Ram Charan

Principle embodied: Extracting the Truth – X-Principle #6

Ram Charan is a highly acclaimed business advisor, speaker and author. Ram Charan has coached some of the worlds' most successful CEOs. For 35 years, he has worked behind the scenes at companies like GE, KLM, Bank of America, DuPont, Novartis, EMC, 3M and Verizon.

Dr. Charan's introduction to business came early while working in the family shoe shop in the small Indian town where he was raised. He earned an engineering degree in India and soon after took a job in Australia and then in Hawaii. When his talent for business was discovered, Dr. Charan was encouraged to pursue it. He earned MBA and doctorate degrees from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with high distinction and was a Baker Scholar. After receiving his doctorate degree, he served on the Harvard Business School faculty.

Ram Charan is known for his practical, real world perspective. His expertise runs deep in several areas of business: organic growth, succession & leadership pipeline, leadership, tools for changing a business culture, corporate governance, building top management teams, execution: discipline of getting things done, business acumen, and culture of innovation.

Dr. Charan is well known for providing advice that is down-to-earth and relevant and that takes into account the real-world complexities of business. Among his recommendations for achieving profitable growth, for example, are to search for "singles and doubles" as well as home runs and to develop what he calls a "growth budget" to instill discipline on growth initiatives. Identified by Fortune as the leading expert in corporate governance, Dr. Charan is helping boards go beyond the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and the New York Stock Exchange by providing practical ways to improve their group dynamics. Boards, CEOs, and senior-most human resource executives often seek his advice on talent planning and key hires.

Ram Charan is a favorite among executive educators. He has taught for 30 consecutive years at GE's famous Crotonville Institute and is the recipient of their Bell Ringer award (best teacher). Ram Charan won the Best Teacher Award at Wharton and Northwestern. He was among Business Week's top ten resources for in-house executive development programs.

Ram Charan is a well-known author, whose books include Execution, co-authored with Larry Bossidy, the former CEO of Honeywell. Execution reached number one on the Wall Street Journal list, and has been on the New York Times’ best-seller list for more than 150 weeks. Ram Charan's other books include Boards That Deliver, What the CEO Wants You to Know, Boards at Work, Every Business Is a Growth Business and Profitable Growth. His newest book, Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform From Those Who Don't, was released in January, 2007. He also tailors his books for specific client companies such as Gateway, Ford and EDS.

Ram Charan has written articles for Business Week, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Time, Information Week, Leader to Leader, Director's Monthly, Directorship, The Corporate Board and USA Today.

Ram Charan is a director of Austin Industries, The Six Sigma Academy and Tyco Electronics. He was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources in 2005. He serves as a co-host for the Fortune Forum on Corporate Governance and also serves on the National Association of Corporate Directors' Blue Ribbon Commission on Corporate Governance. Ram Charan is based in Dallas, Texas.

To read these articles in their entirety & to learn more about Ram Charan:

AEI Speakers Bureau: http://www.aeispeakers.com/speakerbio.php?SpeakerID=1146

Game Changer (book website): http://www.ram-charan.com/ram_charan.htm
 

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