A strategy you can't deliver isn't ambitious; it's wishful thinking. Mike sits down with Ben Chappell, founder of Cove Ops, to get brutally practical about the gap between strategy and execution and why “operations” is the missing piece in so many SMEs that are scaling, preparing for investment, or gearing up for a sale.

We unpack how strategy drift happens when teams go back to business as usual, mistaking constant activity for progress. Ben reframes strategy as intent and a daily decision rubric, then shows how operations turn that intent into reality through an operating model that actually works. We dig into the real pain signals of poor operations, from duplicated data entry and broken handovers to missed deadlines, customer impact, and the quiet burnout caused by endless workarounds.

You will also hear why investors and buyers look beyond the spreadsheet: financial results are lagging indicators, so confidence comes from leading metrics, clear workflows, visibility, and a business that is not held together by a few heroes. We explore AI and automation with a sober lens, starting with first-principles diagnosis, then building capacity so people can do the human work: collaboration, problem-solving, and continuous improvement. If you want practical ideas on systems thinking, standardisation, knowledge management, and running change like an experiment, this one is for you.

Subscribe for more conversations that connect strategy to real delivery, share the episode with someone battling operational friction, and leave a review so more leaders can find the show.

Connect with Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-chappell/

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

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

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

AI is moving faster than our organisations can make sense of, and that gap is where strategy breaks. We sit down with Adrian Wolfberg, a former national security practitioner and author of Who Leads When AI Thinks, to unpack a tough reality: success with AI is not mainly a technology problem; it is a leadership, context, and knowledge integration problem.

We start with boundaries and organisational intelligence, the way functions and hierarchies shape what people see, what they value, and what they miss. Adrian shares a concrete story of “Crossing Boundaries”, a skip-level forum designed to surface intractable problems and turn frontline signals into action through accountability and a real business case. It is a grounded look at strategy execution, not theory.

From there we zoom out to generative AI and large language models, and why this shift feels like a societal transformation rather than another software rollout. AI can be faster than any team, but it isn't accountable, and it cannot truly hold organisational context, history, politics, relationships, or ethical judgement. That means leaders have to design permeability across silos, strengthen feedback loops, and model the behaviours that keep humans and AI aligned as the environment changes.

If you’re thinking about AI governance, organisational design, decision-making, and the future of leadership, this conversation will give you practical angles and better questions. Subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a review with your take: where do you think this human-AI relationship is heading?

Find Adrian's work here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianwolfberg/

Website: https://www.oicllc.org/

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

📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality

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

Most strategy starts in the wrong place. Someone picks the destination, the deck gets built, and nobody stops to examine the ground the organisation is actually standing on.

No guest this week. Mike Jones is solo to talk about where the podcast is heading, why he wants more leaders inside organisations rather than commenting from outside them, and what it's been like finishing the book, which is now with the publisher and out on 2nd of March.

Then he gets into the thing he keeps having to argue for. Reality first, aspiration second. Where you actually stand, who else is on the terrain with you, and the constraints that give that ground its topology, because some options look attractive on paper and turn out to be Everest. Start with the aspiration, and you'll do what young soldiers do with a map: shape the ground until it matches what you're holding, then get lost.

The second half is the part Mike finds hardest to get across: strategy isn't a straight line you walk; it's a relationship you're locked into. Move, and other actors move back, whether they mean to or not. So who responds, how would you know it's coming, and what happens if you do nothing at all? That last question saved a client from handing a small competitor the room to grow into a serious problem three years out.

It all runs on organisational intelligence, which is a reserve. Neglect it, and it depletes, and you end up crossing terrain blindfolded.

If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with someone who owns a strategy, and leave a review. What part of your organisation’s “reality” are you avoiding right now?

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

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