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    "title": "Artöm Mazurchak: posts tagged leadership",
    "_rss_description": "Product notes by Artem Mazurchak: JTBD interviews, customer segmentation, strategy sessions and AI. Founder of Biz-cen.ru and Lashoestring.com, writing from Berlin.",
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    "home_page_url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=tags\/leadership\/",
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    "authors": [
        {
            "name": "Artöm Mazurchak",
            "url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/",
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        {
            "id": "99",
            "url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/strategy-session-for-products\/",
            "title": "Strategy Session for Products: Building a 1–5 Year Plan to Hit Goals or Design a New Future",
            "content_html": "<p>Methodologist Georgy Shchedrovitsky developed a way to organize a team’s thinking and actions so it can deliver large, complex projects. I built my strategy session format on these principles. In this article, I explain how the session works and what a company gets at the end.<\/p>\n<h2>Why a strategy session matters — and what happens there<\/h2>\n<p>To work on big projects, you first need to pause and design the future. If you only follow trends, the project may either never happen — or it will happen with major difficulties and not in the form you originally planned.<\/p>\n<p>The reason is simple: we’re <a href=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/the-fourth-revolution-ai-how-do-we-use-past-lessons-why-cant-we\/\">standing at the edge of a new industrial revolution<\/a>. Old rules stop working, and new rules are still being created. The winners are the projects that shape those rules. Strategy sessions are where teams do exactly that.<\/p>\n<p>Most teams are good at day-to-day execution and quick results. But sometimes there is no shared understanding of where the company is going:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>what Point A looks like today and what future the company wants;<\/li>\n<li>what context the company will operate in — and whether it plans to influence it;<\/li>\n<li>what each department must do to reach Point B.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/departmentx2.jpg\" width=\"2098\" height=\"655\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">Here is how one department’s scheme looks: a person plays a specific role inside the department. The department operates in a certain context. Tasks move the department toward its goal.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/team_schemex2.jpg\" width=\"2098\" height=\"967\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">And here’s what teamwork sometimes looks like: each department is on its own, with its own goals and its own way to reach them.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/unitetheteamx2.jpg\" width=\"2098\" height=\"967\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">But it should look different: the team has one shared goal. Everyone moves toward it in sync and understands what is expected from them at any moment. To see this goal clearly, people need to take <i>a reflective position<\/i> — step back and look at their work from the outside.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>So what’s the real difference between these two pictures? In the “right” one, at Point A the team first builds a shared view of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the single context of the company;<\/li>\n<li>how departments connect and communicate to each other;<\/li>\n<li>what roles people play inside departments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Only then does everyone start to shape Point B — and design the context they want to end up in.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Planning the future: small company vs. big company<\/h2>\n<p>The approach differs depending on how many resources you have.<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<tr>\n<td><b>A product with limited resources<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>A product with a lot of resources<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Often follows external trends. Treats the existing context as the “rules of the game” for the next year.<\/td>\n<td>Can hold a position longer and set the context for the whole market. Often builds strategy for 3–5–10 years.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><i>Take Elon Musk’s Neuralink: a chip implanted in the head that lets you control a computer with your thoughts. It has been tested on paralyzed people — and it works. It’s possible that in 10, 20, or 30 years many of us will use such chips. <b>Musk is shaping the context we may all live in.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<h2>A key step: define Point A metrics through a company funnel<\/h2>\n<p>An important part of the session is to define your current metrics at Point A. The easiest way is a shared company funnel, where each conversion is owned by a specific department. Even if the company has no historical data, you can still assume a funnel to make the goal measurable.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/simple_funnelx2-4.jpg\" width=\"2098\" height=\"621\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">Seeing the company as a funnel helps you consistently generate projects that improve conversion at each level. This is a very simplified version — in reality, the funnel is much bigger.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When the funnel is ready, you can focus on three things:<\/p>\n<p><b>1. Create a list of projects that can significantly improve conversion between stages and key metrics.<\/b> These are not just operational tasks — they are new initiatives. For example: a new client acquisition approach, a new market segment, a new process.<\/p>\n<p>Projects are designed for specific funnel stages. Moving stage by stage, we:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>make sure we covered all key parts of the business, which helps us generate more ideas;<\/li>\n<li>discuss ideas tied to a specific stage, not in general terms;<\/li>\n<li>we’ll rank the projects and focus on the ones most likely to benefit the company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>2.  Check if the projects are good enough to reach the strategic goal.<\/b> Maybe you need a fundamental shift and must rethink how the system works.<\/p>\n<p><i>Example: when I built an office rental service, we started with an ad-based model. At some point, we realized it couldn’t scale results fast enough. We created a new approach that didn’t exist in the market: we began closing brokerage deals remotely. The company increased revenue 5x in two years.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>3. Define success metrics.<\/b> Founders might name top-level numbers — revenue, market share, etc. Then the team builds the funnel from the bottom up and clarifies how each department will move toward the goal.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/planningx2-1.jpg\" width=\"2098\" height=\"878\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">Only after the ideal outcome is defined can we move on to a real plan and concrete steps. It answers one question: “What exactly do we need to do to get to point B?”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How Shchedrovitsky’s approach turns strategy into results<\/h2>\n<p>The approach fits into four steps.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 0. Build a map for a new project<\/h3>\n<p>If you already found your market, go to the next step. But if you’re planning a big, long project (3–5 years), first map it and answer key questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>What future does the organization want to live in, and how do you see it?<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Can the organization design that future?<\/b><\/li>\n<li>How does the organization act, and what is its role?<\/li>\n<li>How does the organization deliver value — what problem does it solve?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Step 1. Think of your project as a funnel<\/h3>\n<p>Map the business as a funnel, align on one North Star Metric so everyone shares a clear view of what matters most.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 2. Each department prepares in advance<\/h3>\n<p>Each department:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>describes the context, object, and role of key people in the department;<\/li>\n<li>fills in Point A data for its part of the funnel;<\/li>\n<li>prepares a plan with obvious solutions to save time during group discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Step 3. Run a shared meeting<\/h3>\n<p>First you set the overall frame for the session. Then each department presents its Point A and Point B.