Ram Charan is a sought after business advisor renowned among senior executives for his ability to solve difficult business problems.
For more than thirty-five years, Ram has worked behind the scenes with senior executives at some of the world's most successful companies, including GE, Verizon, Novartis, Dupont, Thomson Corporation, KLM, and Bank of America. Ram's introduction to business came early while working in the family shoe shop in the small Indian town where he was raised and went on earn a degree in engineering. He earned his MBA and doctorate degrees from Harvard Business School. After receiving his doctorate degree, he served on the Harvard Business School faculty.
He is known for providing advice that is relevant and that takes into account the real-world complexities of business. Identified by Fortune as a leading expert in corporate governance, Ram helps boards go beyond the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and the New York Stock Exchange by providing practical ways to improve their group dynamics.
Many people have come to know Ram through his in-house executive education programs. His energetic and 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.
In the past five years, Ram'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. His newest book, Global Tilt, is a guide to leading your business through the radical shift in economic power currently underway.
A frequent contributor to Fortune, Ram has written two cover stories, "Why CEOs Fail" and "Why Companies Fail." Other articles have appeared in the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Director's Monthly, and Strategy and Business.
Ram has served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Corporate Governance and was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources. He is on the board of Austin Industries and Tyco Electronics
