The Blog
Long-form essays, field notes, and frameworks from the FIRMSconsulting team — published weekly.
All posts
Published weekly-
The Habits and Systems That Shape Success (with Fredric Marshall)
Fredric Marshall spent decades helping companies including Apple, Pfizer, and Genentech solve problems in sales effectiveness, product launches, and organizational change. In this discussion, he explains why he views sales and leadership primarily as change management challenges: helping people move from where they are to where they want to be. The conversation centers on several…
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BCG Managing Director and Partner, Kristy Ellmer, on Why Change Fails and How Great Leaders Build Real Transformation
Kristy Ellmer has spent her career leading large-scale transformations across industries, countries, and operating environments. In this conversation, she explains why most change efforts fail — not because of bad strategy, but because organizations underestimate the human side of execution. A central idea from the discussion is the imbalance between the “what” and the “how”…
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Associate Director of Culture and Change at BCG, Philip Jameson, on Why Most Transformations Fail
Philip Jameson discusses why most organizational transformations fail despite strong strategic intent, significant investment, and broad awareness that change is necessary. Drawing on his work at Boston Consulting Group and the research behind How Change Really Works, Jameson argues that the core problem is often not strategy itself, but a poor understanding of “how humans…
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Joe Pine, Author and Lecturer at Northeastern University, on the Future of Business
Management advisor and author Joe Pine explores a question that sits beneath most business strategy discussions but is rarely addressed directly: what business is ultimately for. Drawing on decades of work spanning mass customization, the experience economy, and his latest research on transformation, Pine argues that many companies misunderstand the real value customers seek and…
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Executive Skills That Still Matter in the Age of AI
We host a podcast, Strategy Skills, where we interview senior thinkers across business, strategy, and increasingly, artificial intelligence. There is one question I have been asking the guests for some time now. The question is some version of this. Given everything you have just told me about the trajectory of this technology, what skills should serious operators…
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Nobody Decides to Become Irrelevant. Are You Becoming a Phone Booth?
Nobody Decides to Become Irrelevant. Are You Becoming a Phone Booth? Do you remember phone booths? I do. They were everywhere. On city sidewalks, inside diners, in hotel lobbies. You planned around them. You remembered where they were. If you needed to make a call and you were away from home, you found one. I…
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Growth at Scale in the Age of AI (with McKinsey’s Marc Canal)
Marc Canal, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute, examines how long-term economic progress is built and what current shifts in AI, demographics, and productivity mean for senior leaders. He explains that consulting is less about analysis than it appears and more about trust, judgment, and the ability to frame relevant questions. Building a small…
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Former C-Suite Executive and Advisor to Fortune 100 Leaders Amy Leneker on How to Lead and Live with Less Stress and More Joy
Amy Leneker, a former C-suite executive and advisor to Fortune 100 leaders, examines a common assumption in corporate life: that stress is an unavoidable cost of success. She argues that this belief is flawed, noting that when leaders feel disconnected from their values and priorities, “it doesn’t feel like you’re succeeding.” The discussion centers on…
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Growth and Innovation at Scale, with Former IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce Executive Jason Wild
Jason Wild discusses the discipline of building and scaling businesses through careful capital allocation, operational focus, and a clear understanding of risk. He explains how leaders often misjudge growth by pursuing expansion without fully understanding the underlying economics, noting that “growth only creates value when the returns exceed the cost of capital.” He emphasizes the…
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Dr. John La Puma on the Hidden Health Costs of Indoor Living
Dr. John La Puma discusses how everyday environmental choices shape sleep, cognition, and long-term health. Drawing on research from medicine, neuroscience, and environmental science, he explains why many professionals unknowingly experience what he calls “cognitive drag,” the gradual decline in mental clarity caused by indoor lifestyles, poor light exposure, and excessive screen use. A central…
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How to Build a Sustainable Career Competitive Advantage (Even After 40)
Developing a sustainable and realistic competitive and comparative advantage in your career is challenging. Everyone reading this understands how difficult and tiresome it is to upgrade your profile and skill set so that you remain attractive to your organization and clients day after day, week after week, and year after year. And it is not…
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BCG’s Julia Dhar on Why 70% of Major Change Efforts Fail
Julia Dhar, Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group and founder of the firm’s Behavioral Science Lab, joins us to discuss why most organizational change efforts fail and what leaders can do differently. Drawing on behavioral science and her work advising major organizations, she explains why the challenge of change is rarely about strategy alone and…