What if the most powerful strategy lessons aren’t found in boardrooms but in everyday life at the edge of uncertainty? We sit down with Sarah Kernion, founder of Inch Stones and mother of two non-speaking autistic children, to explore how frontline parenting becomes a masterclass in orientation, sense making, and adaptive leadership. The conversation is candid, challenging, and grounded: you can’t outdecide a misaligned orientation, and quick decisions that endure are the by-product of clarity, not adrenaline.

Strategy only matters if it changes what people do tomorrow. We bring Stephen Bungay, author of The Art of Action, to unpack how mission command turns intent into execution without drowning teams in detail. Instead of orders that prescribe how to act, directives clarify what to achieve and why it matters—freeing people to adapt their methods as conditions shift.

Most organisations design environments that make work harder, not easier.

In this episode, applied behavioural scientist and author James Healy joins Mike Jones to explore why so much of modern work is nonsense. They discuss e-learning that teaches nothing, metrics that distort behaviour, collaboration that never materialises, and the belief that more policies, more controls and more technology will fix human problems. James explains why behaviour is shaped by environment and why the most powerful move leaders can make is to remove what gets in the way.

A practical, entertaining and challenging conversation for leaders who want to design work that actually works.

Risk is not a number on a matrix. It is an understanding of threats, vulnerabilities and the controls that may or may not work when they are needed most.

In this episode, Professor Denis Fischbacher Smith joins Mike Jones to explore the realities of organisational failure. They discuss why humans will never be fully rational, why decision making depends on perspective, and why most organisations misuse the idea of risk. From degraded controls to bureaucracy, informal networks and the truths hidden in rule violations, this is a deep conversation on navigating uncertainty and building resilience.