{"podcast":{"title":"The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving","slug":"the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195","podcast_index_feed_id":431195,"rss_url":"https://strategyskills.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://www.firmsconsulting.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/d/b/b/8/dbb87cad4c06da1d/SS_art_4.png","author":"Kris Safarova for Firmsconsulting.com","episode_count":500,"summary":"CEOs and business leaders, management consulting senior partners, ground-breaking professors, thought-provoking writers and journalists, record-setting athletes and coaches, and award-winning actors and celebrities discuss the key issues facing the business world and broader society. Get free access to our newsletter, Monday Morning at 8 am, along with sample episodes from our training programs on www.strategytraining.com. Go to https://www.firmsconsulting.com/promo.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-15T22:22:19.528722+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195"},"episode":{"title":"630: Business Innovation and Strategic Growth Advisor, Lorraine Marchand, on Sustaining Growth Through Innovation","slug":"630-business-innovation-and-strategic-growth-advisor-lorraine-marchand-on-sustaining-growth-through-innovation","published_at":"2026-02-23T12:31:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195/630-business-innovation-and-strategic-growth-advisor-lorraine-marchand-on-sustaining-growth-through-innovation","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195","url":"https://strategyskills.libsyn.com/630-business-innovation-and-strategic-growth-advisor-lorraine-marchand-on-sustaining-growth-through-innovation","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/strategyskills/630_FSS_Lorraine_Marchand_e_lio_mio_192kb_compressed.mp3?dest-id=291244","summary":"Lorraine Marchand, startup CEO, advisor to Johnson & Johnson, member of the Pharmaceutical Advisory Board at Columbia Business School, and faculty at Wharton, discusses how leaders can sustain growth through disciplined experimentation in an era shaped by AI and institutional risk aversion. Marchand's perspective is grounded in a career that spans large corporations and entrepreneurial ventures. Early in life, she learned to treat problem solving as an experiment rather than a test of personal worth. That principle later informed her approach to innovation in complex organizations. Several practical themes emerge from the discussion: 1. Reframe failure as structured learning. Marchand's operating principle is \"try, fail, learn.\" The key is to set explicit learning objectives before undertaking a new initiative. When leaders define what they intend to learn, not just what they intend to achieve, they reduce fear and increase resilience. This mindset is particularly critical in startups and new ventures, where there is no playbook and early missteps are inevitable. 2. Innovation requires protected investment. Drawing on research and executive interviews, Marchand highlights the value of disciplined portfolio allocation. A 70/20/10 model—70% core business, 20% adjacent opportunities, 10% new, exploratory ideas—creates room for experimentation without destabilizing the enterprise. The evidence she cites suggests that long-term growth frequently emerges from ideas that initially seemed peripheral. 3. Culture often suppresses experimentation. Organizations frequently default to \"playing it safe.\" Marchand argues that leaders must explicitly create space for candor and reflection. Her practice of \"Fail Free Friday\", a structured forum to discuss what is not working without de…","meta_description":"Lorraine Marchand, startup CEO, advisor to Johnson & Johnson, member of the Pharmaceutical Advisory Board at Columbia Business School, and faculty at Whar…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3203,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195/episodes/630-business-innovation-and-strategic-growth-advisor-lorraine-marchand-on-sustaining-growth-through-innovation/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-strategy-skills-podcast-strategy-leadership-critical-thinking-problem-solving-431195/630-business-innovation-and-strategic-growth-advisor-lorraine-marchand-on-sustaining-growth-through-innovation.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}