How a failing soap company became the world's best-seller by doing the opposite of every competitor—the forgotten Claude Hopkins strategy that built Palmolive.
Einstein discovered relativity without ever stepping into a lab—just by imagining what would happen if he rode alongside a beam of light. In this episode, we explore how thought experiments from Einstein, Galileo, and other scientific giants revolutionized our understanding of the universe, and how business leaders like Andy Grove, Brian Chesky, and Reed Hastings used the same mental discipline to solve impossible problems and build billion-dollar companies. Learn the forgotten art of rigorous imagination and how to apply it to your toughest strategic challenges.
In 2006, a product demo played upside down in front of 2,000 employees. This wasn't just a tech glitch—it was the beginning of a multimillion-dollar lesson about what happens when you watch your competitor instead of your customer. The story of how obsessing over rivals makes you blind to the people who actually matter.
When Amazon's first video product demo played upside down in front of thousands, it marked the beginning of a spectacular failure. But it also sparked a transformation guided by an unlikely mentor: Howard Hughes. This is the story of how learning to "run your fingers over the product" turned disaster into Prime Video—and what it teaches us about knowing which details actually matter.
Why Amazon dominates e-commerce while competitors struggle: the billion-dollar lesson about what you should never outsource. Discover the strategic decision that separates industry leaders from everyone else—and why choosing convenience over control could be killing your company's future.
When iTunes for Windows launched in 2003, it didn't just disrupt music—it revealed a brutal truth about competitive advantage in the digital age. In this episode, we explore why the middle of the value chain has become a death trap for even the strongest companies, and why the only sustainable strategy is choosing an end: own creation or dominate consumption. Through the story of how one retail giant abandoned everything that made it successful to build hardware it knew nothing about, we uncover the strategic imperative that will define which companies survive the next decade—and which ones are already falling.
Three Weeks Too Late: Discover how Amazon’s ‘big red button’ transformed customer service by empowering frontline workers with real-time insights, outpacing slow metrics, in this captivating podcast.
Should you write the press release before building your product? We explore Amazon's controversial "working backwards" method, why it prevents expensive failures, when it brilliantly works, and when it dangerously constrains innovation. The surprising truth about starting at the end.
Why the most addictive products don't eliminate friction—they create it. Discover how companies like Apple, Peloton, and Spotify build unbreakable customer loyalty by designing rituals, not habits. A counterintuitive strategy that turns everyday products into meaningful experiences.
Motivation isn’t a choice—it’s biology. Uncover how your brain’s chemistry drives ambition in the workplace
Why does Maggi come to mind at 4 PM? Why do you think of Cadbury after dinner? It's not better advertising—it's smarter strategy. This episode reveals how winning brands don't compete on product quality. They compete for moments in your daily life, embedding themselves so deeply into specific situations that when the trigger fires, they're the only answer.
Why do growing companies slow down? Because they're solving the wrong problem. Instead of making cross-team communication better, the best organizations eliminate the need for it entirely. This episode challenges everything you think you know about collaboration, silos, and how to build teams that actually scale.
Why do smart leaders keep falling for decision-making formulas that don't work? This episode challenges the popular frameworks everyone quotes and reveals what actually separates good decisions from paralysis disguised as diligence. No neat percentages. No easy answers. Just the uncomfortable truth about judgment, fear, and learning when to move fast versus when to slow down.
How Amazon escaped bureaucracy and kept startup speed at scale. The single-threaded leadership principle that powered AWS, Prime, and Alexa—and why your innovation is dying as someone's side project.
Why do we remember Newton's apple but not his 30 years of mathematics? Why does Nike's waffle iron story matter more than their actual innovation process? Discover why the most powerful brands aren't built on facts—they're built on mythology. This episode reveals the hidden architecture behind stories that survive centuries and shows you how to craft your own brand myth that outlives your product.
Why do we hide certain shopping bags? What makes a brand something we use but never recommend? In this episode, we explore the psychology of "compromise brands"—products that solve our problems but damage our self-image.
Why do some companies destroy entire industries while others become irrelevant overnight? It's not about having better technology or more money—it's about thinking differently.
Perfect for entrepreneurs, business leaders, and anyone who wants to stop playing by yesterday's rules.
A reformed marketing consultant's confession: Why 'sell the experience, not the product' advice has gone too far, and how the world's most successful companies actually win by doing the basics exceptionally well.
Explore how Canva transformed from a simple design tool into a $40 billion powerhouse by targeting "non-designers" while Adobe focused on professionals. This episode examines Clayton Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma theory through Canva's rise, revealing why successful companies struggle with disruptive innovation and how emerging technologies create opportunities for startups to upend entire industries.
The untold story of Carl Icahn's first major corporate takeover in 1978, when he challenged Tappan Company's CEO in a dramatic boardroom confrontation that would define activist investing and reveal how corporate leadership can lose touch with reality—until an outsider forces them to face the truth.