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BOARD LEADERSHIP

How can directors and boards improve on setting vision and values, driving business performance and acting in an accountable manner to shareholders? Strategy and governance are clearly the most debated issues after the financial crisis. Boards that understand governance as a practical concept demonstrating accountability and alignment of interests will allocate and direct resources so that sustained return on capital can be delivered.

Our analytic approach helps boards to get clarity about their performance and decide on action to improve it. Based on self-assessments, external assessments and benchmarks, boards will receive feedback whether the board is effectively guiding the company on vision and values, is efficiently discharging its duties in monitoring management and controlling risks, acts accountably to shareholders and practices transparency for stakeholders.

Having set the company strategy, boards can identify the ideal skillset that is needed to guide the company in the coming years. Every company is different, and so will the required skills be. Whether cultural difference requires an improved capacity to work in global contexts, or squeezed profitability requires an acute understanding of profit and cost drivers to control management initiatives, the board will draw a skill map.

Filling vacant positions either after board directors have finished their regular term or in special situations that need swift handling: In both events continuous succession planning is helpful. Based on the target board composition, the nomination committee seeks to fill a pipeline of talents and skills that can support the given objectives. Establishing individual director profiles will help in finding and selecting appropriate candidates.

Any director wishes to get up-to-speed in the shortest possible time. Carpe Diem will provide you with an induction package that helps you understand the company quickly and thoroughly – identifying the relevant topics, asking for the relevant information, and meeting the relevant people. You will save much time, and are re-assured in your observations and judgement by reflecting with our executive coaches Absprung zu “Results”.

Our highly practical approach helps professionals increase their confidence in fulfilling their governance responsibilities and improve their strategic thinking ability in the context of their company and the market it operates in. We take on current relevant dilemmas and provide robust tools to support your continuous learning. We provide insights why conflicts between shareholders, strategic leaders and operational managers are inevitable and how to resolve them so the conflict is healthy

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Who should attend?

Board directors in an executive or non-executive role, senior managers, active investors, portfolio managers and analysts, regulators, financial journalists, and lawyers who

  • Have, or will have, the responsibility to translate organisational strategy into effective performance to deliver results.
  • Desire to better understand the differences between operational management roles and strategic management roles in areas such as thinking skills, planning approaches, and priorities.
  • Need to develop a deep understanding of international corporate governance best practice, the situation in selected emerging markets and introduce that into international companies or banks.
  • Assess companies for their long-term success and potential to increase value for stakeholders

Globalisation

Training for company directors and investors in emerging markets

Our research for recent developments in emerging markets enables our clients to compare regulatory developments to promote corporate governance in global emerging markets. Participants learn how to handle their director roles and responsibilities and achieve greater impact in a global context.

Carpe Diem cooperates with the IoD on professional development. The Institute of Directors has been supporting businesses and the people who run them since 1903. Today, the IoD represents around 38,000 members – directors, partners and entrepreneurs, and advocates best Corporate Governance practice.

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Direction - Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance means to implement the business proposition in accordance with best practices that create long-term profitable growth and value for society – shareholders, stakeholders and the public. Risk Management takes into consideration market and business risk as well as the company´s reputation and personal liability of directors. The company can demonstrate its compliance with laws and regulations, thus establishing social legitimacy.

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INVESTMENT LEADERSHIP

How can you identify and leverage company value early in the investment process? Facing increased competition and high price expectations as well as pressure on fees, Private Equity and investment firms must master issues that go beyond industry specifics or financial engineering: Performance and people issues that may slow growth and erode the market position and shareholder value.

Building on our long-standing experience in value creation services, Carpe Diem International helps Private Equity Firms in maximizing shareholder value at each stage of the investment process. more The earlier, the better. With our intimate knowledge of mid-cap deal flow, we can support you with bespoke services that will improve your Fund and Portfolio performance.

We can identify more value upfront, taking an “inside – out” view to screen arising investment opportunities thus complementing the deal team´s “outside – in” view. More With our experience in operational excellence projects, we have developed a “sniff-test” that allows us to produce a C-level report for you within a few days, well before you start spending big due diligence monies.

We will show you methodologies to systematically assess the quality of the investment target´s management against your investment strategy. More We teach you new techniques to design the management profile that you will need to succeed with your “must win” battles. Then you can make decisions at entry and reduce management surprises and churn during the portfolio hold period

We help you to put proper Corporate Governance structures in place and create a well-managed, sustainable, transparent and compliant enterprise. More We support you to form a strategic board that guides the company, monitors performance, and enhances the exit profile.

We train your portfolio directors to fill their roles on company boards according to international best practice, more in cooperation with the Institute of Directors London, and support you in succeeding in the Emerging Markets environment.

