What's Next! with Tiffani Bova

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. I'm thrilled to welcome you back to a series I did with my dear friend, Roger Martin. He's the author of the amazing book, Playing to Win. In this episode, we're talking about the four key characteristics of strategic thinking.
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…anyone who wants to strengthen their strategic thinking and make better decisions in complex, uncertain environments.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…many people think strategy is about making plans, setting goals, or controlling outcomes. Roger argues that strategic thinking starts by accepting the opposite: the most important variables are often the ones you don't control. Customers, competitors, and markets will ultimately do what they want to do. The strategist's job is to influence those outcomes by thoughtfully configuring everything within their control. In this conversation, Roger breaks down the four key characteristics of strategic thinkers. Together, he and Tiffani explore how these skills can be developed and why strategic thinking is less about innate talent and more about deliberate practice.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Strategic thinkers focus on influencing outcomes they cannot directly control.
The best decisions come from combining quantitative and qualitative information.
Strong strategies emerge when multiple variables are considered simultaneously.
Strategic thinking is a learnable skill that improves through practice and training.
 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…Roger's reminder that strategic thinking is not something you're born with. Too often, people assume strategy is reserved for a select few with a natural gift for seeing around corners. Instead, Roger reframes strategic thinking as a set of skills that anyone can develop.
 
Running Time: 31:02
 
Subscribe on iTunes 
  
Find Tiffani Online:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X
  
Find Roger Online:
LinkedIn
Website
 
Show Summary on Substack

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. 
 
This week, I'm delighted to speak with Denise Persson. She is the Chief Marketing Officer at Snowflake and co-author of Make It Snow: From Zero to Billions. Over the last 25 years, Denise has helped build and scale some of the most recognizable enterprise technology companies, including Snowflake, Apigee, and Genesis, guiding organizations through hyper-growth, IPOs, acquisitions, and major market shifts. What I really love about Denise's perspective is that she understands growth isn't just about demand generation or pipeline, it's about building the operational alignment, customer trust, and internal culture that allow companies to scale sustainably. So today we're going to dive right into these topics. 
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…marketing leaders and growth-focused executives helping teams stay aligned while navigating rapid change and ambitious growth goals.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…many companies believe growth comes from moving faster, launching more campaigns, or constantly evolving their message. Denise argues the opposite. Drawing from her experience helping scale Snowflake into one of the most successful technology companies in the world, Denise explains why some of the biggest growth opportunities come from creating clarity and not complexity. Denise and Tiffani discuss what happens when organizations grow faster than their processes, why customer advocacy is more powerful than any marketing campaign, and how leaders can balance innovation with consistency. 
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Category creation succeeds when customers immediately understand the value.

Consistency creates trust for customers, employees, and partners.

Hypergrowth often exposes gaps in leadership, hiring, and alignment.

Strong data foundations are essential for personalization and AI success.

 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…Denise's perspective that growth isn't always about doing more. It's often about creating more clarity. In a business environment that constantly encourages organizations to move faster, add more, and chase the next opportunity, her reminder that consistency builds trust feels especially important. 
 
Running Time: 35:00
 
Subscribe on iTunes
  
Find Tiffani Online:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X
  
Find Denise Online:
LinkedIn

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. 
 
Today's conversation is about reinvention, resilience, and what it really means to lead when the pressure is at its highest. My guest is George Barrios, former co-president of WWE and the architect behind some of the biggest media and sports deals in history and author of the new book, Sometimes Wrong, But Never in Doubt. 
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…leaders, ambitious professionals, entrepreneurs, and anyone navigating career pivots, high-pressure decisions, or uncertainty while trying to grow with confidence and conviction.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…success isn't built on having all the answers but having the conviction to move forward before certainty arrives. George Barrios is a master at this: from helping transform WWE into a global media powerhouse to navigating a very public firing and reinvention, George explains why resilience, continuous learning, and a willingness to take calculated risks are what truly shape long-term success. Throughout the conversation, George and Tiffani explore the difference between confidence and arrogance, why leaders must stay in constant learning mode, and how reading, writing, and developing a strong point of view can separate great leaders from passive participants.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Conviction comes from preparation and doing the work.

Confidence and ego can look similar, but they are not the same.

Reading and writing are essential leadership habits.

Big opportunities often require moving before certainty exists.

Failure is often part of the path toward meaningful success.

Leaders grow faster when they actively develop their own point of view.

 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…George's perspective that confidence isn't something you're born with but something you build through curiosity, preparation, and action. His insight that "being passive creates self-doubt" feels especially important right now in a world where so many people are waiting for permission, certainty, or someone else to guide them forward.
 
Running Time: 26:00
 
Subscribe on iTunes
  
Find Tiffani Online:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X
  
Find George Online:
LinkedIn
Website
 
George's Book: Sometimes Wrong but Never in Doubt

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. I'm thrilled to welcome you back to a series I did with my dear friend, Roger Martin. He's the author of the amazing book, Playing to Win. In this episode, we're rethinking Warren Buffett's "moat" metaphor for competitive advantage.
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…leaders, entrepreneurs, strategists, and innovators who want to build a sustainable competitive advantage instead of competing in a race to the bottom.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…most companies think about competitive advantage as something static, or what Warren Buffett famously coined the "moat" that protects the business from competitors. But Roger argues that this metaphor falls short in this day and age and introduces a more dynamic way to think about strategy: moving through "rooms" ahead of competitors. Roger explores why the best companies stay curious, how customer observation leads to innovation, why benchmarking can actually hurt differentiation, and how asking different questions is often the foundation of breakthrough growth.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Competitive advantage must evolve constantly, it can't stay static.

Customer observation often reveals opportunities data alone misses.

Benchmarking competitors too closely can limit innovation.

Sustainable growth comes from continuously moving to the "next room."

 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…Roger's perspective that competitive advantage is about continually evolving faster than your competitors. His "rooms" metaphor is such a powerful way to visualize innovation, customer learning, and staying ahead by asking smarter questions over time.
 
Running Time: 30:44
 
Subscribe on iTunes 
  
Find Tiffani Online:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X
  
Find Roger Online:
LinkedIn
Website
 
Show Summary on Substack

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. I'm thrilled to welcome you back to a series I did with my dear friend, Roger Martin. He's the author of the amazing book, Playing to Win. In this episode, we discuss how your current actions impact your strategy.
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, and teams trying to improve results without getting stuck chasing the "perfect" strategy.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…whether you claim it or not, you already have a strategy. It's reflected in the choices you're making every day. In this episode, Roger and Tiffani unpack one of the biggest misconceptions in business: the belief that strategy is something you create from scratch during a planning session. Roger explains that every company already has a strategy because every organization is making choices about investments, hiring, marketing, products, customers, and priorities. The real question is whether those choices are producing the results you want.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS…
Your current results are the outcome of the strategic choices you've already made.
Strategy fails when leaders expect immediate results from long-term decisions.
Chasing the "perfect strategy" often delays meaningful progress.
Betterment comes from continuously improving the biggest problems first.
Writing down assumptions helps leaders evaluate whether a strategy is truly working over time.
 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…Roger's emphasis on "betterment" over perfection. Instead of trying to engineer one flawless strategy that solves everything forever, he encourages leaders to continuously improve the choices creating the biggest pain points.
 
Running Time: 27:38
 
Subscribe on iTunes 
  
Find Tiffani Online:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X
  
Find Roger Online:
LinkedIn
Website
 
Show Summary on Substack