WHERE LEADERS RETHINK HOW STRATEGY WORKS IN THE REAL WORLD

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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In a world that won’t sit still, leaders can’t rely on outdated models built for stability and control.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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Latest Episode

Ep. 33 Freedom Within Constraints: Julian Chender on Strategy, Capabilities and Navigating Organisational Reality

Host: Julian Chender

“Strategy is about convergence. Not consensus.”

In this episode, Julian Chender—organisational design expert, strategy advisor, and founder of 11A Collaborative—joins Mike Jones to explore how structure, capabilities, and leadership shape real strategy execution. They discuss how generalists strengthen adaptability, why trust and feedback loops are essential, and how to build clarity and convergence in organisations facing complexity.

This is a clear, grounded conversation on making strategy work—not just in theory, but in practice.

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LBI Consulting Team LBI Consulting Team

Ep. 33 Freedom Within Constraints: Julian Chender on Strategy, Capabilities and Navigating Organisational Reality

In this episode, Julian Chender—organisational design expert and founder of 11A Collaborative—joins Mike Jones to explore how strategy really plays out inside purpose-driven organisations. They dig into how structure, leadership, and capabilities shape execution—and how to create the space for teams to thrive within real-world constraints.

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Meet your Host:

Mike Jones

Podcast graphic featuring the title "Strategy Meets Reality," a subtitle about leadership perspective on strategy, a photo of host Mike Jones, with additional design elements like a microphone icon, green accents, and a background with connecting lines

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.

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