Know-how

In this ground-breaking new book, Ram Charan, co-author of the bestselling "Execution", redefines leadership by focusing on eight specific practical skills that, if mastered, are guaranteed to bring success. Those skills are: Positioning: formulating a clear central idea that chimes with your customers' desires and allows the business to be profitable; Detecting patterns: recognising key variables that may create barriers to growth; Managing the social system: influencing the workplace environment so that people can pull together and make the right decisions at the right time; Selecting (and deselecting) people: spotting talent, and making the change when the fit isn't right; Leading your management team: trusting, and inspiring, an effective team of managers; Setting goals: deciding what the business can achieve; Setting priorities: assessing the actions that need to be taken in order to meet your goals; and, Dealing with external parties: making sure that outside power groups beyond your control do not affect your business unduly.

About The Author

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, Home Depot and Verizon.

Ram Charan started his business career as a teenager working in the family shoe shop in India. He went on to earn an engineering degree and then MBA and doctorate degrees from Harvard Business School. Ram Charan graduated from Harvard with high distinction and was a Baker Scholar. He then 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: Profitable Growth, Business Acumen, Leadership, Tools for Changing a Social System, Corporate Governance, Global Matrix Organization, Execution: Discipline of Getting Things Done, Innovation, Succession & Leadership Pipeline and Building Top Management Teams.

Ram Charan is a favorite among executive educators. He won the Bell Ringer (best teacher) award at GE's famous Crotonville Institute. He 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, written 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 Time's best seller list for more than fifty weeks. Ram's other books include What the CEO Wants You to Know, Boards at Work, and Every Business Is a Growth Business. He also tailors his books for specific client companies such as Gateway, Ford and EDS. His new book Profitable Growth was released January 2004.

He's written articles for the 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 and The Six Sigma Academy. He was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources. 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.