacturers, engineers, scientists, and business leaders.
Get Vijay's book, Global by Design, here: https://tinyurl.com/5asv27jv
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Porsche just announced workforce cuts because of dropping sales in China. Every board reads that as an operations problem. It isn't. It's a risk problem — and it's the wrong risk almost every board is looking at.
Here's what nobody asks in the boardroom: once a strategy is successfully implemented, what new risk did it just add to the business? Not the risk of getting there. The risk of what you've built once you have. That's the question 99% of boards never answer, because most don't have a way to see it.In this video I walk through how we use Michael, our internal AI, to build a digital clone of a company, plot its actual risk and return position against the efficient frontier, and test what a proposed strategy does to that position before a single dollar moves. I use Porsche as the live example: what happens to their risk profile if they cut back cautiously versus if they fully rebalance toward EV and the Americas.
This isn't a theoretical framework. It's portfolio modeling — the same logic that governs a diversified investment portfolio — applied to a company's revenue streams and cost base. Correlated streams add risk. Diversified ones don't. Most executive teams have never plotted their own business this way, which means most boards are approving strategy without knowing if it moves them toward more return for the same risk, or just more risk they haven't priced. If you sit on a board, run a strategy function, or advise one, this is the question you should be asking before the next planning cycle — not after.
 
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Michael has said, all other things being equal, there's only a 10% chance of this working. 
Porsche just announced 5,000 more job cuts ,on top of 3,900 already gone. That's 8,900 positions, 21% of the workforce. The headline story is China's collapsing sales.
Topics:
Porsche layoffs, Porsche crisis, Porsche hybrid, Porsche strategy, business case study, brand positioning, pricing strategy, Porsche China, automotive business, corporate strategy, management consulting, AI strategy analysis, strategic analysis, scenario planning, layoffs, german automakers, luxury car brand, career development 
#Porsche #Strategy #jobcuts 
 
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Owen Fitzpatrick has spent years studying propaganda, belief systems, and decision-making in places such as North Korea, Rwanda, Afghanistan, and Iran. In this conversation, he explains why the same psychological mechanisms that shape societies also shape the decisions of executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs.
The central insight is that the greatest influence often comes from within. As Owen explains, "What really convinces us is the way in which we convince ourselves." He adds, "Our ability to persuade ourselves of certain things is actually the dominant force that determines whether or not a person will be open to ideas."
Owen shares the deeply personal experience that began this journey: at age fourteen, while writing a suicide note, a single question interrupted the story he was telling himself and completely changed the direction of his life. That moment became the foundation of what he now calls inner propaganda—the internal process through which attention, emotion, and identity create certainty.
The discussion explores why evidence alone rarely changes minds. Instead, people change when a question shifts how they feel about a belief and how that belief fits their identity. Owen introduces practical tools including the Belief Audit, evaluating whether a belief is useful rather than simply true, and rating certainty on a 0–100 scale instead of treating opinions as absolute facts. He also explains why negative emotions are valuable clues—provided we ask whether they're helping us or harming us in a given situation.
One of the most practical moments addresses the belief, "I'm not good enough." Owen argues that the statement is impossible to evaluate because it lacks any clear standard. Rather than judging ourselves, he recommends asking: Where am I now? Where do I want to be? What do I need to do to get there? Turning self-criticism into an action plan is far more productive than chasing an undefined idea of "good enough."
The conversation closes with a powerful lesson for leaders. "Being right is not enough." "What really works is changing the way in which people feel." And, "If you want to be able to influence somebody… you have to start with how they feel."
This episode offers practical strategies for questioning assumptions, making better decisions, and leading more effectively by understanding the stories we use to persuade ourselves.
Get Owen's book, Inner Propaganda, here: https://tinyurl.com/mu96f9ph
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Learn the immigrant success mindset and how to build resilience. See how specific challenges foster growth for anyone. 
 
Many assume the immigrant experience is only defined by hardship, but these challenges often build a unique toolkit for success. In this video, I break down the specific traits that allow people to thrive after moving to a new country. Whether you are an immigrant yourself or looking to develop stronger grit, you can apply these principles to your own life.
 
I have immigrated three times, and I have seen firsthand how the struggle creates a competitive advantage. This video explains how to leverage those difficult experiences to your benefit. Understanding the immigrant success mindset is about more than just surviving; it is about learning how to adapt and capitalize on change. We discuss how to cultivate this resilience even if you have never left your home country.
 
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