The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor

The Strategy & Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor explores strategic planning, strategy execution, and executive leadership in complex organizations.Hosted by Anthony C. Taylor, Founder & Principal of SME Strategy, the show features conversations with CEOs and senior leaders on business strategy, organizational alignment, leadership development, and change management.Episodes examine real trade-offs, decision-making, and the practical structures that turn strategic plans into measurable results and sustained team performance.Designed for CEOs and executive teams responsible for making strategic plans work in the real world.Learn more: https://www.smestrategy.netConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604/

The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor is a business podcast hosted by Anthony C. Taylor, with 367 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Anthony C. Taylor hosts The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor, a business show with 367 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor

  The Apple Store Architect on Hiring Baristas, Killing Commissions, and Inventing the Genius Bar

  Aug 6, 202626 min

  Ron Johnson built the Apple Store from scratch. He was also CEO of JCPenney and led the design-for-all era at Target. In this episode of the Strategy and Leadership Podcast, he walks Anthony Taylor through the specific counterintuitive bets that made Apple retail the most successful launch in the history of the category. The list is longer than most people realize. He hired baristas and librarians instead of technology experts, because he could train product knowledge in a week but couldn't train warmth. He killed sales commissions, so customers would buy when they were ready and not when a rep needed a number. He invented the Genius Bar as a visible promise of service at the back of every store. He put Apple on the world's most expensive real estate. And he built the Fifth Avenue store underground, so rent landed at roughly 1% of sales while the store did $350 million in its first year. The through-line for CEOs and senior operators: the strategies that separate you from your competitors are the ones that look counterintuitive on paper, and they come from your own lived experience, not from copying what's already been done. If you're a CEO, president, or senior operator running a mid-market business and trying to build a strategy that actually differentiates you, this conversation is for you. CHAPTERS 00:00 Ron Johnson: Apple Store, JCPenney, Target 01:05 Starting at the bottom, unloading trucks at Mervyn's 03:25 Why he hired baristas and librarians instead of tech experts 06:07 The real future of retail: 85% of sales are still physical 09:25 Why customers want to be approached in stores 10:42 Killing sales commissions at the Apple Store 11:47 Designing a store so the service is visible from the door 13:41 What made the Apple Store concept so counterintuitive 15:42 Personal geography: the edge nobody can copy 17:16 The Fifth Avenue store, the fifth most photographed site in NYC 19:52 $350M in year one at 1% rent: the underground bet 21:15 What courage in strategy actually looks like 22:22 Ron's new book and where to find him ABOUT THE GUEST Ron Johnson is the former Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple, where he built the Apple Store from concept to global rollout and created the Genius Bar. He was previously Executive Vice President of Merchandising at Target, where he led the design-for-all strategy that reshaped the brand, and later served as CEO of JCPenney. His new book, Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple's Genius, is out from HarperCollins. Learn more: https://ronjohnsonshopsdifferent.com ABOUT THE PODCAST The Strategy and Leadership Podcast is hosted by Anthony Taylor, Managing Partner at SME Strategy, and features conversations with CEOs and senior operators about the strategic bets, frameworks, and decisions that separate great companies from average ones. Work with SME Strategy on your next planning session: https://www.smestrategy.net Subscribe for a new episode every week. #RonJohnson #AppleStore #StrategicPlanning #RetailStrategy #BusinessStrategy

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor

  How Tracy Nolan Led 24,000 People Through the Largest Telecom Merger in US History