<\/p>\n<p>Then the team describes the projects at a high level so everyone understands their purpose and value in the same way. At this stage, we don’t go into details, so we don’t spend too much time discussing one idea. <b>During other teams’ presentations, people add important facts and clarifications, and if you already have a working business model, this kind of discussion usually takes about 95% of the whole strategy session. If you’re just starting out, you’ll spend more time defining point B.<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/projectsx2.jpg\" width=\"2098\" height=\"878\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">In the end, you get a table of potential projects for each department.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Six principles and a quick glossary<\/h2>\n<p>Before we go into each principle, let’s align on terms.<\/p>\n<p><i>Imagine a factory line. Today it is assembled as-is — that’s Point A. In a year, it should run faster and more stable — that’s Point B. Each machine has an input, output, and a handover point. If you mix up operations, the line stops. If you set the handover and order correctly, speed and quality grow.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Teams work the same way: we take work from neighbors, do our part, hand it over — and we can see where effect is lost on the path from Point A to Point B. Sometimes you just need better handover discipline. Sometimes you need to rebuild part of the “line” so the move to Point B can really start.<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<tr>\n<td><b>Term<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Definition<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Example<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Points A and B<\/td>\n<td>A is the current state; B is the desired state.<\/td>\n<td>Average client launch time is 120 days (A). Target is 90 (B). The team forecasts, rebuilds the process, and agrees on cross-team projects to hit the goal.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Context<\/td>\n<td>The situation in which the company’s activity unfolds.<\/td>\n<td>Sales and marketing saw the situation differently. After discussing the shared context, they built a fuller picture of where the company stands and how to use trends.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Person<\/td>\n<td>A person’s role inside the organization, visible as a network of connections in real work.<\/td>\n<td>The marketing head could invent and test new acquisition methods, but had no time because of operations. After defining their Point A and Point B, the team created a project to reorganize that person’s work.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Reflective position<\/td>\n<td>An “above the action” position: stepping out of your role, context and organisation.<\/td>\n<td>Marketing takes traffic and outputs qualified leads → sales takes leads and outputs a service package → the client starts using the product.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Action position<\/td>\n<td>Participants come ready to take responsibility for execution, not just dream or complain.<\/td>\n<td>“Let’s build an AI support bot: it can solve 60% of tasks while keeping NPS as high as with human support. I know how to start.”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Self-movement<\/td>\n<td>Internal activity and motion of a system or person. Management is only possible when there is self-movement.<\/td>\n<td>Anton is interested in AI and product and has suggested ideas. He may be ready to lead a project that matches his interests.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Management<\/td>\n<td>Influencing a moving object by using its own movement to reach the organization’s goal.<\/td>\n<td>We choose a project and check it supports the goal. Knowing the trajectory of self-movement, we adjust course so the project doesn’t drift away.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Work assembly<\/td>\n<td>How scattered tasks become one flow from request to result.<\/td>\n<td>Request → qualification → demo → proposal → contract → launch, with named owners.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Schematization<\/td>\n<td>Putting the situation on a board as a scheme. It helps build a shared language: key elements, connections, and how the scheme links to the goal.<\/td>\n<td>The goal was higher margins. When the acquisition system was mapped, it became clear current channels can’t deliver clients at the needed cost. The team invented a new acquisition method.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Organization \/ object<\/td>\n<td>Describing how elements are assembled into a whole and what connections bind them.<\/td>\n<td>In sales, a Business Developer did partners + closing + client support. Two problems: losing clients when BD quits; hard to measure BD efficiency. After analysis, the team split roles: SDR (attraction), BD (signing), Accounting (relationship growth).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Owner<\/td>\n<td>The person accountable for a specific area and its metric.<\/td>\n<td>Sales lead owns qualification.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Principle 1. The future isn’t something that happens — it’s made from the position you choose to take<\/h2>\n<p><b>Core idea. <\/b>You don’t need to guess the future — you can build it. To do that, you take and hold a position to “pull” the market into the reality you want (think Nike and sports culture, or Amazon and one-day delivery). The team chooses Point B and acts instead of chasing trends. This matters even more in the AI era, where new norms are still being set — and the future belongs to those who set them.<\/p>\n<p><b>Business questions it answers<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What position do we hold so the desired future becomes real?<\/li>\n<li>What external conditions can we use to our advantage?<\/li>\n<li>What opportunities and projects must we create to “bring” the future closer?<\/li>\n<li>What should we refuse to avoid chasing hype?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How it works in the session<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fix Point A and construct Point B.<\/li>\n<li>Map key elements of the future reality: the company’s core purpose, the rules of the game, critical assumptions.<\/li>\n<li>Turn the position into strategic “yes\/no” choices and a set of key projects.<\/li>\n<li>Align departments into one movement toward Point B.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The team stops chasing trends and starts setting new rules in its niche.<\/li>\n<li>Functions align into one trajectory, reducing waste.<\/li>\n<li>Focused action speeds up results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Principle 2. Reflection is a position “above” action<\/h2>\n<p><b>Core idea.<\/b> Stepping above operations lets you see the activity map, the gaps between Point A actions and Point B goals — and then build a focused plan.<\/p>\n<p><b>Business questions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are we doing the wrong things right now? What is truly priority?<\/li>\n<li>Which processes and projects are “weeds” that must be removed?<\/li>\n<li>Which market signals matter — and what should we ignore to stay on course?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How it works<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set the time horizon: how far ahead you plan.<\/li>\n<li>Look at the company across organization, people, and context. Fix Points A and B across these layers.<\/li>\n<li>Identify gaps and form projects needed to close them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Better prioritization, less operational noise.<\/li>\n<li>Less wasted time and money; the Point B vector stays clear.<\/li>\n<li>Plans become concrete and doable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Principle 3. You can manage only what is already moving<\/h2>\n<p><b>Core idea. <\/b>Any project is based on self-movement. Management is trajectory correction — you can’t manage something static. In the session, we look at how departments and leaders actually move: where initiatives go, what motives drive them, and where movement needs adjustment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/guidingx2.jpg\" width=\"2098\" height=\"598\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">Management is only possible when something is moving—only then can we correct its direction.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>Business questions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where is the self-movement of each department and key person directed?<\/li>\n<li>Which projects steer that movement — and do they lead to company goals?<\/li>\n<li>What must be tuned or replaced so movement goes the right way?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How it works<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Analyze current and desired positions, review ongoing initiatives, plan new ones.