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In a world that won’t sit still, leaders can’t rely on outdated models built for stability and control.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
Ep. 34 No Bullshit Strategy with Alex Smith: Why Strategy Is a Doing Discipline, Not a Thinking Exercise
Strategy is not a thinking exercise. It is a doing discipline.
In this episode, Alex Smith joins Mike Jones to challenge how organisations approach strategy. They explore why most leaders zoom in when they should zoom out, why customer led thinking kills innovation, and why the real work starts with identifying what is wrong with your industry and making a move that competitors cannot copy. From sacrifice to action, this episode strips strategy back to its essentials.
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.
Ep. 31Reclaiming Strategy: Mike Jones on Perception, Structure, and the Return to Coherence
Strategy fails before it reaches the field—because we’ve turned it into a branding exercise.
In this 31st episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones reflects on the journey so far. He explores why strategy fails first in perception, how structural inertia breaks execution, and why we must shift from alignment to coherence. This is a grounded call to return strategy to what it always was: the art of movement, not management.
Ep. 28 Beehives and Viability: Mick Brian on Strategy, Feedback, and Emergent Learning
Strategy is not a plan—it’s how you learn fast enough to stay viable.
In this episode, Mick Brian—consultant, former soldier, and strategic thinker—joins Mike Jones to explore how feedback, autonomy, and learning culture shape real organisational resilience. They discuss what bees reveal about decentralised coordination, why after-action reviews matter, and how technology can support—or hinder—emergence.
This is a sharp, practical conversation for leaders who want to build organisations that can adapt and endure.
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