What if the biggest mistake leadership teams are making with AI isn’t about the technology at all?

In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor speaks with Jeroen De Flander, international expert in AI Strategy and Strategy Execution, keynote speaker, and co-founder of The Performance Factory.

Jeroen has worked with more than 500 companies worldwide and has spent decades helping organizations close the gap between strategy and execution. In this conversation, he breaks down a simple but powerful framework for thinking about AI inside your organization: Augment, Automate, Aspire.

Anthony and Jeroen explore why most leadership teams are still focused on the wrong level of AI adoption, how strategy is ultimately about making clear choices, including what not to do, and why delegating AI decisions to IT is one of the biggest risks in today’s boardrooms.

They also discuss how AI should be treated as a strategic capability, not just a tool, how leaders can use it to improve processes and create new value for customers, and why the real opportunity lies in rethinking business models entirely.

• Why strategy is fundamentally about making clear choices that last
• The importance of defining what your organization will not do
• Jeroen’s 3 A framework: Augment, Automate, Aspire
• Why most companies are stuck at the lowest level of AI adoption
• How AI can improve both internal processes and customer value
• Why leadership teams must own AI strategy instead of delegating it
• How AI is reshaping business models and long-term competitive advantage

Jeroen De Flander is an international expert in AI Strategy and Strategy Execution, and a keynote speaker who has inspired audiences in more than 45 countries.

He is a professor at TIAS School for Business and Society and Academic Director for both the Strategy Execution Master and the AI Strategy Program. Jeroen is the bestselling author of several books, including Strategy Execution Heroes, The Execution Shortcut, and The Art of Performance, and creator of The 8 Model.

As co-founder of The Performance Factory, he supports organizations in developing practical AI strategies and achieving stronger execution results. He has worked with more than 500 companies worldwide and contributes to the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council.

His current work focuses on how AI reshapes strategic thinking and execution inside organizations.

Connect with Jeroen:
Website: https://www.jeroen-de-flander.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeroendeflander/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jeroendeflander1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeroendeflander/
X: https://x.com/JeroenDeFlander

The Strategy & Leadership Podcast is hosted by Anthony Taylor, a strategic advisor who works with mid-market leadership teams ($30M–$300M) across North America.

For more than 15 years, Anthony has been in the room with leadership teams navigating growth, transitions, and the alignment challenges that come with scaling complex organizations.

On this show, he interviews CEOs, founders, and senior leaders about what actually works when strategy has to survive execution.

If you lead a team and want to get better at it, subscribe.

Download the Strategic Alignment Toolkit
https://www.smestrategy.net/toolkit

Book a Strategic Alignment Review
https://www.smestrategy.net/contact

Learn more about SME Strategy
https://www.smestrategy.net

Connect with Anthony Taylor on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604/

https://www.rednyne.com

What happens when success itself starts pulling your company away from its mission?

In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor speaks with Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author of Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great.

Eric is best known for The Lean Startup, a book that reshaped how modern companies are built. In this conversation, he expands on that foundation and challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions in business: that corruption and failure are the result of bad actors rather than flawed systems.

Anthony and Eric explore why even well-intentioned leaders and organizations drift toward short-term thinking, how “financial gravity” pulls companies away from their purpose, and what it takes to design organizations that can scale without losing their mission.

They also discuss the role of governance as a strategic advantage, why trust is one of the most valuable assets a company can build, and how leaders can rethink profit, accountability, and long-term value creation in a way that aligns performance with purpose.

What You Will Learn in This Episode

• Why good companies go bad even with strong leadership
• How structural design, not morality, drives long-term outcomes
• What “financial gravity” is and how it impacts decision-making
• Why governance should be treated as a strategic function, not compliance
• How to build organizations that scale without losing their mission

About Eric Ries

Eric Ries is an entrepreneur, author, and creator of the Lean Startup methodology, which has influenced how a generation of companies approach innovation and growth. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, as well as The Startup Way and The Leader’s Guide.

Over the past two decades, Eric has worked with founders, executives, and investors to rethink how organizations are built and governed. He is the founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange and has launched multiple companies, including IMVU and Answer.AI.

His latest book, Incorruptible, explores how organizations can be designed to resist short-term pressures, build trust, and create long-term value without losing their core mission.

About the Strategy & Leadership Podcast

The Strategy & Leadership Podcast is hosted by Anthony Taylor, a strategic advisor who works with mid-market leadership teams ($30M–$300M) across North America.

For more than 15 years, Anthony has been in the room with leadership teams navigating growth, transitions, and the alignment challenges that come with scaling complex organizations.

On this show, he interviews CEOs, founders, and senior leaders about what actually works when strategy has to survive execution.

If you lead a team and want to get better at it, subscribe.

Strategy Resources for Leaders

Download the Strategic Alignment Toolkit
https://www.smestrategy.net/toolkit

Book a Strategic Alignment Review
https://www.smestrategy.net/contact

Learn more about SME Strategy
https://www.smestrategy.net

Connect with Anthony Taylor on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604/

Produced by Rednyne Productions
https://www.rednyne.com

Why Your Leadership Team Isn’t Aligned on What Actually Drives Value with Lee Benson

What happens when a leadership team can’t agree on what actually drives value?

In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor speaks with Lee Benson, a multi-exit CEO who has built and sold companies ranging from seven to nine figures and developed a practical methodology for aligning teams around what matters most.

Lee has spent decades working with leadership teams across organizations of all sizes, helping them close the gap between strategy and execution by focusing on one critical idea: every team must be aligned around a single Most Important Number that reflects the value they are designed to create.

In this conversation, Anthony and Lee explore why most leadership teams struggle to clearly define what drives value, how misalignment shows up across departments, and why measuring the wrong things creates friction, slows execution, and limits growth.

They also discuss the role of the CEO in driving value, how to cascade priorities across an organization, and why avoiding hard conversations around performance is one of the biggest barriers to alignment and results.

What You Will Learn in This Episode

• Why most leadership teams are not aligned on what actually drives value
• How to define the Most Important Number for your organization and teams
• The hidden cost of measuring the wrong metrics across departments
• Why misalignment creates execution gaps and slows growth
• How strong leaders handle performance and accountability conversations

About Lee Benson

Lee Benson is a multi-exit CEO, founder, and leadership advisor.

He is the CEO of Execute to Win and the creator of the MIND Methodology (Most Important Number and Drivers), a framework designed to help organizations align teams, improve execution, and increase business value over time. Over the past 25 years, Lee has founded multiple companies with exits ranging from seven to nine figures and has worked with hundreds of leadership teams to accelerate value creation.

About the Strategy & Leadership Podcast

The Strategy & Leadership Podcast is hosted by Anthony Taylor, a strategic advisor who works with mid-market leadership teams ($30M–$300M) across North America.

For more than 15 years, Anthony has been in the room with leadership teams navigating growth, transitions, and the alignment challenges that come with scaling complex organizations.

On this show, he interviews CEOs, founders, and senior leaders about what actually works when strategy has to survive execution.

If you lead a team and want to get better at it, subscribe.

Strategy Resources for Leaders

Download the Strategic Alignment Toolkit
https://www.smestrategy.net/toolkit

Book a Strategic Alignment Review
https://www.smestrategy.net/contact

Learn more about SME Strategy
https://www.smestrategy.net

Connect with Anthony Taylor on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604/

Produced by Rednyne Productions
https://www.rednyne.com