Design thinking isn’t just for product teams—it can reshape how we do strategy.

In this episode, Mike Jones is joined by Leanne Sobel—Director of Strategic Design at Snowmelt and author of a recent PhD on the intersection of design and strategy. Together, they explore what it means to bring design into strategic work: not just as a toolkit, but as an ethos of participation, reflection, and experimentation.

Leanne shares how traditional strategy often limits possibility through early assumptions—while design opens up space to sense, test, and adapt. From stakeholder engagement to making strategy usable in practice, this episode reframes how strategy can be done in complex environments.

🔍 In this episode:

• How design challenges traditional strategy models
• Building usable strategies—not just presentations
• Why stakeholder inclusion is a risk-reducer, not a slowdown
• The difference between design thinking and design practice
• Why reflection is a core strategic act
• Creating feedback loops to make strategy adaptive

📘 Learn more about Leanne: https://www.snowmelt.io/team-members/leanne-sobel
🎧 Full podcast + notes: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality
🎙 Listen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube

Keywords: Strategic Design, Design Thinking, Organisational Strategy, Adaptive Strategy, Design-Led Change, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategic Practice, Leadership, Systems Thinking, Complexity

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🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout

💬 Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

What if the real barrier to change isn’t resistance—but the stories leaders tell themselves to avoid doing the work?

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Steve Hearsum—consultant, coach, and author of No Silver Bullet—to unpack the deep disconnect between strategy, leadership, and organisational change.

This isn’t about frameworks or toolkits. It’s about the mess, the uncertainty, and the anxiety that real change creates—and what happens when leaders fall back on control, comms theatre, and performative fixes.

Steve brings sharp insight into why so many change efforts fail to stick, the myths that keep organisations stuck, and the work needed to build capability, coherence and culture from the inside out.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why leadership development often misses the point
• The gap between strategy and actual change
• How anxiety and fragility show up in executive behaviour
• Why clarity is useful—but coherence is critical
• The danger of “burning platform” narratives
• What it really means to build organisational capability
• Why communication isn’t the problem—it’s the shortcut

🎧 Keywords: organisational change, leadership, capability, strategy execution, culture, complexity, communication, change management, OD, Steve Hearsum

📘 Read No Silver Bullet: Bursting the Bubble of the Organisational Quick Fix: https://amzn.eu/d/bUXQWSn

Send Mike a Message

👂 Enjoying the show?
Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout

💬 Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/

What if strategy wasn’t a closed-door ritual—but a way to build commitment from those who deliver it?

In this episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Mike Jones is joined by Julia Hautz—Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Innsbruck and co-author of Open Strategy—to explore what really happens when leaders invite participation into the strategy process.

This isn’t about consensus. And it’s not about giving everyone a vote. It’s about designing strategy so it’s recognised, understood, and owned by the people closest to reality.

Julia shares insights from years of research and organisational engagement, unpacking the myths, the structural discipline, and the leadership mindset required to make openness work. From crisis response to long-term strategy shaping, she lays out why open strategy isn’t soft—it’s a strategic advantage when done well.

🔍 In this episode:

• Why open strategy isn’t democracy—and why that matters
• How participation creates psychological ownership and commitment
• The risk of surface-level engagement and ‘black box’ decisions
• What leaders fear about openness—and how to manage it
• How to create structure without killing initiative
• Why “just involving people” usually backfires
• The power of openness in times of crisis

🎧 Keywords: open strategy, strategic participation, leadership, decision-making, legitimacy, organisational culture, strategy execution, transparency, inclusion, commitment, strategy process

📘 Learn more in Julia’s book Open Strategy (co-authored with Christian Stadler, Kurt Matzler and Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen) https://amzn.eu/d/8RpROIT

Send Mike a Message

👂 Enjoying the show?
Subscribe and leave a review on your favourite platform — it helps more people find the podcast.

🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout

💬 Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/