<\/li>\n<li>Build projects that set the right direction frame.<\/li>\n<li>Agree what self-movement matches Point B, and what must change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You find inertia and “dead zones” faster and focus efforts where there is real traction.<\/li>\n<li>Teams become more proactive and autonomous.<\/li>\n<li>If a department’s trajectory conflicts with Point B, it becomes clear where adjustments are needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Principle 4. Schematization moves the situation to the board — so reality becomes clear.<\/h2>\n<p><b>Core idea.<\/b> A shared picture is born on a scheme. A scheme forces you to be precise and fix the essence without long speeches. That reduces misinterpretation and speeds up alignment.<\/p>\n<p><b>Business questions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the company’s core position — and what reality are we building on purpose?<br \/>\n<i>– Where is it a task (solvable inside the current structure) vs. a problem (needs structural change)?<\/i><\/li>\n<li>If we can describe Point B, why aren’t we there yet?<\/li>\n<li>Which dependencies between functions are critical? What must be rebuilt from scratch?<\/li>\n<li>How do we measure success, and what are the decision boundaries and rules?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How it works<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Put the situation on the board: objects, connections, forces, shared terms.<\/li>\n<li>Add rules, constraints, critical assumptions; mark disputed areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One shared meaning and “rules of the game,” fewer conflicts.<\/li>\n<li>Faster decisions, cheaper coordination.<\/li>\n<li>Clearer prioritization: resources go to key elements, not noise.<\/li>\n<li>Less rework: the scheme becomes a reference for process and communication design.<\/li>\n<li>More stability in turbulence: the scheme is an anchor for adjustments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Principle 5. View the situation in layers — context, organization, person<\/h2>\n<p><b>Core idea. <\/b>A situation has multiple layers. To manage it, you must see context, the organization’s structure, and real people with their self-movement — and connect these layers to one goal.<\/p>\n<p><b>Business questions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Which contextual limits and opportunities define the playing field?<\/li>\n<li>How are processes, roles, and resources built — and do they match Point B?<\/li>\n<li>Where do gaps between layers appear?<\/li>\n<li>Which changes in one layer will create the biggest effect in others?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How it works<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For each department, create a 3-column table: Points A and B for context, organization, person.<\/li>\n<li>Identify gaps and causes; mark contradictions and hidden assumptions.<\/li>\n<li>Form projects that stitch layers together (rules, processes, roles, incentives). Decide what must be rebuilt from scratch.<\/li>\n<li>Set local KPIs\/OKR per layer and cross-layer metrics (funnel conversions).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Better cross-functional initiatives, because teams understand each other through joint discussion.<\/li>\n<li>Stronger ownership of goals: people see their impact on the whole.<\/li>\n<li>Faster root-cause discovery (not just symptoms).<\/li>\n<li>Management becomes systemic, not firefighting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Principle 6. Company activity exists on four levels: operations, projects, programs, ideas<\/h2>\n<p><b>Core idea.<\/b> Any activity stands on the level of ideas. Ideas define what we do, why, and why it matters. Major results and key changes are not achieved at the operational level. So in a strategy session, we work at least at the project level — ideally at the program level.<\/p>\n<p><b>Business questions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>At what level are we solving the problem now — and why are we stuck there?<\/li>\n<li>What must move from operations to project or program level to create a breakthrough?<\/li>\n<li>Where do we lack ideas or a conceptual frame for meaningful decisions?<\/li>\n<li>How do we measure progress and effect at each level — alone and together?<\/li>\n<li>Which decisions fail because levels are mixed up, and how do we fix it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How it works<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Introduce shared terminology for levels and label all initiatives.<\/li>\n<li>Review the portfolio: mark the current and target level for each initiative.<\/li>\n<li>Identify program tracks for 6–18 months with owners and shared metrics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Operations stop eating strategy; focus stays on what matters.<\/li>\n<li>Nonlinear shifts appear through program effects and capability building.<\/li>\n<li>A shared mission and strategic narrative form.<\/li>\n<li>Resource planning improves across time horizons and decision levels.<\/li>\n<li>The organization learns faster: good solutions become standardized and scaled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How the strategy session runs<\/h2>\n<h3>Before the session: departments prepare materials<\/h3>\n<p>Each department creates a presentation where it:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>describes its activity;<\/li>\n<li>explains its part of the funnel;<\/li>\n<li>shows which projects were done and how they changed the funnel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For companies launching a new project with a long planning horizon, the main goal at this stage is to agree what will be done at all. Only then does it make sense to discuss preparation in detail.<\/p>\n<h3>During the session: two offline days<\/h3>\n<p>Early start. One big wall for schemes and flipcharts. A screen for presentations. We work in blocks with short pauses to process.<\/p>\n<p><b>Day 1: <\/b>build a shared picture. Each department shows Point A, Point B, and its plan. Other teams add their understanding and propose projects.<\/p>\n<p><b>Day 2:<\/b> continue presentations and project discussion. At the end, we summarize: everyone can share impressions and highlight projects they believe are strategically critical.<\/p>\n<h3>After the session: build an open backlog and align plans<\/h3>\n<p>Each department builds an open backlog and prioritizes projects. Then there is a setup meeting: each team presents its plan for the next quarter and the projects it will deliver.<\/p>\n<p>After the quarter ends, you run another meeting to review the results:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>check how the department’s funnel metrics changed;<\/li>\n<li>see blockers and delivery speed for each department;<\/li>\n<li>if new projects appeared during the quarter, assign priorities and, if needed, take them into work;<\/li>\n<li>each department builds the next quarter plan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What you will have after the session<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A single movement map: how it is now → how it should be.<\/li>\n<li>A target scheme of how the company should be structured.<\/li>\n<li>One prioritized list of tasks with owners and metrics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How I can help your team<\/h2>\n<p>For the past several years, I’ve been systematically studying the work of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Idealized-Design-Dissolve-Tomorrows-paperback\/dp\/0137071116?sr=8-9\">Russell Ackoff<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.litres.ru\/book\/georgiy-schedrovicki\/orgupravlencheskoe-myshlenie-ideologiya-metodologiya-6606999\/\">Georgy Shchedrovitsky<\/a>. I earned an MBA and studied at Stanford and Berkeley. I’ve been applying this foundation in practice for the last seven years, facilitating strategic sessions for both B2B and B2C projects. A typical group ranges from five to forty participants.<\/p>\n<p>If the approach described in the article resonates with you, you can run a strategy session on your own—this page includes everything you need. If you’d like support, I’m ready to guide you step by step.<\/p>\n",
            "summary": "Methodologist Georgy Shchedrovitsky developed a way to organize a team’s thinking and actions so it can deliver large, complex projects",
            "date_published": "2025-12-17T17:09:10+02:00",
            "date_modified": "2026-07-21T11:54:59+02:00",
            "tags": [
                "Berkley",
                "entrepreneurship",
                "leadership",
                "product",
                "Stanford",
                "strategy",
                "Strategy Session",
                "systems"
            ],
            "image": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/simple_funnelx2.jpg",
