Ram Charan

The need for talented people in the right jobs can be summed up in a simple way: no talent, no numbers. Talent is a leading indicator of whether the business is headed up or down. Smart leaders put people before numbers, because it is talent, in the end, that delivers the numbers necessary to keep a business strong and healthy. The audience will gain:

• Insight into how world-class companies find and nurture leadership talent
• Understanding of why intimacy with your talent and a repetitive rhythm
of reviews are the foundation for creating a steady, self-renewing stream
of leaders for all levels of an organization
• Recognition that while financial results, market share, brand and legacy products all have a half-life that seems to grow shorter by the year, talent is the only competency that endures
• Ability to pinpoint and build an individual's leadership strengths
• Specific guidelines for assessing and improving your company's talent mastery capabilities

We live in a world of unprecedented change and massive volatility. What remains constant is the capital most companies hold in terms of innovation and creativity. "Innovation," says Charan, "is the world's best and perhaps only way to win in the face of fast commoditization." Using examples such as Procter & Gamble, Honeywell, Nokia, LEGO, GE, HP and DuPont, all of which harnessed the power of innovation, Charan offers both an instructive and inspiring look at transforming today's companies and remaining profitable in the face of economic uncertainty. The audience will gain:

• How to put the customer at the center of innovation
• The building blocks of innovation
• How to view innovation as a social process
• Insight into reducing the risk of innovation failure
• The knowledge to become a leader in innovation

The twin components of making a company profitable are a keen understanding of the operational underpinnings of the organization and creating a world-class sales team. Charan imparts the basics of business, the universals of success that apply whether you are selling fruit from a stand or running a Fortune 500 company. From this foundation, he then explains in detail how to run a company that is customer-centric - an absolute must in a world where pricing has collapsed and the consumer's ability to comparison shop is unprecedented. Charan strips back the functions of running a company and making its sales team high functioning, no matter the size of the organization or the current business climate. The audience will gain:

• Ability to get deeper and richer knowledge of your customer's need and process for making purchase decisions
• Insight into how to help your customer improve margins and drive revenue growth
• Knowledge of how to connect sales with other key functions, such as finance and manufacturing
• Insight into how to design new, customized offerings
• Understanding of how to de-emphasize price in the selling process

In 30 years of helping directors deal with the practical challenges of governing well, Charan has become a leading authority on corporate boards. Directorship magazine named him "one of the most influential people in corporate governance and the board room." He facilitates board self-evaluations, peer reviews, strategy retreats, and CEO evaluations, and advises on the recruitment of new directors and compensation. Charan has served on several boards and on the National Association of Corporate Directors Blue Ribbon Commission on Corporate Governance. Participants will learn:

• Specific ways boards can add or destroy value
• How to define roles and assess performance for committees and the full board
• How to set the board agenda in a way that moves the business forward
• Principles of succession planning for the board
• How to make the board a competitive advantage

Fortune magazine calls him "the most influential consultant alive" - a reputation earned through more than 30 years of wise counsel to top business leaders around the globe. Charan has a unique perspective on how great leaders differ from the rest. He breaks through the fac;:ade of leadership to explain the capabilities leaders must possess, how to build a leadership-driven company, how to lead in economic uncertainty, how to develop and grow your own leadership capability, and finally, how to plan for smooth succession. The audience will gain:

• Insight into what those teaching leadership tend to miss
• Knowledge of when and how personality matters
• Insight into how to build a pipeline of leaders who deliver
• Understanding of how a company can develop leadership at each level of the organization
• Ability to implement the "Apprenticeship Model" to grow new leaders