Ram Charan

Ram Charan is a highly sought-after business advisor and speaker famous among senior executives for his uncanny ability to solve their toughest business problems. For more than thirty-five years, Dr. Charan has worked behind the scenes with top executives at some of the world’s most successful companies, including GE, Verizon, Novartis, Dupont, Thomson Corporation, Honeywell, KLM, Bank of America, and MeadWestvaco. He has shared his insights with many others through teaching and writing.

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 an MBA and a doctorate degree 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.

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, to develop a “growth budget.”

Many people have come to know Dr. Charan through in-house executive education programs. His energetic, interactive teaching style has won him several awards. He won the Bell Ringer Award at GE’s famous Crotonville Institute and Best Teacher Award at Northwestern. He was among BusinessWeek‘s top ten resources for in-house executive development programs.

Over the past decade, Dr. Charan has captured his business insights in numerous books and articles. In the past five years, Dr. Charan’s books have sold more than 2 million copies. These include the bestseller "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done" and "Confronting Reality," both co-authored with Larry Bossidy, "What the CEO Wants You to Know," "Boards at Work," "Every Business Is a Growth Business," "Profitable Growth," and "Boards That Deliver." A frequent contributor to Fortune, Dr. Charan has written two cover stories, “Why CEOs Fail” and “Why Companies Fail.” His other articles have appeared in the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Director’s Monthly, and Strategy and Business.

An engaging presenter, Charan delivers high-energy keynotes that offer cutting-edge insights into leadership, innovation, execution, and global strategy -- insights that have made him, as Fast Company reports, “an indispensable right-hand man for hundreds of top managers.”