            "_date_published_rfc2822": "Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:09:10 +0200",
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        {
            "id": "58",
            "url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/how-venture-studios-help-big-companies-survive-the-ai-era\/",
            "title": "How venture studios help big companies survive the AI era",
            "content_html": "<p>A venture studio is an organization focused on building and scaling startups. Unlike accelerators, studios are typically specialized in a specific industry and offer deep operational support to the startups they launch.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, large corporations launch internal venture studios. The biggest challenge they’re trying to solve is “the innovator’s dilemma”. This concept, described by Clayton, explains how big companies often miss out on new markets and breakthrough technologies because they’re too focused on protecting their current market share. And right now, many of those breakthrough technologies are connected with AI.<\/p>\n<p>Venture studios are also often founded by serial entrepreneurs with deep expertise in a particular vertical. Their experience gives them an edge in selecting the right projects to launch and in providing the kind of hands-on support startups need to succeed in that specific field.<\/p>\n<p>Take, for example, companies that made traditional hard disk drives. When SSDs first hit the market, they were expensive and the demand was small. But as costs dropped and the market exploded, many HDD makers who failed to invest in SSD technology early enough went out of business. Classic case of “the innovator’s dilemma” in action.<\/p>\n<h2>Key Traits of a Venture Studio<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Industry Specialization<\/h3>\n<p>One major trait of venture studios is their focus on a single domain like health, finance, developer tools, etc. Specialization makes it easier to choose which startups to launch and how to support them. Startups within the same vertical tend to face similar challenges, so operational help is more relevant and effective.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, investing in specific infrastructure costs less than trying to cover multiple verticals at once. Once a few startups are up and running, they can share learnings, data and network. That speeds up experimentation and improves decision-making across the board.<\/p>\n<p>A great example is Askona, a company that makes sleep products, launched a venture studio focused on wellness and recovery. Every startup in that studio benefited from Askona’s deep knowledge in the field.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Building Repeatable Processes<\/h3>\n<p>Industry focus gives studios clarity on what phases a startup goes through and that helps build the right infrastructure to guide teams through each stage. Studios create best practices, frameworks and roadmaps to help startups move faster.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, it’s all about finding the balance between freedom and structure. Founders need room to think like entrepreneurs, take risks and move fast. At the same time, proven processes help tackle the common challenges every startup faces more efficiently. The studio’s operational support should guide the direction, not hand out a strict playbook.<\/p>\n<p>That support often includes:<br \/>\nA. Identifying a big enough market and applying the right evaluation methods<br \/>\nB. Structuring the idea discovery process for future projects<br \/>\nC. Selecting key metrics and developing strategies to move them<br \/>\nD. Providing resources for hiring, marketing, product expertise and CustDev.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Fail Really—REALLY Fast<\/h3>\n<p>Having established processes in place allows startups to move faster from the very beginning. Unlike independent startups, founders inside a venture studio don’t have to constantly worry about fundraising, they can stay focused on building and growing the company.<\/p>\n<p>So, if you define clear target metrics for each stage of a startup’s development, you can quickly see whether the project is on track to find PMF.  If the startup doesn’t hit its targets, it’s easier to shut it down and move on. So venture studios bring both discipline and speed to startup development.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Skin in the Game<\/h3>\n<p>One of the core risks Clayton highlights in The Innovator’s Dilemma is what happened when large companies set up R&D centers (the early predecessors of today’s venture studios). A common mistake was staffing those centers with teams from the parent company. Along with their skills, they brought the mindset and values of an established corporate environment rather than an entrepreneurial one. And that mindset crushed breakthrough ideas before they had a chance to grow.<\/p>\n<p>Venture studios should feel like startups. The team needs real entrepreneurial spirit. Functionally, that means owning and executing on a P&L. Emotionally, it means:<br \/>\nA. The mission should feel like a life’s calling, something you’d be proud to tell your kids about.<br \/>\nB. Your persistence, ability to shape strategy, flexibility and willingness to take risks can make or break everything. It’s about taking the kind of ownership Nassim Taleb calls having “skin in the game”.<\/p>\n<p>The same goes for startup founders in a venture studio. More often than not, they’re entrepreneurs, not corporate execs. And that entrepreneurial mindset is key.<\/p>\n<p>I once joined a long discussion about how to build effective venture studios. Someone suggested that companies could find people with entrepreneurial mindsets within their own ranks to lead startups. But we agreed that the very traits that made those people successful in a corporate setting might hold them back when launching something from scratch. So, it’s better to build teams with real entrepreneurs at the core.<\/p>\n<p><b>Summary<\/b><\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>Venture studios give big, established companies a way to stay ahead in a fast-changing market.<\/li>\n<li>Industry specialization helps startups get the exact support they need.<\/li>\n<li>Shared infrastructure and repeatable processes speed up growth and learning.<\/li>\n<li>Studios build knowledge around key success metrics, making it easier to decide when to double down or walk away.<\/li>\n<li>And finally, the entrepreneurial culture within venture studios is critical. Without that, even the best ideas won’t make it past the starting line.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n",
            "summary": "A venture studio is an organization focused on building and scaling startups. Unlike accelerators, studios are typically specialized in a specific industry and offer deep operational support to the startups",
            "date_published": "2025-01-06T22:15:28+02:00",
            "date_modified": "2026-07-21T11:54:56+02:00",
            "tags": [
                "AI",
                "entrepreneurship",
                "lead",
                "leadership"
            ],
            "image": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/innovation@2x.jpg",
            "_date_published_rfc2822": "Mon, 06 Jan 2025 22:15:28 +0200",
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        {
            "id": "59",
            "url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/how-to-speak-so-people-actually-listen\/",
            "title": "How to speak so people actually listen",
            "content_html": "<p>I took a course called “Speech”. It taught me that the most important part of speaking isn’t when you’re talking – it’s the pauses. It also explains why learning your speech by heart doesn’t work and what kind of mindset you need to actually be heard by your audience.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/govorit@2x.jpg\" width=\"1049\" height=\"529\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<p>M. himself is a well-known actor, both in theater and on screen. He does solo monologue shows, just him on stage for two hours, holding the audience’s attention the whole time. Old-school craft.<\/p>\n<p>I enrolled because I wanted to level up my communication. There were 22 in-person sessions twice a week. Each class lasted an hour and a half,  in a small group of five.<\/p>\n<h2>So, how to speak to be understood?<\/h2>\n<p>The main point of the course – speak clearly. Like this – imagine you walk into a liquor store and ask for a specific bottle of wine. That’s it. That’s the level of clarity you want everywhere: you have a goal, you say what you need and your words just do the job – clean and easy.<\/p>\n<p>Don’t expect people to figure out what you mean. That’s your job. It’s your responsibility to speak in a way that makes sense to the person listening.<br \/>\nSpeech is the number one human tool.<\/p>\n<p>But before you can master it, you have to notice it.