  Jul 30, 202627 min

  What does it take to lead 24,000 people through the largest telecom merger in US history — during COVID — and come out the other side with a stronger team? In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor sits down with Tracy Nolan, SVP at Humana and board member at Dress for Success. Tracy has driven $31B in revenue through a $6B operating budget across a Fortune 100 career that includes leadership roles through the Sprint/T-Mobile merger, the Verizon/Alltel merger, 9/11, and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Tracy shares the six ingredients she looks for in every team she builds, why "if your name is on the invite, you've earned the right to be in the room," and the story of a goose in a parking lot that reshaped how she thinks about listening as a leader. Whether you're leading a mid-market company through change or building your first executive team, the fundamentals in this conversation apply. What you'll learn: • The six success ingredients Tracy uses to evaluate any team (trust, integrity, commitment, execution, teamwork, right people) • How to build two-way trust before you need it • The "open bridge" method Tracy used to lead 12,000 people through a merger during COVID • Why vulnerability at the executive level accelerates transformation • The concept of "full circle leadership" — managing your team, peers, boss, and customers as one system • The most overlooked element of transformation plans (and why decisiveness beats consensus) • How Dress for Success helps women re-enter the workforce Chapters: 00:00 – Introducing Tracy Nolan 01:11 – Heart + leadership: how Tracy defines her MO 03:09 – The six success ingredients 05:14 – Building trust during major transformation 06:11 – The Sprint/T-Mobile merger & the goose in the parking lot 10:59 – Being the first woman in the boardroom 14:39 – Driving results and full circle leadership 20:49 – What most leaders miss in transformation 22:46 – Dress for Success and giving back 25:15 – Where to connect with Tracy Connect with Tracy Nolan: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tracy-nolan Learn more about Dress for Success: dressforsuccess.org About the host: Anthony Taylor is the founder of SME Strategy Consulting and host of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast. He helps mid-market leadership teams get aligned on one destination and execute on it. Learn more at smestrategy.net. If you got value from this conversation, leave a review and let us know your biggest takeaway. #Leadership #StrategyAndLeadership #Transformation #ChangeManagement #ExecutiveLeadership

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor

  High Performance Under Pressure - Dr Justin Anderson

  Jul 23, 202622 min

  Dr. Justin Anderson CEO of Premier Sport Psychology and Premier Performance Advising Justin’s work has supported Hall of Famers, All-Pros, world and national champions, and organizations across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA, NWSL, Olympic sports, collegiate athletics, and executive leadership spaces.He shares insights on how elite performers achieve their success through mental frameworks, attention management, and intentional focus. Discover practical strategies to enhance your performance and leadership by understanding the mind's role in overcoming challenges.Key Topics-The importance of attention in performance-Breaking through mental barriers-The five personal attributes for success-The role of biases, fears, and insecurities-The intentional attention framework-Managing pressure and stress effectively-The concept of amnesia and forgetting the past-Renewal strategies for high performers-The impact of routines and language on mindset-Practical tips for leaders and athletes

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor

  From Google to Salesforce: A Transformation Leader on Why People Resist Change | Travis Hahler

  Jul 14, 202630 min

  What if resistance to change isn't stubbornness or rebellion, but biology? Travis Hahler has spent nearly two decades sitting between great strategies and the people who have to adopt them, and he has a startling answer for why so many transformations stall: change signals threat to the human brain, and most leaders have no idea they are triggering it. In this episode of the SME Strategy and Leadership Podcast, host Anthony Taylor sits down with Travis Hahler, Senior Director of Global Strategy and Transformation at Salesforce, former Global Change and Transformation Lead at Google, and founder of The Neurological Nomad. Drawing on a background that spans neuroscience research, an MBA, and change leadership at Google, Salesforce, and Deloitte, Travis brings a rare fusion of brain science and boardroom experience to the question every leader eventually faces: how do you actually get people to move? Together they unpack why 70 percent of change initiatives fail to achieve their expected ROI, how the brain interprets organizational change as a loss of competence, relationships, or control, and why urgency and free rein so often backfire. Travis shares the practical shift that separates the successful 30 percent from the rest, including why your program manager gets a project live but your change manager is the one who actually delivers the return. What You Will Learn in This Episode How the brain interprets organizational change as a threat, and what leaders consistently misread when teams push back Why every change equals loss, and how to lead through the three types of loss people experience at work: competence, relationships, and control Why "just go play with it" is the wrong way to roll out AI, and what people actually need before they will engage The difference between program management and change management, and why underinvesting in the second one quietly kills your ROI How to think about adoption in terms of ROI, and why 20 percent adoption rarely justifies the investment About Travis Hahler Travis Hahler is Senior Director of Global Strategy and Transformation at Salesforce and the founder of The Neurological Nomad. Over more than fifteen years he has guided over one hundred companies through organizational transformation, earning the nickname "Resistance Fortune Teller" for his ability to predict where change efforts will fail. His signature keynote, The Neuroscience of Change, has reached over 25,000 leaders across 150 global events. His book, Rethink Resistance: Embracing Neuroscience to Lead Transformational Change, is forthcoming from Fast Company Press. Travis has held change and transformation roles at Google and Deloitte, studied neuroscience at Harvard and conducted EEG research at Aalborg University in Denmark, and holds an MBA from the University of South Dakota. Connect with Travis Hahler Website: https://www.theneurologicalnomad.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisdhahler/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneurologicalnomad/ About the Podcast The SME Strategy and Leadership Podcast is where leaders come to sharpen their thinking on strategy, execution, and the human side of moving plans forward. Hosted by Anthony Taylor, each episode brings candid conversations with executives and experts who help teams get aligned and turn strategic plans into action. Strategy Resources Get help facilitating your strategic plan: https://www.smestrategy.net/strategic-planning-facilitator Connect with Anthony Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604 Learn more about SME Strategy: https://www.smestrategy.net Produced by Rednyne Productions: https://www.rednyne.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor

  Canada's $3 Trillion Blind Spot: Kendra MacDonald on the Ocean Economy

  Jul 7, 202623 min

  The global ocean economy is doubling in size to three trillion US dollars. Canada, a country with the longest coastline in the world and the fourth largest ocean territory, sits at roughly fifty billion. Kendra MacDonald calls that gap the opportunity of a generation, and she left one of the largest professional services firms on the planet to go after it. In this episode of the SME Strategy and Leadership Podcast, host Anthony Taylor sits down with Kendra MacDonald, CEO of Canada's Ocean Supercluster and former Chief Audit Executive of Deloitte Global. After twenty five years at Deloitte, Kendra stepped out of a 275,000 person organization to become the first employee of a not for profit built to grow Canada's ocean economy. She talks candidly about why she made the leap, what it takes to align competing industries and countries around a shared goal, and why leadership in this moment looks different from what most people picture. The conversation moves from the raw economic case for the ocean economy to the messy reality of collaboration at national and international scale. Kendra explains how a supercluster functions as a network of networks, why the devil is in the details when it comes to budgets and intellectual property, and how she keeps fishing executives, oil executives, researchers, and government partners focused on a common objective instead of the friction between them. She also shares a personal turning point that shaped her whole career, and makes the case for stepping into leadership even when you do not feel ready. What You Will Learn in This Episode How Kendra frames the size of the ocean economy opportunity and why Canada is significantly undersized relative to its coastline. Why collaboration is harder in practice than it sounds, and where partnerships tend to break down. How to keep diverse stakeholders aligned by returning to shared purpose rather than fixating on friction points. What it takes to lead a national initiative that spans four Atlantic provinces, coast to coast to coast, and nine countries. How technology, from sensors and autonomous platforms to AI, is being used to instrument the ocean and solve real problems. Why one moment should never be allowed to become career defining, and why the current moment needs more people to step into leadership. About Kendra MacDonald Kendra (she/her) is the CEO for Canada's Ocean Supercluster (OSC), responsible for driving the sustainable growth of Canada's Ocean Economy. Along with the OSC team, Kendra is passionately committed to raising awareness of Canada's ocean opportunity and role as an ocean nation. Connect with Kendra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendramacdonald-40b574 Canada's Ocean Supercluster: https://oceansupercluster.ca Saltwater Signals on Substack: https://substack.com/@saltwatersignals About the Podcast The SME Strategy and Leadership Podcast brings you conversations with leaders and thinkers from around the world on strategy, leadership, and building organizations that last. Hosted by Anthony Taylor, founder of SME Strategy Consulting and strategic advisor to leadership teams across North America, each episode gives executives practical perspective they can bring back to their own teams. Strategy Resources Looking to align your leadership team around a clear strategic plan? Learn more about strategic planning facilitation with Anthony and the SME Strategy team: https://smestrategy.net/strategic-planning-facilitator Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604 Produced by Rednyne Productions: https://rednyne.com

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.