Lancefield on the Line – Détails, épisodes et analyse

What if the most powerful strategy you ever create isn’t for a business, but for your own life?

In this conversation, I turn the microphone on myself as strategist and author Niko Canner interviews me about how to bring strategic thinking into everyday choices.

We explore why busyness can be the enemy of purpose and how small, deliberate moves made moment by moment unlock greater agency and performance. I share how a personal family crisis forced me to reclaim control of my time, energy and focus, and how those lessons now shape the way I coach leaders and design my own days.

You’ll hear how to connect long-term aspirations with the micro-moments that define each day, creating a strategy that is both intentional and flexible. Niko and I also examine how individual strategic habits ripple out to transform teams and entire organisations.

Listen in if you’re ready to stop living on autopilot and start making wiser choices at work, at home and everywhere in between.

“All progress begins with dissonance.” — Niko Canner

You’ll hear about

·      Strategy beyond the boardroom

·      Daily choices that drive performance

·      Coaching story of reclaiming the day

·      Mindfulness, agency and coherent moves

·      Setting life-long strategic aspirations

·      Turning crisis into intentional living

·      Five-chapter arc of strategic change

·      Acting strategically in any moment

About Niko:

Niko founded Incandescent in 2013. He serves as a thought partner to leaders of large enterprises on strategy, organization and innovation; advising founders on the development of their ventures; and partnering with foundations and non-profits engaged in systems change. 

Previously Niko co-founded the consulting firm Katzenbach Partners, Senior Partner at Booz & Company following the sale of Katzenbach to Booz in 2009 and a member of the Management Committee of Bridgewater Associates. 

Niko chairs the boards of Skreens, a SaaS cloud-based visual engine that enables users to build personalized experiences on any display, and Catchafire, a platform for skills-based volunteering.

Resources: 

Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikocanner/ 

Business: https://www.incandescent.com/ 

Blog: https://www.onhumanenterprise.com/ 

My resources:

Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ)

Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj)

Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.

For more details about me:

●      Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.

●      About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.

●      Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds)

●      Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP)

●      Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI)

What does it take to push yourself to the absolute limit and keep going for a cause bigger than yourself?

Imagine you’re cycling 3,000 miles in 12 days on no more than 2 hours sleep a day. You feel exhausted, with nothing left to give, but important decisions need to be made to achieve your goal.

This was the reality for my guest in this episode, Kurt Matzler, one of the world’s most cited strategy professors and an elite ultra-endurance cyclist who has completed the Race Across America, often described as the toughest race in the world.

We dive into how Kurt blends his expertise in strategy with the demands of ultra-cycling: from meticulous planning and team building to the mental resilience needed to ride for 22 hours a day across deserts and mountain ranges.

It’s a conversation that will inspire you to think bigger, plan smarter, and persist longer. And perhaps, to take on a challenge you once thought impossible.

“Be willing to do everything that is needed to achieve your big goal” – Kurt Matzler

You’ll hear about:

• Race Across America: the world’s longest bike race
• The role of purpose in endurance challenges
• Balancing training with work and family
• Building mental toughness before the race
• The power of delegating decisions to a team
• Lessons from setbacks and resilience
• Creating a high-performance support crew
• Why strategy means saying no
• Turning big goals into smaller milestones
• The impact Kurt wants to have on the world

About Kurt Matzler:

Kurt is professor of Strategic Management at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. According to Brightline Initiative he is one of the best strategic thinkers in the world. He is academic director of the Executive MBA program at MCI in Innsbruck and partner of IMP, an international consulting firm, the winner of the hidden champions in consulting in the field of disruption in Germany. Kurt is author of more than 300 academic papers and several books. He is co-author of the German edition of the Innovator’s dilemma, one of the six most important management books overall (Economist). He is author of The High Performance Mindset (2023, among the 10 best business books of 2023, Forbes), co-author of "Open Strategy" (MIT Press,  2021, according to the Strategy+Business Magazine the best strategy book of 2021) and "Digital Disruption" (2016). 

With more than 35,000 citations in Google Scholar and an H-Index of 82, Kurt belongs to the top 20 strategy researchers in Europe and to the top 50 in the world. He is included in the John Ioannidis Stanford University’s database of the world’s top 2% of scientists in all disciplines. He is a passionate cyclist and a solo finisher of the Race Across America 2022 and 2025, Race Around Austria, Northcape4000 and Ultracycling World Champion 2024 (Master class). With his participation in RAAM, his Rotary team raised more than USD 4,500,000 to eradicate Polio.

Resources:

Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-matzler-99206b7/

Book: https://shorturl.at/zPdnL

My resources:

Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ) 

Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj)

Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead

Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation

For more details about me:

● Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.

● About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.

● Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds)

● Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP)

● Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI)

Do you know what your digital footprint is?

We all know that overusing digital devices isn't good for us. But do we know the full extent of what we leave behind when we use our phones or laptops?

In this episode I am joined by Professor Sandra Matz to discuss the digital footprints we leave for companies and other individuals to use. Sandra talks about the misuse of digital footprints and the actions we can take to take back control of it.

