Leadership Development: Why Talent Does Not Matter – and What Does

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Generously hosted by Coverdale North America LLC & with special thanks to Claire Behar, Senior Partner and Director of New Business Development, Fleishman-Hillard

Plenty of leadership development tools, technologies and approaches are marketed each year. Many suggest that once talented people are in place, organizations are ready for success.

The reality is very different.

Based on the latest published research in both psychology and neurobiology, Karsten Martens, President & CEO of Coverdale North America LLC, will explore what leaders can do today to coach themselves and to develop a high performance organization. The insights will be especially relevant for CEO’s and heads of marketing in the luxury industry where intuition is a key skill to make the right strategic decisions.

CEO’s and other senior executives are charged today, more than ever before, with not only achieving challenging business targets but also with continuous development of their own leadership skills, that of their direct reports and their entire organizations. Recruiting the right people, coaching them to top performance, managing high performance teams, all while strategically self-managing are just some of the key responsibilities of today’s senior executive.

Location: Fleishman-Hillard, 220 East 42nd Street (between 2nd and 3rd Aves.) 11th floor.

Please RSVP by replying to this e-mail or to rsvp@luxurycouncil.com by Tuesday, August 21st

In the event that your plans change, we’d be most appreciative of the courtesy of a cancellation.

ABOUT KARSTEN MARTENS

A native of Hamburg, Germany, Karsten Martens has served in international senior general management and strategic marketing/sales roles in industries ranging from business services, fast moving consumer goods and luxury goods for over 20 years.
Since 2006 Martens heads up Coverdale North America LLC as President & CEO and is a member of the Coverdale International Board. Martens also serves currently as advisor to Ignite Venture Partners (www.ignite-vp.com) and on the board of Bedford Forum LLC as a founding member. Bedford Forum created and operates the Lufthansa USA Miles & More member exclusive and innovative e-commerce site www.worldshopgourmet.com.
Prior experiences include the role of President & CEO of Porsche Design of America and member of the international Porsche Design board as well as President & CEO of Montblanc North America and member of the board of Montblanc International.
In his role at Montblanc North America, having moved to the US in 1999 permanently, Martens managed the strategic repositioning and reorganization of Montblanc in the USA and Canada. In this position he was able to develop Montblanc as a major player in the American luxury market by changing the route to market and the marketing approach radically as stated by Burton M. Tansky, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Neiman Marcus Group: "Karsten Martens has achieved a strong repositioning of the Montblanc brand in four short years."
Martens had joined Montblanc in 1996 as Marketing Director for Europe, South America, Africa, and the Middle East and Duty Free. Martens’ earlier experience includes five years with the Cadbury Schweppes Beverages division. As their Marketing Manager for European Franchises based in London, he was responsible for soft drink franchises in Southeast Europe. Martens’ outstanding brand portfolio is comprised mostly of international beverage performers like Schweppes, Dr. Pepper, Canada Dry and Sunkist.

ABOUT COVERDALE

Coverdale has been pioneering the development of individual, team and organizational capability through the application of experiential (or inductive) learning since 1965. Passion for constant innovation, insight and excellence are key contributors to Coverdale’s successful work with companies and organizations such as DaimlerChrysler, Montblanc, Boeing Space Systems, Diageo, World Bank, UNESCO, Mercedes Benz High Performance Engines, HP, PWC, Burger King, NFL Europe and many more in over 100 countries.

Coverdale is a network of co-owned companies with offices in the UK, USA, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and is in the start up phase in China. Guided globally by values of Discovery, Achievement and Humanity, Coverdale’s consultants and coaches are concerned with the human dimension of enterprise such as leadership and collaboration.

Ralph Coverdale, a British Industrial Psychologist, started Coverdale in 1965. He was a captain in the army and left in 1947 to study psychology at Oxford. His supervisor was Bernard Babington-Smith, a reader in experimental psychology.

Ralph developed his theories on how people think and work to get things done while at Oxford. He believed passionately that thinking and management were skills that could be developed; seriously challenging the view at that time of people having fixed skill sets, and locked IQs.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION BREAKFAST

This “For Your Consideration” format gives members, and outside purveyors of luxury, the opportunity to share a unique perspective with interested members and friends. For Your Consideration presentations highlight "out of the box" innovative products, services, or opportunities with a compelling marketing, business, or promotional premise which will be of interest to members and friends on a self-selecting basis. These breakfasts have more of a sales focus than our general Council events, but with no obligation to those attending.