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the time, speech is just something we run on autopilot. To control it, you need full awareness, like really understanding the machine you’re operating.<\/p>\n<p><b>The two biggest enemies of good speech are autopilot and speed.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Just because we hear someone speak doesn’t mean we understand them.<\/p>\n<p><b>Real understanding means thinking about what you’re hearing and relating it to yourself.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And for that connection to happen, the speaker needs to actually have something to say. We’ve all seen it when someone starts talking, trying to come up with an idea as they go and you have no clue what they mean. That’s what happens when you talk before you’ve even figured out your own point. That’s where the pause comes in. That’s your moment to form an idea.<\/p>\n<p>When someone’s talking to you, look at them. Don’t turn away or close your eyes just to “focus” on their words. People don’t speak with just their voice.<br \/>\nExample: imagine you urgently need a Sapsan  ticket from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Your phone’s dead, the app’s useless, 5 minutes left before sales close. You negotiate with the people in line, squeeze your way to the counter. The ticket agent slowly types in your passport info, checks for seats. And then she says something.. At that moment, you’re laser-focused, eating her alive with your eyes.<\/p>\n<p><b>So if you’ve shown up somewhere and you’re spending your time there, then really listen, eyes included. Respect yourself and the person you’re talking to. If you decide to speak, show up for it fully.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And when it’s your turn to speak, stop worrying about how you look. That’s the very moment you actually look alive.<\/p>\n<h2>Why are pauses the most important part of speech?<\/h2>\n<p><b>Don’t waste your time memorizing every single word.<\/b> That’s not the goal. Your real job is to communicate meaning — to get your message across. And once you focus on that, the right words will come naturally.<br \/>\nA memorized script doesn’t help you communicate meaning. It just makes you sound like a robot. And when you’re stuck trying to remember exact phrases, you stop being present. Same goes for reading from a script. The goal becomes “don’t mess up” instead of “make them understand.”<\/p>\n<p>One of the exercises from the course is to learn to speak in one breath:<br \/>\n“To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,<br \/>\nIn a pestilential prison, with a life‑long lock,<br \/>\nAwaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock<br \/>\nFrom a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block.”<br \/>\nThis verse should be spoken the way you move through a slalom, entering each turn smoothly.<\/p>\n<p>You don’t need to rush through the verse without stopping at the turns. If you’re speeding, it means your only goal is to get it over. But the real goal is to make sure the listener understands you. And it’s totally fine if you forget or replace a few words, as long as you understand your purpose, the listener will hear you.<\/p>\n<p>Always take a pause before you start reciting a verse. Remind yourself of the task –  to communicate meaning. Then focus on the technique, but don’t lose sight of the goal. <b>The pause is the most important part of speech. That’s the moment when you lock in on the purpose of your message. If you skip the pause,  then what are you even saying?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Your brain will want to go on autopilot and say things the way you always do – the easy way. You’ll take a breath where you feel like it, not where the thought naturally ends. But breathing should break up meaning, not just give you a break. Autopilot will also make you start talking before you’ve even figured out what you’re trying to say.<\/p>\n<p><b>To make sure your listener actually understands what you’re saying, the whole meaning has to fit between breaths. That’s the difference between speaking and writing.<\/b> In writing, we pause at the period. But in real speech, it’s only the question mark that really feels anything like that kind of pause.<\/p>\n<p>When you’re delivering meaning, it’s like bringing out a cake. It matters as a whole, you don’t serve it pre-sliced. Same with sentences. Don’t chop them up.<\/p>\n<p>The listener picks up on your mood. Whatever state you are in, that’s what the audience feels too.  If the speaker is relaxed, the audience relaxes. That’s why when someone tells you “pull yourself together!” before going on stage – it’s probably the worst advice you can get. Because then the audience ends up listening to someone who’s clearly tense.<\/p>\n<h2>What position should you take in speech, in relation to your listener?<\/h2>\n<p><b>Your goal is the motive you’re putting to use. If you didn’t reach the goal, it means your motive wasn’t strong enough.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>At the core of it, you’re using your brain for someone else: thinking, choosing words and building meaning on their behalf, right in the moment of communication.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>When you’re thinking for someone else, your full attention shifts to them. In that moment, you’re fully focused on the other person. You’re actively engaging with them, serving them. And for the speaker, it can feel almost like meditation. You sort of dissolve into the other person. They understand you effortlessly – because in that moment, you are them.<\/p>\n<p><b>5 things to keep in mind when you speak:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>Talk like you’re explaining it to a 5-year-old.<\/li>\n<li>You’ve got one shot – everything’s on the line.<\/li>\n<li>Make it interesting.<\/li>\n<li>Care about who you’re talking to.<\/li>\n<li>What you’re saying is the most important thing your listener will hear today. Their life depends on it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>There can’t be any unfamiliar words in your speech for the listener, they’re black holes. The moment you say one, their attention gets sucked into figuring out what that “black hole” means.<\/p>\n<p>There are always two steps you need to follow:<br \/>\nA. Set the goal, and take a pause for it.<br \/>\nB. Then, once you’re moving toward that goal, start paying attention to every step you take.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine you’re walking a narrow path at night. Up ahead, there’s a gate,  and once you pass through it, the wide road begins. You shine your flashlight on the gate just once, that’s your goal. Then you bring the light back down and watch every single step. Carefully. So you don’t slip. Forget the goal – and you end up in the wrong place. Stop watching your steps – and you fall.<\/p>\n<p><b>Courage is doing it despite everything because you know your goal. Be courageous in your speech.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>A speaker can only pass on information if they’ve actually processed it,  if they’ve understood it and made it their own. If their only goal is to just repeat what they heard, without really owning it, then they can’t truly communicate it.<\/p>\n<p>To control your speech, you need full, conscious control. Otherwise, you’ll slip into autopilot.<\/p>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b> It’s kind of amazing, no one ever really teaches us how to speak. We just pick it up by watching others. And I’ve always wondered – how is it that some people speak so clearly and you just want to listen to them? But I didn’t have the glossary or the framework to understand what made the difference  or how to learn it myself.<br \/>\nM., thank you – now I do.<\/p>\n",
            "summary": "I took a course called “Speech”. It taught me that the most important part of speaking isn’t when you’re talking – it’s the pauses",
            "date_published": "2024-08-25T15:22:31+02:00",
            "date_modified": "2026-07-21T11:54:56+02:00",
            "tags": [
                "leadership",
                "внимание",
                "другие",
                "как говорить",
                "речь"
            ],
            "image": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/govorit@2x.jpg",
            "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sun, 25 Aug 2024 15:22:31 +0200",
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        {
            "id": "62",
            "url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/simulation-game-how-will-ai-develop-over-the-next-5-years\/",
            "title": "Simulation game: “How will AI develop over the next 5 years?”",
