Global Tilt

Leading Your Business Through the Great Economic Power Shift

Ram Charan

Crown Business, February 2013

The global tilt is nothing less than an irreversible shift of economic power—jobs, wealth and market opportunities—from a small part of the world to its entirety. It is improving the lives of millions of people around the world, and while it is creating immense opportunities, it is disrupting the world as you know it with dizzying speed.

If you’re an American or European, any assumptions you may have about national and managerial superiority are obsolete. Businesses in China, Singapore, India, Brazil, Malaysia and other countries on the move have ready access to the capital and expertise they need to grow. Their leaders have just as much knowledge, talent and drive as you do. And they are unleashing their entrepreneurial verve to scale up fast and grab once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.  

These businesses will soon be competing with yours everywhere on the planet, even if you’re not aware of them yet. Finding opportunities of your own requires you to consider vastly different perspectives and to see the new global landscape in its entirety and then change the content of your work to pursue them.

In Global Tilt, New York Times bestselling author Ram Charan gives business leaders the guidance they need to succeed in a tilted world, including:

  • Gaining an edge by cutting through the complexity of demographics, different forms of government and even the global financial system, to identify “unstoppable trends” better and sooner than others
  • Challenging your reliance on core competence and the incremental improvement that results. Instead, look “outside-in” and “future-back,” determine the capabilities you need to build, and muster the psychological fortitude to make occasional strategic bets that can potentially alter the competitive landscape
  • Developing the soft skills crucial to leading a global organization, including mastering local contexts
  • Equipping the organization to win by facing up to painful but necessary shifts in people assignments, decision-making authority and resource allocation—even before making structural changes  

Those who can pursue the opportunities in a tilted world have a remarkably bright future. Ram Charan’s unparalleled experience with global leaders and companies and the unique and powerful insights he brings to this book will light the way for you and your exciting journey.

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About the Author

Ram Charan is a world-renowned business advisor, author and speaker who has spent the past 35 years working with many top companies, CEOs and boards of our time. In his work with companies including GE, MeadWestvaco, Bank of America, DuPont, Novartis, EMC, 3M, Verizon, Aditya Birla Group, Tata Group, GMR, Max Group, Yildiz Holdings 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 problem. 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. When his talent for business was discovered, Ram was encouraged to develop it. He earned MBA and doctorate degrees from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with high distinction and was a Baker Scholar, then served on the faculties of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University before pursuing consulting full time.

Ram’s work takes him around the globe non-stop and gives him an unparalleled, up-to-date insider view of how economies and leading companies operate. Through keen observation and analysis, he forms powerful insights that help business leaders face their toughest challenges in the areas of growth, talent development, corporate governance and profitability. His timely concrete advice is a powerful tool in navigating today’s uncertain business climate. Former Chairman of GE Jack Welch says 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 coached more than a dozen leaders who went on to become CEOs. He reaches many more up-and-coming business leaders through in-house executive education programs. His energetic, interactive teaching style has won him several awards, including 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.

He has authored 15 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 #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller and spent more than 150 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He also has written for publications including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Time, Chief Executive and USA TODAY.

Ram was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and has served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Corporate Governance. He has served on the boards of Hindalco in India, Emaar, Austin Industries, Tyco Electronics and Fischer and Porter.