Robin Speculand

This keynote specifically addresses the habits leaders need to succeed, when so many strategy implementations are failing.

Most of the published literature to date still focuses on why implementation so frequently fails. This keynote focuses on how to succeed by focusing on specific behaviors. It introduces eight habits that have evolved from over 20 years of research, client work and the publication of six books on the topic by the presenter.

Somewhere between planning the strategy and taking action to implement it, many leaders lose their way. What is missing is the discipline to do what needs to be done and to make that a habit.

This hard hitting keynote explains why too many leaders are lethargic when it comes to implementing strategy and introduces the implementation habits, that are:

• Being Disciplined
• Taking the right actions
• Adopting the right measures
• Creating 90 day actions
• Recognizing that less is more
• Continuously nurturing the communication
• Crafting a culture of accountability
• Developing a review rhythm

To reinforce each of the habits, examples, stories and neuroscience experiments are provided. The keynote closes with the second truth that implementation never goes according to plan and provides various examples and also the opportunity for each person in the audience to vote on which principle is most relevant to themselves. A hands-on keynote suitable for leaders looking to excel in strategy implementation.

Digitalization is rapidly becoming a hygiene factor in leading organizations. Leaders have now embraced the need and integrated it into every part of their business while staying focused on its value to customers.

Yet fewer than one in five digital implementations are succeeding.

The top reasons for such a high failure rate is that leaders fail to change their mindset and their organization’s culture. They don’t recognize it’s about transforming the whole business model, not applying “digital lipstick.”

In fact, leaders often find themselves overwhelmed with many different moving parts when implementing digital. They ask, “Should we start by adopting cloud or becoming agile or leveraging AI or integrating DevOps or focusing on security or training employees in new skills or becoming data-driven . . . ?”

First, a digital vision is required to ensure leaders are creating alignment across the business and consistency in actions and measures. They are then responsible for creating their “playbook” by (1) identifying how digitalization affects their customers and (2) deciding what needs to transform internally.

Still, many leaders struggle to understand not only what is required for their organization but also from themselves. This interactive presentation challenges them to avoid the most common mistakes and guides them toward what works. It presents the Ticking Clock© Model that identifies the three strategic stages and 11 operational steps for any organization implementing digital, and it sets up a holistic playbook for leaders to follow.

The presentation also shares digitalization best practices using cases and secrets from around the world while sharing insights from the Digital Implementation Playbook.

Discover how DBS transformed from a traditional bank to the world’s best by becoming digitally driven. Discover the strategy that focused on technology, customer and culture and best practices.

Discover how DBS achieved this sensational transformation under the stewardship of CEO Piyush Gupta by challenging its employees to make banking joyful—not a term normally associated with banking. Find out why it asked its customers to bank less and live more.

This intriguing keynote highlights how DBS created a 29,000-employee start-up, transformed its core and became customer-obsessed—the bank’s three strategic tenants for implementation. It also explains what the bank did differently to implemented its strategy when less than one in five digital transformation succeed.

Also discover:

• How the bank’s digital purpose aligned and inspired everyone.
• Why customer journey mapping is at the core of everything DBS does.
• How the technology architecture transformed with DevOps, agile and GANDALF.
• How a data driven culture was adopted to change employees’ mindsets.
• How adopting agile created a learning organization and transformed the bank.
• How digital customers became twice as profitable as traditional customers.
• How ecosystems were designed—even enabling customers to buy cars on the bank’s website!
• DBS developed algorithms to know when employees considered leaving and pre-empt their actions.

Woven throughout the keynote are examples and stories from Robin Speculand’s research for his new book, World’s Best Bank – A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation.

Leader have been taught how to plan but not how to execute and this has created a strategy execution skills gap. The skills gap is a key reason that more strategy executions fail than succeed.

This keynote address how leaders can succeed where most of their competition are failing by becoming excellent in execution and why it’s more critical than ever before.

Once leaders have created the strategy it has to be executed and this is far from fait accompli; especially in a digital world where execution is even tougher. But leaders don’t execute strategy, their people do. Leaders are responsible for crafting the strategy and then overseeing and championing its execution. As stewards of the strategy, they must engage and support the people, communicate it, align it to the culture, identify the right measures, change the processes and constantly review its execution.

Strategy is about making the tough choices; execution is about taking the right actions.

Many leaders struggle with execution because they habitually keep underestimating the scale of challenge and because they lack a framework to guide them. This results in them taking the wrong actions at a critical time. They are also under greater pressure to deliver on their strategy promises due to the acceleration of the strategic landscape and market demands.

The keynote introduces the Implementation Compass™ to provide leaders and the organization the required structure. Bridges propriety Compass highlights the eight areas required for excellence in execution and directs leaders and the whole organization on the right actions.

This straight-talking, highly engaging and informative presentation is invaluable to company leaders who want to avoid common pitfalls and achieve excellence in execution. It is delivered by a global thought leader and one of the most prolific writers in the subject – Robin Speculand.

It explores:

• Why strategy execution is one of the hottest leadership topics today The Implementation Compass providing stories, videos and examples
• How leaders identify the right actions and develop the discipline to take them
• Lessons on what works and what doesn’t work from around the world
• Using stories, examples, videos, provocative questions and mini case studies, this keynote gives leaders an understanding of how to conquer the strategy execution challenge for their company.