Episodes

The Role of AI in Corporate Strategy
April 1, 2026

The Role of AI in Corporate Strategy

In this week's episode, William Ulrich and Charles Bowman welcome Seth Earley, author of "The AI-Powered Enterprise", for which he received the Axiom Silver Medal for AI and Business. Seth's work covers artificial intelligenc...
The Reality of Building & Deploying Software Solutions
March 25, 2026

The Reality of Building & Deploying Software Solutions

This episode features an interview with Joe Cerasani, a senior solution architect and development lead. Our discussion breaks down a topic that most business professionals and even IT professionals see as a black box. Topics ...
Solution Deployment: Breaking Down What it Takes to Succeed
March 19, 2026

Solution Deployment: Breaking Down What it Takes to Succeed

Solution deployment has traditionally been characterized by development teams parachuting into an ill-defined project that lacks clear goals and objectives, defined scope, formal architecture and design targets, and an optimi...
A Metrics-Based Approach to Strategic Transformation Planning
March 11, 2026

A Metrics-Based Approach to Strategic Transformation Planning

Business and technology transformation planning is based on rigorously defined metrics, with the culmination of those metric-based assessments resulting in a business and technical debt assessment. The debt assessment, in con...
Facing Down Strategy Execution Roadblocks
March 4, 2026

Facing Down Strategy Execution Roadblocks

For every initiative an organization undertakes, there are many things that can go wrong for every one that can go right. Every major initiative needs someone to keep things moving in the right direction from a sponsorship, b...
Strategy Execution and The Business Knowledgebase
Feb. 24, 2026

Strategy Execution and The Business Knowledgebase

In William Ulrich and Charles Bowman’s latest book, they cite Jim Rohn’s quote that “discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment”. They go on to highlight three essential elements of discipline; the ability to m...
Solution Architecture: What is It and Why It Matters?
Feb. 18, 2026

Solution Architecture: What is It and Why It Matters?

Organizations that ignore, sidestep, or underfund solution architecture are missing the glue that binds the architecture perspectives that lead to successful initiative outcomes and strategy deployments. In this episode of th...
Data: The Weak Link in the Strategy Execution Chain
Feb. 11, 2026

Data: The Weak Link in the Strategy Execution Chain

In their recently published book, End-to-End Strategy Execution, William Ulrich and Charles Bowman said that problematic data is one of the seven deadly patterns undermining strategy execution. In this podcast episode, they i...
Architecting & Designing the Future State
Feb. 4, 2026

Architecting & Designing the Future State

A deteriorating business ecosystem is like an aging house, with inhabiting customers, partners, and business stakeholders abandoning it as the situation degrades. Deteriorating architecture, whether it applies to a building, ...
The Strategy Impact Assessment: The Essential Nature of Feedback Loops
Jan. 28, 2026

The Strategy Impact Assessment: The Essential Nature of Feedback Loops

Chapter 5 of our recently published book, End-to-End Strategy Execution, states that the omission of a comprehensive, well-articulated impact assessment is a major factor undermining successful strategy execution. Impact asse...
Strategy Execution: A Leadership Perspective
Jan. 21, 2026

Strategy Execution: A Leadership Perspective

Getting leadership on the same page with strategy execution is often a challenge. This episode features an interview with Whynde Kuehn, strategy transformation specialist and author of Strategy to Reality. The discussion focu...
Strategy Execution: Setting Course for a Challenging Journey
Jan. 14, 2026

Strategy Execution: Setting Course for a Challenging Journey

William Ulrich and Charles Bowman’s Strategy Execution podcast, is based on their new book, tackles one of the main challenges facing organizations today, successfully executing on their business strategies while maximizing t...
Politics, Culture and Sabotage: Roadmap to Program Failure
Dec. 20, 2025

Politics, Culture and Sabotage: Roadmap to Program Failure

Every project has opponents who try to manipulate that project for their own gain. This is a well-hidden truth. As most people who have been associated with executing strategy are aware, good projects intentionally gone bad i...
Incorporating AI and Cognitive Computing into Business Strategy
Dec. 2, 2025

Incorporating AI and Cognitive Computing into Business Strategy

This episode of The North Star focuses on the practical role of cognitive computing and AI in organizations. Cognitive computing refers to technologies that learn at scale, reason, and interface with humans in a manner aligne...
The AI-Powered Enterprise: Is Your Organization Prepared?
Dec. 2, 2025

The AI-Powered Enterprise: Is Your Organization Prepared?

More and more organizations are seeking to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. AI is promoted as being able to transform every aspect of how organizations function, yet this vision is far from reality. As episode g...