            "content_html": "<p>At the weekend, we spent two days on a simulation all about how AI might evolve over the next five years. There were 36 players involved. The game itself is a test and workout for skills like leadership, dealing with uncertainty, negotiation, building coalitions and cascading teamwork. Last year, I took part in a similar simulation, but that one focused on a geopolitical conflict.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/AI@2x.jpg\" width=\"1049\" height=\"529\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Here’s how the game worked<\/h2>\n<p>Everyone was split into teams, each representing a key player in the market:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>Established IT leaders – companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta and Alibaba;<\/li>\n<li>AI startups – like Anthropic and OpenAI;<\/li>\n<li>Chipmakers – companies like IBM and Nvidia;<\/li>\n<li>Venture investors – GP and Standard Investments;<\/li>\n<li>Conglomerate – X, led by Musk;<\/li>\n<li>Regulators, the press and the courts.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>35 people were split into teams and each person got assigned a role with details like personal goals, company status, industry position, team relationships, company ownership percentages, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Each team member had their own “stats” like the number of people on their team, computing power, budget, accounts receivable and more.<\/p>\n<p>There were 5 rounds, each lasting about an hour and a half. You could do pretty much anything: lure talent away from other companies, sue someone or get regulators involved, raise funds to build new factories to boost computing power. Any move was allowed, but moderators, the court or regulators could step in and veto an action.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of each round, all the agreements made were handed over to the moderator, who compiled the results into a spreadsheet for each company. The spreadsheet tracked key stats that changed during the round, covering everything from team size to available cash.<\/p>\n<p>The main goal for each team was to reach singularity, they used a Scrabble-like mechanic for that. At the end of each round teams got letter tiles, the number of letters depended on team size and computing power. But the exact formula of how letters were awarded was a secret, known only to the organizers and it wasn’t a straightforward calculation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<div class=\"fotorama\" data-width=\"2560\" data-ratio=\"1.3333333333333\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/IMG_3808.jpg\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/IMG_3799.jpg\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Post-game takeaways<\/h2>\n<p><b>1. The role you got is just a formality.<\/b><br \/>\nMy role was a team lead at a company like OpenAI, not a top position. When I started negotiating with other teams, they asked what my position was and if I could make decisions. But I explained I was there representing the team and my role didn’t really matter. Very good. When it came time to run for president, I thought, there are already bigger names in the game, like Musk, so why even bother? Roles are just labels, both in the game and in real life. But it’s easy to use them as an excuse.<\/p>\n<p><b>2. Always lead, always.<\/b><br \/>\nAt the start of the game, we spent way too much time explaining what everyone planned to do. But as soon as we nailed down a clear vision of the goal and just got moving. Coming in with a plan and sharing it with the team really helped. I think the long talks happened because people were afraid to work with other teams and didn’t want to take responsibility alone. They wanted to share it so no one felt fully in charge.<\/p>\n<p><b>3. If you don’t get the result you want, don’t overthink it – keep going.<\/b><br \/>\nWhen my or the team’s actions didn’t pay off, I got caught up in my emotions. But a few times when I pushed through and made an extra effort, things surprisingly turned out well. I’m more convinced than ever that keeping a cool head gets you results faster.<\/p>\n<p><b>4. Look at your social connections before you start and use them.<\/b><br \/>\nAt the start of the game only three teams had computing power. The first two teams I asked didn’t want to work with me. But the third team had someone I already knew and they agreed to cooperate. I’m sure the trust we built before the game helped a lot. You should use this kind of trust and manage it, both in the game and in real life.<\/p>\n<p><b>5. Keep the whole game in mind while working on the current round.<\/b><br \/>\nIt’s normal to want quick, predictable results. But if you only focus on the short term, your options get limited. When you plan for the long game, looking ahead several rounds, you open up more possibilities and better chances to succeed. For example, we started building a coalition in the first round and didn’t finish it until the third, but that gave us a lead over the other teams.<\/p>\n<p><b>6. When things are uncertain, focus on finding opportunities. <\/b><br \/>\nIn uncertain situations with lots of different interests, it’s easy to just stick to your own goals – your role makes them clear and it feels simpler that way. But if you pause for a second, you’ll see everyone starts like that and the only way to win is by working together. So from the very beginning, look for chances to boost both your position and the other team’s. In the end, the team that began building a coalition right from round one won.<\/p>\n<p><b>7. First, get the context – then take action, but don’t take too long.<\/b><br \/>\nThe roles and rules are detailed and you get all the info just before the game starts, so it’s impossible to understand everything right away. My team spent time trying to figure it all out, but we ended up talking too much and wasting time we could use to do something. You learn the context by engaging with others, not by staying stuck in your own little world.<\/p>\n<p><b>8. Keep taking action until you get a confirmed result.<\/b><br \/>\nWhen several teams are involved in a deal, it can feel like you’ve already agreed and can move on to the next step. But deals have fallen apart more than once right at the signing. So until the agreement is actually signed, don’t get distracted, follow through all the way to the end.<\/p>\n<p><b>9. Split up the responsibilities.<\/b><br \/>\nMore than once, our whole team went to negotiate with another group, all of us listening at the same time, which wasn’t very efficient. In the game, just like in real life, there are lots of tasks and layers to handle. To work better, it’s smarter to divide the responsibilities and work on things at the same time. On the second day we did that and our team got way more efficient.<\/p>\n<p><b>10. Stay in sync and make sure everyone’s on the same page.<\/b><br \/>\nWhen signing some deals, it turned out that key people had different ideas about how things should work and that ended up breaking the deal. The main points and strategy need to be clearly explained from the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to Marat Atnashev, Timur Atnashev and their team for organizing the game.<\/p>\n",
            "summary": "At the weekend, we spent two days on a simulation all about how AI might evolve over the next five years",
            "date_published": "2024-05-02T19:58:13+02:00",
            "date_modified": "2026-07-21T11:54:56+02:00",
            "tags": [
                "AI",
                "leadership",
                "Simulation",
                "strategy",
                "Uncertainty"
            ],
            "image": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/AI@2x.jpg",
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        {
            "id": "72",
            "url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/how-responsibility-gets-shared-why-building-systems-matters-and\/",
            "title": "How responsibility gets shared, why building systems matters and the skill of putting out fires",
