How confident are you that your decisions are truly your own?

In a world shaped by algorithms, amplified success stories, and personalized information, clarity is more fragile than we like to admit.

Our strongest convictions are often influenced by patterns our minds rely on to move quickly and conserve energy.

In this episode of The Strategic Thinker, Allen explores how bias quietly shapes the way we interpret risk, success, and truth. Bias is a deeply human feature of how we survive and make sense of complexity.

We will explore three subtle yet powerful biases that operate beneath awareness:

• Survivor bias, and how the stories we celebrate distort our understanding of success
• Confirmation bias, and why familiar ideas feel more credible than they deserve
• AI bias, and how intelligent systems can amplify blind spots while sounding objective

This is not about eliminating bias. That is neither realistic nor desirable.
This is about noticing it sooner, questioning it more often, and reclaiming agency in how you think.

By the end of the episode, you will be better equipped to pause, challenge assumptions, and choose with greater intention in a world full of confident answers.

The Strategic Thinker is a calm space for long-term thinking. A place to slow down, reflect deeply, and navigate complexity with intention.

🎧 Listen now and sharpen the lens through which you see the world.

For more reflections and tools, join The Compass Newsletter at maisonTST.com

Three Skills That Will Shape Your Next Decade

What if the skills that matter most over the next ten years are not the ones everyone is talking about today?

As the pace of change accelerates, driven by AI, automation, and structural shifts across industries, knowing more is no longer the advantage it once was. Information is everywhere. Answers are cheap. The real edge now lies in how you think, how you learn, and how you choose direction when the world feels noisy and uncertain.

In this episode of The Strategic Thinker, we explore three foundational skills that will shape relevance, confidence, and contribution over the next decade. These are not technical skills that expire with the next platform update. They are timeless capabilities that become more valuable as change speeds up.

We begin by examining how value creation has evolved over the last century, from memorising knowledge, to accessing information, to navigating abundance in the age of AI. From there, we unpack three skills that matter more than ever:

• Critical thinking, the ability to interpret information, question assumptions, and avoid outsourcing your judgment
• Research, complemented by AI, learning how to ask better questions, synthesise perspectives, and turn information into actionable insight
• Long-term thinking in a short-term world, the discipline to choose direction over urgency and build progress that compounds over time

You will also hear how these three skills work together in real life, as a practical system for navigating uncertainty, making better decisions, and staying oriented when the path ahead feels unclear.

If you are thinking about your career, your learning, or the kind of life you want to build over the next decade, this episode offers a calm, grounded lens to help you move forward with intention.

You are also invited to comment or share your thoughts with me at allen@maisonTST.com

Welcome to The Strategic Thinker, a sanctuary for your mind and a space to think long term in a fast-moving world.

The new year always begins with plans, resolutions, and long lists of intentions. Yet most people abandon their resolutions by the end of January. So this Spark takes a different approach. Instead of asking what you want to achieve, it asks a more powerful question.

If the December 2026 version of you could whisper one request into your ear today, what would they ask you to begin?

In this short Spark, you will explore:
• A simple visualisation to connect with your future clarity
• The difference between noise and true direction
• The gentle nudge your future self would want you to hear right now

This episode invites you to strip away pressure and reconnect with alignment. Your future self has already lived the consequences of your choices in 2026. Their message is likely simple. It is usually something you already sense, but have not yet acted on.

Thank you for beginning the year with me here inside The Strategic Thinker. I look forward to the next phase of this journey, and I hope you do too.

Wishing you clarity, courage, and momentum for the year ahead.

Until next time, keep getting better every day.