Executive Involvement

A central element of my work is involvement with practice, in three linked domains. The first is executive development and teaching, not only using basic strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship material, but also providing my own angle and strategy tools. The second is consulting and, for want of a less grandiose way to put it, "thought leadership", working mainly with companies but also those interested in policy to address the challenges of a quickly shifting strategy landscape, and help change organizations. And the third is applied research, where my involvement in the field gives rise to new research questions I pursue; illustrates and helps refine concepts, tools, approaches; and helps document and explain some interesting phenomenon. I firmly believe that research and executive involvement go together; one side helps you "keep honest" in the other. It's hard to veer into irrelevance when you're confronted to the complexities executives and policy makers face; and it's hard to slip into guru-dom and misguided advice when you check your prescription by comparing it to actual research findings.

Other than using executive involvement as an integral part of my research, I provide executive development and consulting for clients such as Banco Intesa San Paolo, Zurich London, Finland's YLE, KPMG (DK), TV2, Orange and RICS, and worked on various projects with major firms such as Vodafone, PwC and Roche. I have delivered keynote speeches to firms such as Winterthur / Credit Suisse, PwC, ISP, McKinsey& Co and Finmeccanica; industry associations such as ARMA, British Bankers Association, the Institute of Turnarounds, and the MBAA; and NGOs such as the UN/UNCTAD. My executive development aims to help think strategically, integrating strategy into everyday work, analysing the business environment and crafting new "play-scripts" that help firms adapt to a changing business environment. I have worked and still currently engaged with companies such as Zurich Financial Services, RBS, Barclays, HSBC, Abbey National / Santander, Dexia, Pirelli SpA, Intel, BT, EDS, Nokia, Bertelsmann, ACE, IBM, PwC, Saatchi & Saatchi, Lufthansa and EADS, in Europe and the US. I also teach the Global Fellows at the World Economic Forum, and am involved in its New Financial Architectures project, as I am keenly interested in the drivers of the near-meltdown of the financial services sector, as well as the resulting policy implications. My research work is substantively informed from my executive involvement; and I share research findings with executives through various channels, including managerial publications such as the Financial Times or Harvard Business Review.

I have taught strategy in the MBA, executive and senior degree programmes, such as the Sloan Fellow's Masters and the Senior Executive Programme. I teach an elective on Managing Corporate Turnarounds, a popular strategy elective. Recognition for my work has included the Innovation in Teaching Award in LBS, the Teacher of the Year Award at the Wharton School and the European Management Development Award for custom Executive Education Programme (for Lufthansa).

In this website, you can get a sense of my work in the different parts of my executive involvement) other than research, discussed separately: You can take a look at my executive development and teaching- in terms of approach, and then you can see what projects I have undertaken for custom-made executive development programmes, either directly working with major corporate or through the London Business School. You can also see my other executive and degree teaching. There's also information on my consulting and "thought leadership" activities, as well as a list of the keynotes I have delivered. Finally, you can take a look at some of the cases I have developed, or am in the process of working on.