We systemically identify key areas where business processes, structures and individual executives all need to change in a concerted way. More We help to effect those changes, identifying corporate cultures and removing cultural and process barriers. Our Executive Development programmes can be guided by the Management Quality Assessment, and target senior managers to improve their leadership skills and delivery of results.

Our People & Performance methodology shows the company a way to align and focus on producing outstanding operational results. more We identify the key areas of operational and management potential & risk that impact your return on investment, cash-flow or growth strategies. For underperforming businesses, we rapidly discover the critical operational and management factors, and implement an intensive improvement plan. Our broad cross-industry experience and extensive global background is delivered by hands-on senior operators

OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP

What prevents companies from realizing their full potential? We seek out the hard and soft facts including untouched and un-named problems, measure the impact and activate the necessary energy to get the business moving forward. We are measurement and results driven, and we put people first. Because people are the only ones that can ensure your business processes deliver excellence to your customers.

Discovery, assessment, and targeting for your operations, management, and organization as a whole. more Using our diagnostic expertise, we discover the behavioural and process root causes leading to poor business performance. We analyze what processes and working methods need to be changed, and establish metrics with you which will drive sustainable improvements that in turn will be mirrored in your financial results.

Leadership systems, competitive position, production technologies and systems, innovation and development processes are analyzed alongside the individual knowledge, values and capabilities of your employees in order to create the most pragmatic improvement solutions.

Focused and structured improvement initiatives that, by including changed working behaviours, optimize sustainable business performance. More We accompany and support your management throughout a results improvement, restructuring or post-merger integration programme. With our far-reaching change programmes and business transformations we help companies take their performance to a higher level. In doing this we ensure that processes, technology, employees and your company culture align and adapt to better ways of working.

We work alongside your people. Rather than handing out advice, we work alongside your management and employees to implement solutions. More Together we develop new approaches and create a team-orientated mindset: employees are encouraged and focused when they work with us. We understand that our methods and experience alone are not enough, and therefore bind your people in the discovery and solution experience in a way that allows them to see why change is necessary, and how their individual knowledge and experience is an essential part of the solution. The result is ownership of change, and a partnership with Carpe Diem to make improvement sustainable.

We do not just provide advice. We construct tailor-made approaches and solutions more that guide your management through a process of change where they can take full responsibility for improving the business. This approach takes into account your existing structures and organizational culture. We are measurement and results driven, and we put people first. Because people are the only ones that can ensure your business processes deliver excellence to your customers.

We implement quickly. Each consultant at Carpe Diem has decades of implementation experience. more This pro-active engagement helps decide the right specific solution and the right change approach for your business culture.

We understand our task to introduce, train and implement improvements with those who are responsible for each particular work element, and help them take responsibility for the future of their own piece of the business.

Results are what count most, so why not take a look at some of our recent case studies, they outline our approach and the outstanding results we have achieved for our clients.

Case Study PDF

We provide individual support for Executives and Management groups. Through our Executive Development Programmes we help top-level managers who want to target personal development to further enhance their individual leadership skills and performance.

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We have extensive experience and established regional capabilities in Asia. We provide bespoke entry and optimization strategies for successful business in the Chinese and pan-Asian markets.

MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP

Do the company’s top managers have the leadership competence to achieve your investment or growth strategy? Surveys prove that more the quality of leadership is the most significant driver of company performance. Inaccurate assessment results in an undesirable rate of churn in top management, and delayed and reduced returns.

  • Dilemma

    There is the need to be able to assess the quality more accurately and consistently beyond ‘gut feel’. It is recognized that more there is a gap between the importance of the task and attention to it. The consequence is often a high rate of “churn” with top managers.

  • Challenge

    There are difficulties in assessing leadership competency: In many instances you can’t use skilled third parties directly, or more you don’t have the time or tools to do the assessment.

  • Future

    A new method specifically developed by Carpe Diem International for the investment industry enables you to assess more leadership qualities of management against your forward- looking investment goals, not just past performance. It uses a specific and targeted competency framework instead of generic leadership characteristics.

    The ManagerMax® approach will result into:

Creating a set of specific questions to assess a manager’s leadership competency (soft wiring) with regards to the specific strategy (hard wiring) for the company or public body.

Employing interviewing and meeting techniques appropriate for the occasions – informal through formal – and gain enhanced observational and listening skills

Understanding learning and negotiation preferences and filters of people who are responsible to appoint the right person to the right job

Using a simple but common set of tools to calibrate management leadership competency against the ability to achieve specific business goals

Understanding the outcome of the interview or meeting in terms of the manager’s fit to the investment, growth scenario or general strategy.

Demonstrates the power of consolidating your multiple interactions with company managers

We provide individual support for Executives and Management groups. Through mentoring in our Executive Development Programmes we help top-level managers who want to target personal development to further enhance their individual leadership skills and performance.