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Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Kris Safarova turns leadership ideas into concrete questions about behavior, relationships, adaptability, and execution inside organizations.
Kris Safarova approaches leadership as a set of behaviors that can be examined, tested, and improved. The interview-led conversations move from executive isolation and workplace relationships to adaptability, self-deception, and sales execution.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Cognitive health, made practical through sleep, stress, and daily routines.
Brain health is treated as part of everyday life here, not as a narrow medical side topic. Dr. Majid Fotuhi ties aging, intelligence, and brain health to the routines that shape sleep and stress, which keeps the episode grounded and usable.
An executive AI conversation that keeps open source and governance in view while staying focused on incentives and human benefit.
Jason Wild's time at IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce gives the discussion a steady, practical feel. It starts with child acting, then moves into AI, open source models, governance, and the idea that the field may be brushing up against a bubble.
A reflective conversation about false certainty, business reinvention, and the limits of stock-picking confidence.
Mark Mattson's return to the Strategy Skills Podcast frames business and investing as questions of belief, discipline, and reinvention. He revisits how false certainty can steer decisions, why businesses must keep transforming, and how he came to reject stock-picking and market…
Leadership here is built through trust, openness, and the discipline of better questions.
Daniel Coyle treats leadership less as polished networking and more as the work of becoming a real connector inside an organization. What gives the conversation weight is its steady focus on how trust actually forms: through mutual vulnerability, openness, and the discipline of…
A measured look at growth as real progress that is still unfinished.
The episode treats economic growth as something best read over a long arc, not a quarterly blip. Through family memory and generational reflection, it ties personal experience to the wider shift Kris Bradley describes at McKinsey and the McKinsey Global Institute: a global…
AQ is framed as a habit built through practice, not a slogan.
Liz Tran and Kris Safarova treat AQ as something people can build, not a fixed trait they either have or do not have. The strongest part is the practical advice: learn in the format that suits you, then keep a couple hours a week for trying new AI tools and learning by doing.
A steady, practical look at updating old beliefs about competence and confidence.
Guy Winch takes a calm, practical approach to self-esteem and limiting beliefs. The strongest stretch comes when he treats an old inner rule like something that can be updated, not obeyed forever.
Play turns broken plans into workable moves.
Cas Holman treats play as a practical way to think about creativity and adaptation. The throughline is simple: when a plan falls apart, people who can reframe the problem usually find more room to move, invent, and work together.
Tyler Selhorn interviews remote-work founders and researchers on building distributed team culture.
Adi Ignatius and Alison Beard interview scholars and executives on management and AI.
Brennan Spiegel, a UCLA professor and MD, discusses how gravity fundamentally shapes human health, explaining concepts like gravity intolerance, gravotypes, and the link between gravity and chronic illnesses.
Tim and the host focus on how CEOs, CFOs, and boards should handle capital allocation, with examples from share buybacks, oil and gas, airlines, hotels, banking, and utilities.
Viva Onna Batkus, a former McKinsey partner and Professor Emerita at Notre Dame, explains why her book Business on the Edge focuses on turning a profit and improving lives in conflict-affected places.
Krista Farova opens with Jason Wild's unusual path from child acting to executive roles at IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce.
Amy Leneker, a former C-suite executive and leadership advisor to Fortune 100 companies, argues that “stress is the price you pay for success” is a “soul-sucking lie.” She breaks work stress into five categories—schedule, suspense, social, sudden, and system—and says system stress is the most common and most detrimental because individuals cannot solve inequity or unfairness alone.
Dr.
Ben Zweig, adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business and founder of Revalio Labs, argues that labor markets are less sophisticated than capital markets and that firms still allocate people poorly.
Julia Dhar, managing director at Boston Consulting Group and founder of BCG’s behavioral science lab, joins Kris Safarova on The Strategy Skills Podcast to connect strategy with human behavior.
Dr.
Lorraine Marchand, who has held leadership roles at IBM, advised Johnson & Johnson, and teaches at the Wharton School, traces her career back to a diner experiment at age 13 that produced the Sugar Cube and a lesson from her entrepreneur father.
Marcus Fantora, Microsoft’s CTO for Azure Core and author of Human Agency in a Digital World, describes AI as a prediction system rather than a force with its own intent.
Elon Musk is hard to classify.
The episode opens with Rishi Dave's background and his current work at Bain & Company.
Mitch Warner joins Kris Safarova to talk about leadership through the lens of self-deception.
Kris Bradley joins Kris Safarova for a conversation about the long arc of economic growth and progress.
Kris Safarova welcomes back Mark Mattson for a conversation about ideas from his book and the business lessons he has drawn from building Mattson Money.
Kris Safarova opens the conversation with Guy Winch on emotional health and the difficulty of hanging on to old beliefs.
Daniel Coyle joins the show to talk about leadership, meaningful relationships, and what helps teams flourish.
Kristopher Soporova speaks with Nidhi Tiwari about how people identify core beliefs and work with the memories that shape present reactions.
Liz Tran joins Kris Safarova to talk about AQ, or agility, as a way to stay effective while work and tools keep shifting.
Kris Arova opens with leadership isolation and the need for a safe outlet.
The episode centers on cognitive health.
Ashley Herd joins Kris Safarova to talk about what effective managers actually do.
Former U.S.
Cas Holman discusses the importance of play for adults, explaining how it fosters creativity, helps manage uncertainty, and reframes success.
AI can generate variation.
Kris Safarova speaks with MichaelAaron Flicker, a behavioral science strategist and co-author of Hacking the Human Mind, about how buyers respond to pricing, wording, scarcity, humor, and social connection.
Kris Zaporova hosts psychologist and public speaker Dr.
Elizabeth McBride and Seth Levine use a World Bank launch event to argue that capitalism should be repaired, not abandoned, while noting that nearly half of people under 40 now think it does not work.
John McGinnis, a Northwestern University law professor who teaches constitutional law and law and technology, argues that AI is the next major force shaping politics, education, and legal work.
Host Chris Saparova interviews former McKinsey partner John on business strategy and leadership tools.
An interview with Jeff Wetzler, co-CEO of Transcend, discussing innovation and adult learning in business.
A senior partner from BCG discusses macro strategies for companies to thrive amid nationalism, social changes, and technological shifts.
Host Chris Safarova interviews MGI partner Mark Canal about his career and upcoming book 'Century of Plenty', focusing on global progress and productivity.
Host Chris Saparova interviews former Medtronic CEO Bill George about leading in chaotic times, drawing on his book 'True North' and Harvard Business School insights.
A strategy podcast featuring an interview with Raj Sisodia, co-founder of Conscious Capitalism, discussing purpose-driven profit and leadership.
The episode features an introduction to the podcast and a guest from NASDAQ discussing board advisory, with promotional offers for consulting resources.
A podcast where strategy partners discuss tools and techniques for solving business and societal problems, featuring interviews with leaders.
A strategy partner discusses the factors that lead to crappy products and the importance of vision, using quotes from Steve Jobs and others.
A podcast where strategy partners teach tools and techniques for solving business problems, featuring an interview with a CEO discussing leadership and growth.