WHERE LEADERS RETHINK HOW STRATEGY WORKS IN THE REAL WORLD
The traditional approach to strategy is broken.
In a world that won’t sit still, leaders can’t rely on outdated models built for stability and control.
Strategy Meets Reality is a podcast for leaders, strategists, and thinkers who want real insight—not theory. Hosted by organisational psychologist and systems thinker Mike Jones, each episode cuts through the noise with honest conversations from people who’ve lived the complexity, made the tough calls, and rethought what strategy means in practice.
🎧 New episodes every Tuesday
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Meet your Host:
Mike Jones
Mike Jones is a systems thinker, organisational psychologist, and former British Army soldier.
He’s worked as a strategy and execution advisor to senior executives across rail, tech, and government to rethink how strategy actually works in complexity.
He founded LBI Consulting and author of the upcoming book When Strategy Meets Reality.
All Episodes
Innovation That Survives Reality | Robyn Bolton
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.
Ep. 29 Against the Grain: Saul Betmead de Chasteigner on Strategy, Structure, and the Psychology of Change
Strategy doesn’t break because of failure—it breaks because success hides the cracks.
In this episode, Saul Betmead de Chasteigner—organisational psychologist and strategic advisor—joins Mike Jones to explore why many transformations fail to deliver lasting change. They dive into the dangers of performance theatre, how feedback is ignored when things seem to be working, and why autonomy without structure is just chaos.
This is a thoughtful, practical conversation for leaders rethinking what it really takes to change how organisations work—not just what they do.
Ep. 27 Beyond OKRs: Radhika Dutt on the Performance Trap and the Puzzle Mindset
OKRs and KPIs aren’t helping—they’re making organisations more fragile.
In this episode, Radhika Dutt joins Mike Jones to explore how performance metrics often become theatre, and why strategy needs a new logic. They unpack the puzzle mindset, the role of scaffolding, and how real leadership enables experimentation and learning—not just control. This is a bold conversation for anyone ready to move beyond metric chasing and build something resilient.
Ep. 25 Antifragile by Design: Janka Krings-Klebe on Governance, Autonomy, and Building Ecosystem Organisations
Antifragile isn’t just a mindset—it’s a design choice.
In this episode, Janka Krings-Klebe—author of The Antifragile Organization—joins Mike Jones to explore what it means to build organisations that thrive through disruption. They discuss why most governance systems unintentionally block innovation, how to balance autonomy and accountability, and why culture and value streams are critical to adaptive performance. It’s a practical, grounded conversation on leading in complexity.
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