The Rise of America's Largest Gas Station BUC-EE's
Buc-ee's defied gas station commodity economics by deliberately rejecting 18-wheelers and building cult following through obsessive cleanliness—transforming pit stops into must-see destinations generating $959M revenue from 35 Texas locations before interstate expansion.
Skype: What Went Wrong?
Skype pioneered internet calling with 170M users by 2011, sold to Microsoft for $8.5B, then collapsed when COVID created perfect conditions—Zoom captured 50% market share in months while Skype's 17-year head start evaporated.
Dropbox: When Ignoring Big Tech Backfires
Dropbox pioneered cloud storage but now executes a harvest strategy—borrowing $2B in 2024 purely for share buybacks while paying users flatlined three years straight. The counterintuitive lesson: being first means nothing when your core product becomes a loss leader for trillion-dollar ecosystems.
The 5-Level Strategic Fluency Ladder
Most professionals plateau at strategic mediocrity without realizing it. Francis Wade reveals the five-level Strategic Fluency Ladder that separates executives who merely use strategy vocabulary from those who genuinely think strategically.
Navigating Innovation and Creating an Invincible Company
Innovation coach reveals why most companies waste years building products nobody wants. Nick Himowicz unpacks the "Kill Your Startup in 90 Minutes" workshop—designed to destroy bad ideas before they drain resources. The core problem: founders spend months on product development without proper customer interviews, then sweat through desperate validation pitches asking "please tell us you like it."
The Commoncog Method Used by StratCinema
Warren Buffett's secret teaching method revealed—how he transformed Katherine Graham from self-described "doormat wife" into legendary CEO delivering 22.3% compound annual returns over 28 years. The technique: calibration case method using antique financial statements.
The Dawn and Dusk of Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems rode open standards from garage startup to $140 billion titan—then burned out spectacularly. This cautionary tale reveals how yesterday's innovation advantage becomes tomorrow's execution anchor.
The Rise and Sad Fall of Wang Labs
This video details the remarkable entrepreneurial journey and subsequent collapse of **Wang Laboratories**, founded by the brilliant Chinese immigrant engineer **An Wang**.
The Rise and Fall of Digital Equipment Corporation DEC
This video chronicles the rise and eventual collapse of **Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)**, a pioneering American technology company whose innovations underpin modern computing.
How IBM Lost the PC to Compaq, Intel & Microsoft
This video analyzes the strategic failures and miscalculations that led to IBM losing control of the Personal Computer (PC) market standard they created.
Architects of the Future - the SHIFT Method
**Why Strategic Foresight Practitioners Rewatch This 64-Minute SHIFT Method Framework** Shell oil crisis preparation success: "Shell back 1970s while most oil companies focused forecasting prices optimizing productions did something different, built detailed scenarios different possible futures, one scenario explored what would happen oil producing nations suddenly restricted supply pressure western governments, when 73 oil crisis hit OPEC imposed embargo oil prices quadrupled overnight Shell was ready, had contingency plans flexible supply chains strategic reserves thrived while competitors scrambled."
The Death of Europe's Last Electronics Giant
**Why Corporate Strategy Analysts Rewatch This 18-Minute Philips Decline Story** CEO announces no longer high-tech company: "2010 CEO proudly announced quote we are no longer high-tech company, not sentence you'd expect hear voluntarily from company just decade earlier was every bit much giant innovator Samsung Sony, until recently third largest electronics company whole world over 350,000 employees peak, company once dominated industries lighting radio invented co-invented almost every major physical media format compact cassette CD DVD Blu-ray."