Outthinker

Scale has a way of revealing things leaders didn’t know they were relying on.  In the early days, that dependence is easy to miss. Small teams coordinate through instinct. Founders compensate for missing systems. Favorable market conditions can hide weak pricing, weak incentives, or weak discipline. But as the company grows, those gaps stop being […]

Listen to an AI audio recording of this newsletter I’m writing this while preparing to speak with a group of marketing master’s students at ​Universidad Americana​ in Paraguay about strategy, growth, and how organizations decide where to place their bets. Just before noon, I step into the hotel van, and we wind our way through

Listen to an AI audio recording of this newsletter A few days ago in London, I walked into ​LHH​’s Executive Exchange Conference with a familiar feeling. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the River Thames as it curved through the city, steady and continuous, a reminder that even the most established systems are always in motion. Inside the

Listen to an AI audio recording of this newsletter Last week, I spoke to a room full of independent roofing and siding distributors at ​NEMEON​. The conversation was candid, grounded, and far more hopeful than the headlines would suggest. Because yes, the construction and roofing industries are changing fast. Consolidation is accelerating. National players are

Listen to an AI audio recording of this newsletter Most new business ideas begin the same way. There is a flash of insight. A conversation that refuses to leave your head. A sketch on a napkin. A deck built late at night. For a brief moment, everything feels electric. Then the silence starts. Early excitement

Listen to an AI audio recording of this newsletter In a conference room towering over New York City, Josh Baskin looks confused. The character, played by Tom Hanks in the classic 1988 movie Big, is fidgeting in his chair during a product development meeting where suited corporate leaders unveil a new toy. The team had

This audio was recorded by AI.   AI is rapidly commoditizing information. If you want 30 strategic options, five market maps, a competitor teardown, a pricing hypothesis, and a set of board-ready slides, then you can get it in minutes. Strategy is becoming faster, cheaper, and more available than at any point in history. And

This audio was recorded by AI.   In hosting the Outthinkers podcast, I get to speak with some of the world’s most strategic minds. But few conversations have reshaped my own understanding of leadership the way my recent dialogue with Mark Thompson did. Mark is a CEO coach to many of the world’s highest-performing executives

This audio was recorded by AI.   Over the past few months, as I’ve worked with executives across sectors, from finance to healthcare, manufacturing to technology, the same quiet realization keeps emerging: we are approaching a rational inflection point in strategy. The ground beneath us is shifting. The levers we once relied on, such as

This audio was recorded by AI.   At Outthinker, we pride ourselves on our ability to identify the forces that are truly shaping competitive advantage today. Rather than relying on predictions or opinions, this year we began with a rigorous analysis of the 2025 Outthinker List: 45 companies that consistently outperform across growth, profitability, and