            "content_html": "<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/fire@2x.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"320\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How do people share responsibility?<\/h2>\n<p>Responsibility, whether at work or in personal relationships is always split the same way: 100% on one side and 100% on the other. When you’re working toward a goal together, it’s not about shifting the responsibility onto someone else. It’s about agreeing on how to build a system that will help you reach that goal.<\/p>\n<p>The moment someone says, “I’m 99% responsible,” they’re already starting to give up control over the outcome. And if things don’t go well, it’s easy to just blame the other person. That’s how you slip into a victim mindset. And once you’re there, it’s hard to learn or figure out how to actually get things done.<\/p>\n<h2>Focus on the system, not on who’s to blame<\/h2>\n<p>— Okay, but if I’m not blaming anyone and taking full responsibility, how am I supposed to get things done? I can’t do everything by myself.<\/p>\n<p>When you discussed the task as a team, you were actually building a system together, figuring out how you’d work to reach the goal. So if the result doesn’t happen, the only thing worth focusing on is how to improve that system. What needs fixing to make it work? The key question isn’t “Who’s to blame?” but “How do we improve the system to get the result?”<\/p>\n<p>In all of this, we’re assuming the people you work or build relationships with actually want to get things done. But if they don’t, even then, it’s on you. You’re the one who chose to work with them. That’s 100% your responsibility. And chances are, there’s something in it for you, some reason you picked that person or keep acting in a way that stops you from getting the result.<\/p>\n<p>When I started Biz-cen.ru, I was responsible for pretty much everything. And when the first team members joined, I was sure they’d mess things up, make mistakes, miss the mark, maybe even ruin our chances. But the truth is, that mistrust wasn’t about protecting the business. It came from my need to control everything and feel important. Whenever someone on the team got something wrong, I’d jump in and tell them they were doing it wrong. But people don’t like feeling blamed and pretty quickly, our conversations would turn into blame-and-defend mode.<\/p>\n<p>It took me a while, but I finally realized there’s no point in blaming anyone. What actually helps is getting the team together and figuring out how to improve the system so we can do better tomorrow than we did today. That simple shift really worked. First, it made it clear who actually fits the team and shares our values. And second, people started to feel like they mattered, because they had the power to make a difference. <b>When you give people space to make decisions, you give them a chance to show what they care about.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2>How do you get things done?<\/h2>\n<p>People differ in how they solve problems. And there are two key traits that define your approach: first, taking responsibility; second, the ability to build systems. That means setting up parallel processes that not only help you solve the problem faster but also keep it from coming back in the same way later.<\/p>\n<p>Let’s use a simple example: you’re in a village and your cousin’s house catches fire while he’s away. What you do next shows a lot about how you deal with problems and if this were at work, it would say a lot about your professionalism. There are five levels of how you can handle a situation like this.<\/p>\n<p><b>Level one.<\/b> You see the house on fire and just start running around yelling, “Ahhh! Fire! We need to do something!”<\/p>\n<p><b>Level two.<\/b> You grab a couple of buckets, run to the pond and start hauling water back and forth, hoping you can put out the fire.<\/p>\n<p><b>Level three.<\/b> You call Nick and Mike from the next house over. You tell them what to bring, where the pond is and what they need to do.<\/p>\n<p><b>Level four.<\/b> You tell your younger son to run and call everyone from the neighboring houses. Once they show up, you organize a bucket line from the pond to the burning house. Fire’s out.<\/p>\n<p><b>Level five.<\/b> Same as level four, but you also figure out the fire started because of old wiring. You call an electrician to fix it and while they’re there, you ask him to ground the roof antennas too.<\/p>\n<p>At level five, you took full responsibility for getting results. But you didn’t do it all alone, you got others involved and set up parallel processes that kept things moving without needing your constant attention. And in the end, you made sure the same problem wouldn’t happen again. What level of fire-fighting skills do you want the people on your team to have?<\/p>\n<p><b>Takeaways:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>Responsibility is split like this: 100% on you and 100% on the other side;<\/li>\n<li>Don’t look for someone to blame, build systems that work better tomorrow than they did today;<\/li>\n<li>To solve problems at level five: set up parallel processes and build systems that keep the problem from coming back.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n",
            "summary": "Responsibility, whether at work or in personal relationships is always split the same way: 100% on one side and 100% on the other",
            "date_published": "2020-06-28T19:57:10+02:00",
            "date_modified": "2026-07-21T11:54:57+02:00",
            "tags": [
                "entrepreneurship",
                "leadership",
                "мышление",
                "ответсвенность",
                "развитие",
                "управление"
            ],
            "image": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/fire@2x.jpg",
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            "id": "95",
            "url": "https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/strategic-leadership-module\/",
            "title": "Strategic leadership module",
            "content_html": "<p>In November, we had our third module, led by Pierre Casse. The module covered responsibility, avoiding pain when making mistakes, the tyranny of averages and the ability to switch between different leadership styles based on the situation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/cell.png\" width=\"634\" height=\"320\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<p>We had lots of group interactions, from small teams to big games involving all 37 classmates. Some class-wide cases were wild: the group dynamics went crazy, agreements were tough and emotions ran high. After these games, you leave with a bunch of self-reflective questions. The module also included several tests to help identify our leadership styles, which gave practical insights on areas for growth.<\/p>\n<p>One day ended with a lecture by Galina Yuzefovich, a literary critic you might’ve read on <a href=\"https:\/\/meduza.io\/specials\/books\">Meduza<\/a>. She spoke about “critical thinking” as part of the Skolkovo MBA-8 humanities series. There were alternative lectures, too. You could hear Leonid Klein on the history of entrepreneurship or Dmitry Gutov on contemporary art.<\/p>\n<p>The last day was dedicated to an ongoing leadership course, introduced for the first time in MBA-8. We worked with coaches in groups of six all day. Our coach was Maxim Belukhin, trained at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insead.edu\/master-programmes\/emccc\">Executive Master in Consulting and Coaching for Change programme at the INSEAD Business School<\/a>. The sessions felt a lot like group therapy, but participants could give advice.<\/p>\n<p>Classic Freudian analysis helps answer “why,” Jungian analysis is more about “what for.” Group coaching at Skolkovo leans closer to Jung, focusing on questions like: What should you stop doing now? What should you start doing now?<\/p>\n<h2>Key insights:<\/h2>\n<p>— Leadership means seeing what others don’t or “Leadership – win in crisis situation”;<\/p>\n<p>— Crisis is great if leadership uses it to reinvent reality. Crisis is bad if leadership can’t handle it and stagnation occurs, which in today’s fast-paced world might mean disappearing entirely;<\/p>\n<p>— Cool example: At an annual company meeting, employees are asked to come with a job offer from another company. It creates a freer atmosphere;<\/p>\n<p>— People won’t warn you about risks in rigid environments, causing missed opportunities. What’s the atmosphere like in your company?<\/p>\n<p>— Leaders spend 80% of their time removing obstacles for people;<\/p>\n<p>— Leadership is creating an environment where people achieve, grow, and enjoy (happy people work better), and see the results of their impact on the company;<\/p>\n<p>— Start task discussions by defining evaluation criteria, not immediately discussing solutions;<\/p>\n<p>— The meaning of your words depends on how your audience reacts;<\/p>\n<p>— Leadership growth: 70% experience, 20% mentorship, 10% formal education;<\/p>\n<p>— Leadership: accepting responsibility to enable others to achieve shared goals under uncertainty;<\/p>\n<p>— Don’t do things that don’t excite you. If you don’t care, why should anyone else?<\/p>\n<p>— Sometimes leaders shouldn’t tell the whole truth—or even the truth at all—to avoid causing pain;<\/p>\n<p>— Happiness leads to action. Unhappiness can lead to blaming others, fantasizing or compensating;<\/p>\n<p>— Acknowledge people’s limitations, but never forget their potential.<\/p>\n<h2>“The Baroness” Game<\/h2>\n<p>When the baron left, he asked the baroness to stay on their island or she would be punished. She left anyway to see her lover. Returning, she found a madman with a knife blocking the bridge. Her lover refused to help. A boatman agreed to help for money she didn’t have and her friend didn’t lend it to her. Exhausted, she returned to the bridge at dawn and was killed.<\/p>\n<p>Who’s most to blame: baron, baroness, lover, friend, or boatman?<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/baron.