The Strategy Skills Podcast: Management Consulting | Strategy, Operations & Implementation | Critical Thinking

MichaelAaron Flicker, founder and CEO of Xenopsi Ventures and coauthor of Hacking the Human Mind, explains how applied behavioral science transforms insight into repeatable commercial advantage across brands, products, and customer experiences. Drawing from his experience building multiple Inc. 5000–recognized companies, Flicker illustrates how understanding “the unconscious biases that drive our actions” can make marketing, consulting, and organizational strategy more effective.   The discussion links behavioral research to real-world business practice, naming, positioning, experience design, and sales behavior, so leaders can test small, evidence-based changes that have outsized impact on recall, adoption, and loyalty.   Key insights include: Prioritize one persuasive benefit. “How could one firm be good at everything?” Flicker notes. Presenting a single, clear advantage is more believable than listing many. He cites the gold-dilution effect—the psychological finding that “people are more confident when ju