We also explore what can be done to create regulation change in regard to the use of our data. A quite shocking but essential episode for all of us as we leave our digital trail in the world.

“Don’t stop at what’s legal. Think about what’s ethical.”– Sandra Matz

You'll hear about:

·      Digital footprints encompassing both explicit identity claims and behavioural residue.

·      How people are often unaware of the extent of their digital footprints.

·      Ways machine learning can provide insights into mental health and behaviour.

·      How data can be used ethically to improve individual well-being.

·      Why data considerations must be ethical as well as legal.

·      Federated learning can protect user data while still providing insights.

·      Regulation being necessary to protect personal data.

·      Why collective action is essential for meaningful change in data regulations. 

About Sandra Matz:

As a computational social scientist with a background in psychology and computer science, Professor Sandra Matz studies human behaviour by uncovering the hidden relationships between our digital lives and our psychology. Her goal is to make data relatable, and help individuals and businesses make better and more ethical decisions. 

Over the last 10 years, she has published over 50 academic papers in the world’s leading peer review journals, and her work has been frequently covered by many of the major news outlets. She lives in New York with her husband Moran Cerf and her son Ben Cerf.

• Profile: https://sandramatz.com/

• The book ‘Mindmasters’: https://www.mindmasters.ai/

• Personality Test: https://www.mindmasters.ai/mypersonality

My resources:

Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ) 

Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj)

Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.

For more details about me:

●      Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.

●      About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.

●      Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds)

●      Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP)

●      Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI)

Being competent, solid, committed isn't enough in extraordinary times - of ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty. Impact players do far more than these typical contributors. They:

1.     Do the job that’s needed
2.     Step up, step back
3.     Finish stronger
4.     Ask and adjust
5.     Make work light

They have a healthy disregard for rules, although are savvy enough on how to garner support. Focusing their attention on what truly matters means they don't need to over-work. And they find ways to solve complex problems whilst others get flustered or ask for help. They're open to guidance, happy to share the limelight, and committed to serving others. They're remarkable people. 

Liz Wiseman has studied these impact players from a wide range of organisations, understanding their mindests, habits, and practices. She shares the highlights of the book she's written on the subject, along with some fascinating stories of inspirational people.

More about Liz:

Her Bio

Impact Players book.

Impact Players resources (practices, guide).

Diagnostics.

My resources:

Sign up to my Flashes+Sparks for stimuli, ideas, guidance and tips on how to lead your team, organisation or self more effectively, delivered straight to your inbox:

If you're not subscribed already and do subscribe to my youtube channel where you can watch the conversation. :

You can also find me here:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Personal website, which includes more examples of my work, the services I offer and testimonials from clients. 

Summary:

Look around you in the worlds of business and politics. Think of leaders and organisations you admire. Or those that disappoint you. How honest are they in their intentions, and actions? How purposeful are they?

In his book 'To Be Honest: Lead with the power of purpose, truth, and justice' Ron Carucci argues that these three elements are fundamental to an organisation's performance and positioning.  He  tackles how to eliminate the cultural conditions that prompt otherwise honest people to distort the truth and behave unfairly.

He shows that "When these factors are absent or ineffective, the organizational conditions compel employees to choose dishonesty and self-interest. But when done well, the organization is 16 times more likely to have people tell the truth, behave fairly and serve a greater good."

The book is based on fifteen years of research, and more than 3,000 interviews, mined for insights using IBM Watson. And it's packed full of riveting and remarkable stories from the world of business and beyond, including FARC terrorists in Columbia, the cave rescue in Thailand, the leadership of New Zealand during the pandemic, restorative justice from tribal rituals in the Congo, and how two companies – Patagonia and DuPont – took different approaches when they realized their products were poisoning people. 

 More on Ron:

Ron has a thirty-year track record helping executives tackle challenges of strategy, organization, and leadership — from start-ups to Fortune 10s, non-profits to heads-of-state, turn-arounds to new markets and strategies, overhauling leadership and culture to re-designing for growth. With experience in more than 25 countries on 4 continents, he helps organizations articulate strategies that lead to accelerated growth, and then designs programs to execute those strategies.

LinkedIn profile.

Navalent bio.

To Be Honest book.

HBR articles.

My resources:

Sign up to my Flashes+Sparks for stimuli, ideas, guidance and tips on how to lead your team, organisation or self more effectively, delivered straight to your inbox:

If you're not subscribed already and do subscribe to my youtube channel where you can watch the conversation. :

You can also find me here:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Personal website, which includes more examples of my work, the services I offer and testimonials from clients.

For too long, strategy has been conceived and designed behind closed doors, at the top table. For leaders to invite others to contribute is often seen as a sign of weakness, diminishing the leaders’ stature, authority, and control. However, the reality is that leaders often find it difficult to develop imaginative ideas on their own, shackled as they are by their conventional wisdom and groupthink. It's no wonder that many fail. 

Opening up the strategy process through contests, crowdsourcing, communities generates better ideas, more realistic plans, and more effective execution than a traditional, closed approach. We shouldn’t confuse an open strategy process with a free-for-all. There are important nuances of when, how and by how much to open-up the process. Leaders must act forcefully (sometimes unilaterally) to frame the strategic question, choose whom to involve, establish the rules and incentives of engagement, select the platform for participation, and, ultimately, take the decisions.