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"558\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">Answers. Numbers are groups’ names. My group 6.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Game Insights:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>People interpret the same text in different ways.<\/li>\n<li>Personal values strongly affect perception. Emotions signal personal values.<\/li>\n<li>How people see the situation depends on their perspective.<\/li>\n<li>Perspectives shape assumptions; making hypotheses is crucial for entrepreneurs. Once an assumption is made, we can test it. We survive by challenging old assumptions.<\/li>\n<li>Understanding different people’s perspectives is crucial. <b>We can assume that we don’t fully understand each other. And if we’re still alive in 2017, absolute understanding probably isn’t that vital.<\/b> Communication isn’t about passing information back and forth, it’s about how we “invent” each other.<\/li>\n<li>In teams, leaders should ensure everyone shares the same perspective.<\/li>\n<li>The commitment to a common reference can be a condition for business success. Vision — dream with deadline.<\/li>\n<li>Differences in viewpoints can spark creativity.<\/li>\n<li>The same differences can also lead to conflicts.<\/li>\n<li>Inventing new ways of looking at problems can be a significant advantage.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Leader’s value orientations<\/h2>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/cass.png\" width=\"634\" height=\"320\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pierre suggests categorizing leaders’ values into four groups:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li><b>Action<\/b>: results, action-oriented, directness, pragmatism, experience, achievements, change, decisiveness.<\/li>\n<li><b>Processes<\/b>: systematic, detail-focused, evidence-based, verification, analytical, unemotional, methodical, structured, planning.<\/li>\n<li><b>Relationships<\/b>: human motives, team spirit, empathy, relationships, teamwork, emotions.<\/li>\n<li><b>Ideas<\/b>: possibilities, new plans, imagination, self-centeredness, new paths, improvement, potential, alternatives, hard to grasp.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>— The leader’s role is to shift the team into the right mode at the right time. Simply assembling a team isn’t enough.<\/p>\n<p>— When people are shifted into an unfamiliar mode, they might say something like, “I don’t really like this task I’ve been assigned, but I learned a lot.” It’s an opportunity for people to experience something new and grow. No pain, no gain. Know your cup of tea!<\/p>\n<p>— Usually, people naturally fit into two of these segments at a time. It’s important that the management style matches the context. Here’s how these segments combine:<\/p>\n<p>• Idea + Action — entrepreneurial leadership mindset, the ability to kick off new projects;<\/p>\n<p>• Action + Processes — operational leadership mindset, the ability to turn projects into processes;<\/p>\n<p>• Process + People — managerial leadership mindset, the ability to unlock people’s talents;<\/p>\n<p>• People + Ideas —professional leadership mindset, the ability to be the best in your field and inspire others through it;<\/p>\n<p>• Action + People — line leadership mindset, the ability to stay focused on customers and the market;<\/p>\n<p>• Processes + Ideas — strategic leadership mindset, the ability to see the big picture and think strategically.<\/p>\n<p>— We can’t really motivate people, but we can demotivate them if we pay too little.<\/p>\n<p>— Not better, but the best;<\/p>\n<p>— People can see the truth.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>How to achieve high performance<\/h2>\n<p>|<i>Healthy Ways<\/i>|<i>Unhealthy Ways<\/i>|<\/p>\n<p>|Set ambitious goals|Dismiss others with “You’re wrong…”|<\/p>\n<p>|Encourage open discussion|Pretend not to understand someone on purpose|<\/p>\n<p>|Listen to each other|Set strict limits, like deadlines|<\/p>\n<p>|Build on each other’s ideas|Show dissatisfaction|<\/p>\n<p>|Manage group dynamics|Ask provocative questions|<\/p>\n<p>|Test hypotheses|Have emotional discussions|<\/p>\n<p>|Challenge one another|Create chaos|<\/p>\n<p>|Make sure everyone understands the context|Benchmark against the best in the industry|<\/p>\n<p>|Track progress|Use and fuel conflicts|<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>If the discussion goes flat and hits a dead end, that’s when it makes sense to use unhealthy methods. Once a decision is made, switch back to the healthy ones.<\/p>\n<h2>How to switch leadership styles depending on the context and the people involved?<\/h2>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/mazurchak.com\/pictures\/leadership.png\" width=\"634\" height=\"598\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">The chart has two main axes. Vertical – the leader’s personal effort in terms of imagination and creativity; Horizontal – the level of the leader’s involvement in day-to-day operations.<br \/>\n★ – the most suitable leadership style based on the assessment of the business situation, the team’s competence and engagement and the company culture.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The model describes four leadership styles:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li><b>Leading by example<\/b> –  High operational involvement, low creativity. The leader constantly shows and tells people exactly what to do. There’s little discussion and a lot of directive energy. An alternative name could be: “Do what I say, now.” Leading from the front.<\/li>\n<li><b>Leading through teamwork<\/b> – High operational involvement, high creativity. This style relies on joint discussions and collective decision-making. It takes time and can sometimes fall into the trap of the “tyranny of the average.”  Leading from within.<\/li>\n<li><b>Leading through inspiration<\/b> — Low operational involvement, high creativity. Here the leader helps the team see problems from a new perspective but doesn’t take part in implementing ideas. Leading from the side.<\/li>\n<li><b>Leading by empowering<\/b> — Low operational involvement, low creativity. The leader trusts the team to come up with ideas and execute them. The focus is on support, shaping the vision and strategy, helping overcome roadblocks and recognizing individual contributions. Leading from the rear.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>To choose the most suitable leadership style, Pierre suggests using these criteria:<br \/>\na. Assess the business situation – Is the company operating in a high-risk or low-risk environment? How competitive is it?<br \/>\nb. Assess the team –  Is the team highly motivated? How engaged are they in the company’s work?<br \/>\nc. Assess the corporate culture – The more conservative the company, the more likely its leaders will gravitate toward the two right-hand quadrants.<\/p>\n<p>Based on these three criteria, the leader can choose the style that fits best.<\/p>\n<h2>Comprehensive leadership course with Maxim Belukhin<\/h2>\n<p>The last day of the module was a small-group leadership course. During the course, we received short reports based on our 360-degree feedback survey, which we had filled out a month earlier. The survey was designed to highlight both our strengths and the areas where we could grow. It compared three perspectives: how we see ourselves, how our teammates see us and how the school’s experts evaluate us.<\/p>\n<p>In our groups, we took turns getting team assignments, completing them and then analyzing the group dynamics after each exercise. For example, one participant was given a scenario to produce a short pantomime of a scene from the movie Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears. They received a script with roles, props and a video camera. The final video couldn’t be longer than four minutes.<\/p>\n<p>It’s interesting to see how you show up in these exercises and how your teammates do too. The biggest benefit of these games is probably the deeper trust they build within the team.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>I’d give the module an 8 out of 10. What I liked: All the self-tests before each theory block, they really help you see how Pierre’s concepts apply to you; Group work – absolute fire; The full leadership course flows naturally from Pierre’s ideas and makes them feel personal, creating a solid mix. What I didn’t like: Pierre’s course got cut by a day to make room for the leadership program; Compromise is not great.<\/p>\n",
            "summary": "In November, we had our third module, led by Pierre Casse. The module covered responsibility, avoiding pain when making mistakes, the tyranny of averages and the ability to switch between different leadership",
            "date_published": "2018-03-10T15:51:23+02:00",
            "date_modified": "2026-07-21T11:54:58+02:00",
            "tags": [
                "leadership",
                "MBA",
                "skolkovo"
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