Ram Charan is a world-renowned business adviser, author, and speaker who has spent the past thirty-five years working with many top companies and CEOs of our time. In his work with companies such as GE, MWV, Bank of America, DuPont, Novartis, Coca-Cola, Merck, EMC, 3M, Verizon, Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group, and Grupo RBS, he is known for cutting through the complexity of running a business in today’s fast-changing environment to uncover the core business problems. His real-world solutions, shared with millions through his books and articles in top business publications, have been praised for being practical, relevant, and highly actionable—the kind of advice you can use Monday morning.
Ram’s introduction to business came early while working in the family shoe shop in a small town in northern India, 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, Ram was encouraged to pursue it through formal education. He earned MBA and doctorate degrees from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with high distinction and was a Baker Scholar. He served on the faculties of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University.
Ram’s work takes him around the globe nonstop and gives him an unparalleled, up-to-date insider view of how economies and leading companies operate. His timely, concrete advice is a powerful tool in navigating today’s uncertain business climate. Former chairman of GE Jack Welch says that Ram “has the rare ability to distill meaningful from meaningless and transfer it in a quiet, effective way without destroying confidences,” while Ivan Seidenberg, the former CEO of Verizon, calls Ram his “secret weapon.”
Ram has authored or coauthored fifteen books since 1998 that have sold over 2 million copies in more than a dozen languages. Execution, which he coauthored with former Honeywell CEO Larry Bossidy in 2002, was a number-one Wall Street Journal bestseller and spent more than 150 weeks on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list. He also has written for many publications, including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Financial Times, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Time, Chief Executive, and USA Today.