Professors Christian Stadler and Julia Hautz, two of the four authors of the book ‘Open Strategy: Mastering Disruption outside the C-suite’, describe how to do open strategy skilfully and why it matters.

More about Christian and Julia:

Their book, and resources.
Their profiles - Christian, Julia.

My resources:

Sign up to my Flashes+Sparks for stimuli, ideas, guidance and tips on how to lead your team, organisation or self more effectively, delivered straight to your inbox:

If you're not subscribed already and do subscribe to my youtube channel where you can watch the conversation. :

You can also find me here:

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Twitter
Personal website, which includes more examples of my work, the services I offer and testimonials from clients.

Think of your favourite role model, superstar, elite professional. It may be somebody who’s won a Nobel Prize, won an Olympic gold, or flown to the moon. What can you, we, learn from them? Surely they’re out of league, in a different stratosphere, literally in some cases? Not so, we can actually learn a lot. They share similar mindsets and practices that helped get them there. 

When you hear the four elements you might think they’re common sense. And they are. But doing them, all of them, consistently, day in day out takes real dedication, and skill.

My guest, Dr. Ruth Gotian, has been studying these superstars for decades now, and has been taking her own medicine, becoming a recognised expert speaker, coach, educator, and now author of the book ‘Success Factor: developing the mindset and skillset for peak business performance’. 

This episode is packed full of tips, lessons and anecdotes from Ruth. She’s an inspirational professional and person. 

More about Ruth:

• Her roles, work and background here. 
• Success Factor book.
• Mentor show.
• Articles.

My resources:

Sign up to my Flashes+Sparks for stimuli, ideas, guidance and tips on how to lead your team, organisation or self more effectively, delivered straight to your inbox:

If you're not subscribed already and do subscribe to my youtube channel where you can watch the conversation.

You can also find me here:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Personal website, which includes more examples of my work, the services I offer and testimonials from clients. 

What do inspirational leaders do? How do they think? And how do they look after themselves?

They certainly have to be able to learn, and reinvent themselves. Build trust with others. They have to see the bigger picture whilst mastering the fine detail of their business. They have to be clear on what they stand for, and and take care of themselves so that they can perform at their best at critical moments.

The model of top-down, command-and-control leadership - still prevalent in many large organisations - doesn't work for employees, and stakeholders who want more empowerment, flexibility and care.

These are the themes I explore with Paolo Gallo, the author of the book the Compass and the Radar, an executive coach, speaker and Adjunct Professor.

More about Paolo:

His work and profile here.

His book 'Compass and the Radar'.

My resources:

Sign up to my Flashes+Sparks for stimuli, ideas, guidance and tips on how to lead your team, organisation or self more effectively, delivered straight to your inbox:

If you're not subscribed already and do subscribe to my youtube channel where you can watch the conversation. :

You can also find me here:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Personal website, which includes more examples of my work, the services I offer and testimonials from clients.

What does it take to promote yourself in the best possible way? And how do you do it in a non-obnoxious way?

Work on your self-awareness - explore your values, preferences and motivations. Get some insightful feedback (not forgetting your peers) on how you show up and understand what's valued by people who matter. Develop your executive presence, and your voice on topics that matter. And supercharge your strategic thinking.

These are the elements of the Promotability approach pioneered by Amii-Barnard Bahn.

More about Amii:

Her work and profile here.

Promotability Index Guidebook.

Promotability Index Assessment.

My resources:

Sign up to my Flashes+Sparks for stimuli, ideas, guidance and tips on how to lead your team, organisation or self more effectively, delivered straight to your inbox:

If you're not subscribed already and do subscribe to my youtube channel where you can watch the conversation. :

You can also find me here:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Personal website, which includes more examples of my work, the services I offer and testimonials from clients.

In complex times we've come to expect the future to be predictable, as strange as that sounds. Seduced by an algorithm or the prediction of a confident economist we think less, become more anxious, and lose some of our creativity and imagination. We become passive and gullible, relying on simplifications or false determinism.

My guest in this episode is Margaret Heffernan, six-time book author, mentor and former CEO of three companies as well as a BBC producer.  She argues that we must get comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity about the future, especially when facing complexity. And we need to be prepared to experiment, explore, and question.

To shape better futures for ourselves and the coming generations  will require leaders to have a backbone — to care — and to have the courage to experiment, not rely slavishly on lessons from the past or promises for the future.

More on Margaret

Her work and profile here.

Her book 'Unchartered: how to map the future together' (including a synopsis).

Resources from me:

My review of Margaret's book for Strategy+Business.

Sign up to my newsletter Flashes+Sparks for stimuli, ideas, guidance and tips on how to lead your team, organisation or self more effectively, delivered straight to your inbox: http://bit.ly/36WRpri

If you're not subscribed already and would like to join this youtube channel you can do so here: http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k

You can also find me here:

LinkedIn. https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP
Twitter: https://bit.ly/36XavNI
Personal website: http://bit.ly/3jA0MlN