We offer Keynote Presentations and Executive Briefings on the following topics:

Commit to Capitalism: How to Become a Capitalist Running Dog*
The environment in which you work and conduct business is harsher, more demanding, and less forgiving than ever before. The rate at which companies are born and die continues to accelerate. It seems that everything in the political, social, and economic environment is in a constant state of flux. New threats and dangers arrive from the most unexpected places. The world is less predictable. The challenge to remain competitive is more imposing, and past success is yesterday’s story. At the same time, there are more opportunities and there is more economic dynamism than ever before.

Creative destruction, where the old and inefficient is replaced by the new and more productive, gains momentum everyday. There are more players competing who are stronger, more creative, and more aggressive. Business is being redefined by innovations in technology, by leaner and more productive work methods, and by global competitors. The pace is staggering. These new threats, challenges, and opportunities demand constant creativity and better strategies. People and companies must be fast, innovative, and capable of shifting rapidly. More than ever, companies need people who understand the forces of capitalism—employees who understand that their primary focus should be on making the company and their jobs more valuable by competing and winning within the capitalist game.

How to Radically Transform the Human Resources Function
Many companies historically promised to provide generous pension plans, benefits and health insurance to employees, continuing through retirement. HR was seen as the “care-taker” and benefits were viewed as entitlements, but many businesses have failed to survive or found themselves unable to deliver on their promises to employees and retirees. Perhaps the paternalistic “Corporate Socialism” model of HR as “care-taker” is no longer working. Is there another way?

Radical transformation of HR consists of 1) empowering employees and enhancing their ability to be self-responsible, and 2) increasing the strategic focus and value of the HR function. This means building company culture and compensation practices where employees are self-responsible and take ownership of their own financial and “benefits” lives, and redefining the role of HR to be less focused on employee caretaking services and more focused on helping business managers in hiring, developing talent, measuring performance and building great teams.

Wrestling the Octopus vs. True Transformation*
When faced with the compelling need to change, companies and people have four fundamental choices, we call them: rearrange the deck chairs on the sinking Titanic (or DBAU – deadly-business-as-usual), tinker around the edges, wrestle the octopus or truly transform. The first three choices lead inevitably to loss and perhaps death of the company.

The phrase “wrestling the octopus” conjures up an interesting visual image. Fighting with the eight-armed beast—getting one arm momentarily under control, only to be quickly entangled by others. It can seem like we’re fighting and winning, when what’s really happening is our energy is being sapped and we’re burning time and resources. Too often we feel like this in organizational life. We keep fighting the same issues, over and over again—never able to completely resolve them by truly getting at the heart of the matter.

True transformation requires that we think and act differently about the challenges we are facing and the problems we are trying to solve. Transformation happens when we make the obvious visible in a new way, go right at the heart of the matter, set and achieve seemingly impossible goals, and perhaps even create a strategic advantage going forward. True transformation begins with recognition, refusal, and resolve: recognizing when we’re engaged in DBAU, tinkering, or wrestling; refusing to waste time and resources doing so; and resolving to settle for nothing less than a real and durable solution. Then magic can happen.

The No B.S. Model: How Life Really Works
In any given circumstance, you are either getting what you want or you are not, and if not, you are living with your reasons, explanations and excuses. That’s the “No BS” part. The more we tell our stories about why we do not have the results we want, the more we embed within ourselves that the reasons are truer and bigger than the results. These reasons can become disabling, keeping us stuck in a state of inaction. Reasons are an easy way out. You know, “Stuff Happens”, you had nothing to do with it. It’s a victim position of letting circumstances run your life. In order to forge a new future, you have to be willing to give up your reasons, to defeat them one by one, and commit instead to taking responsibility for achieving the results.

Character Counts: Essential Qualities of Leadership*
With the daily demands of corporate life it’s easy to lose sight of the personally transformative opportunities offered by managerial and leadership positions. It’s especially easy to lose sight of “the kind of person, the kind of leader, I want to be.” In The Essential Qualities of Leadership we explore character, qualities of mind, leadership dilemmas, and how the role of the leader can offer the opportunity for personal transformation.

The best business leaders demonstrate unusual qualities. They know how to think like owners, capitalists, and entrepreneurs—how to recognize the changes in and demands of the business environment, and then adapt as needed in order to protect assets and create growth and profit. They have a deep sense of responsibility, and tend to avoid being victims, cynics, or bystanders. They have qualities of both the monk and the warrior—a quiet, thoughtful mind and a bias for deciding and acting. They are realists and strategists, they care about people, and they embrace accountability. They thrive on challenges, and welcome the metrics that define success and failure. All in all, character and human qualities count, and leadership positions in business offer grand opportunities for developing character and qualities of mind.

The X-Factor: Creating Focus and Responsibility
A new generation of workers has joined the workforce who are intelligent, ambitious, and demanding. Further, they are technologically savvy, and have the physical and mental agility to use technology to multi-task, work and communicate in ways that weren’t even thought of just a few years ago. They challenge traditional business paradigms. Their attitude and abilities are both refreshing and alarming. When starting a new job they bring energy and enthusiasm. What do you do when the “real world” starts to slow them down, they hit roadblocks, that fire you once saw dies down, and most go into BAU and CYA mode? It is possible to not only keep them going, but also to improve their focus, productivity, and impact.

Victors and Victims: Power and Influence
The importance of power and influence in organizations is like sex in the Victorian Era, frequently on the mind, yet seldom talked about. Managers confront situations every day that require the use of power and influence to produce results. Knowing how to appropriately influence the work environment and the conduct or direction of others can allow you to be more effective in leading your organization.

Globalism: Pivotal Realities and Disruptive Forces*
The competitive challenges have become global and there are dozens of disruptive forces impinging on enterprises today. New, innovative businesses and products are being developed that have the potential to make existing products obsolete. Increases in productivity, technology breakthroughs, and global markets are commoditizing many products and services, putting price pressure where once there were wide profit margins. Information is more readily accessible and consumers are more educated making it harder for businesses to manipulate customers. Customers are demanding more. Where once it was possible to compete on price alone, now customers may demand price, speed, attractiveness, friendliness, and higher levels of customer care—a fuller value profile—all at once. These are some of the pivotal realities that are putting extreme pressures on businesses and requiring more complex leadership and management skills in order to compete and win. Companies that don’t address these pivotal realities can quickly find themselves in trouble.


* These programs are also available as Leadership Development Seminars.