The Blog
Long-form essays, field notes, and frameworks from the FIRMSconsulting team — published weekly.
All posts
Published weekly-
Former U.S. Intelligence Officer on AI, Leadership, and Thinking Like a Spy (with Anthony Vinci)
In this conversation, Anthony Vinci explains that “AI is going to be able to do more and more of what people do.” He describes a future where “AI is going to get better and better at doing what people do,” and highlights that leaders must understand “how do you figure out what AI is good…
-
Why Play Is a Strategic Advantage with Cas Holman
When was the last time you played, really played? For Cas Holman, founder and chief designer of Heroes Will Rise and star of Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design, play isn’t childish. It’s the foundation of human creativity, resilience, and connection. She worked with LEGO, Disney Imagineering, and the LEGO Foundation and on a mission…
-
Raj Sisodia on Conscious Capitalism and How Business Can Heal the World
Raj Sisodia has spent his life asking one question: Can business make people’s lives better instead of draining them? He holds a PhD in Marketing and Business Policy from Columbia University, co-founded Conscious Capitalism with John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods Market, and has advised global companies from Tata Group to AT&T. But his…
-
How Gravity Controls Health and Mind with Dr. Brennan Spiegel
Dr. Brennan Spiegel, Director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA, author of the book Pull, explains why illness is often a failure to manage gravity. He describes how our relationship with gravity defines strength, balance, digestion, mental stability, and emotional health. Take the Gravotype Quiz at…
-
Harvard Professor and former CEO of Medtronic, Bill George, on How Leaders Should Manage Challenging Times
Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic and Harvard Business School Executive Fellow, explains how leaders can stay grounded, principled, and effective in chaotic times. “It’s a world of chaos and it requires a very different kind of leader than in more stable times.” The skills that once mattered (process control, long-term plans) are now secondary…
-
Byron Loflin on CEO Readiness: How Boards Decide Who Gets the Top Job
Byron Loflin, Global Head of Board Advisory at Nasdaq and co-author of CEO Ready, explained on the Strategy Skills Podcast why many talented executives never make it to the top. “ Because you perform well isn’t going to automatically get you the job.” Boards are looking for more than results. They look for humility, curiosity,…
-
Phil Gilbert on How Design Thinking Rebuilt IBM and Reached 400,000 Employees
Phil Gilbert led one of the most significant cultural transformations in corporate history, as IBM’s General Manager of Design, he helped the 400,000-person company reinvent how it thinks, listens, and builds products. In this in-depth interview, Phil shares the playbook behind “Irresistible Change”, his approach to scaling design thinking, transforming culture, and helping teams adopt…
-
Speak Without Limits membership
Note: This is the most accessible way to begin transforming how you speak. And for many people, this is the missing piece that holds them back far more than they realize. The level of your expertise is only as visible as the level of your communication skills. You can be operating at 80% expertise, but if…
-
Harvard Economist John Campbell on How to Stop Losing Money to a Broken Financial System
John Campbell, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and co-author of Fixed, joined the Strategy Skills Podcast to explain why the financial system often works against ordinary investors and how to make better personal-finance decisions. After decades studying markets and investor behavior, Campbell saw a pattern: even educated, high-income earners routinely make avoidable mistakes in…
-
$3.6B CEO Bob Chapman on the “Poverty of Dignity” in Corporate America
Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, explains how he built a $3.6 billion company by placing human dignity at the center of leadership. He describes the moment he recognized that “our history does not give us the future that we deserve,” and how this led to a disciplined focus on balance, diversifying customers, industries, and technologies…
-
Harvard’s Scott Levy on His Path from Investment Banking to Leading in Uncertain Times
Scott Levy spent two decades as an investment banker at firms like J.P. Morgan, advising corporate boards and senior executives on risk, growth, and capital decisions. Then he pivoted, serving on a public school board, teaching at Harvard, and writing Why School Boards Matter. In this episode, we discuss: How Levy broke into investment banking…
-
Former CNN and NBC News Anchor Lynn Smith on How Leaders Build Authentic Presence and Excellent Communication
Lynn Smith, former national news anchor for NBC News, MSNBC, and CNN Headline New, and now executive communication coach, reframes public speaking as an internal leadership skill, not a performance. She identifies the recurring obstacle as the “brain bully”, the inner critic that turns preparation into paralysis, and shows leaders how to retrain it so…