Customers notice your implementation and not your strategy.
Robin Speculand lives and breathes strategy and digital implementation. He supports C-Suite and Boards in transforming their organizations and is well known for his innovative approaches.
He is one of the world’s most prolific writers on the subject, having published six books that include, the Amazon number one bestseller World’s Best Bank–A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation and the Strategy Implementation Playbook: A Step-By-Step Guide.
This strategy and digital implementation specialist is a sought-after consultant and keynote speaker who has founded three companies and three business associations. In 2000, he recognized that executives talked “strategy” with little focus on “implementation” and he started Bridges Business Consultancy Int. to support leaders in their implementation journey. He later co-founded and co-runs the Strategy Implementation Institute and Digital Leadership Specialists.
Robin has pioneered a number of breakthrough methodologies and techniques that feature the Implementation Compass™, a proprietary framework built on the eight areas for excellence for execution; Ticking Clock© Model, a framework for creating a digitally driven organization; Digital Maturity Index, a self-assessment that reveals a person’s level of digital maturity; and the Digital Best Practices Benchmark.
In 2014, Robin recognized how digital transformations presented different challenges from previous strategy implementations and turned his focus to supporting executives in this perilous journey. That year, two of his clients, the world’s best bank and the world’s largest luxury company, both became early adopters of digital transformation.
In 2018, he conducted research with nearly 2,000 leaders across three continents, resulting in the publication of this highly acclaimed business white paper: Transforming Your Company into a Digital-Driven Business.
Robin’s innovative approaches have been featured in such media worldwide as BBC World, CNBC and Forbes. A TEDx speaker and educator for Duke CE, IMD, and Singapore Management University, he is also a Harvard-listed and award-winning case study writer.
In 2021, Robin was co-nominated with Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Bank, for the Thinkers50 Ideas into Practice Award. In 2021 and again in 2022, he was awarded the Business Strategist Singapore title and is included in the Top 15 list of Global Gurus.
The First Minister of Scotland has named this Scotsman a GlobalScot for his passionate contribution to international business. Outside of work, Robin competes in Ironman events worldwide.
Talking Points
Transforming in an AI-driven World
Synopsis: Two out of three transformations fail, not for lack of ambition but because leadership mindset, culture and business model do not change fast enough to match the technology around them. Robin Speculand unpacks why digital and AI transformation efforts stall, using his Ticking Clock© Model to show how strategic and operational demands must move together. Drawing on real client examples, he shows leaders what separates organisations that truly transform from those that only add "AI lipstick" to old ways of working. Audiences leave with a clear view of how the moving parts of transformation connect, and practical techniques they can apply straight away.Transforming in an AI-driven World
Key Takeaways:
- Why so many digital and AI transformations fail, and the three most common reasons leadership gets it wrong
- The Ticking Clock© Model for aligning strategic direction with operational execution
- Practical techniques to accelerate their own organisation's transformation, ready to apply immediately
The Story and Lessons from a World-Class Transformation
Synopsis: Robin Speculand takes audiences inside DBS Bank's transformation from a traditional lender into an organisation recognised as the world's best bank, built around the employee challenge to "Make Banking Joyful." Drawing on three years of research and privileged access to DBS for his bestselling book World's Best Bank, this keynote reveals how the bank rebuilt itself around three principles: a start-up culture, a digital core and an obsession with customers. It is a candid account of how one organisation succeeded where so many transformation efforts stall. Audiences hear the stories and best practices behind a transformation now studied and referenced worldwide.The Story and Lessons from a World-Class Transformation
Key Takeaways:
- How to place the customer at the centre of every part of the organisation
- How to align an entire workforce behind a single purpose
- Practical steps for becoming a data-driven, digitally-led organisation, from re-architecting core technology to building a sustainable learning culture
Strategy Implementation Challenge
Synopsis: Only one in three strategies is implemented successfully, and Robin Speculand opens this keynote by asking audiences a deceptively simple question: would they rather see a good strategy implemented badly, or an average strategy implemented well? That question sets up a session built around the Implementation Compass™, Speculand's proprietary framework covering the eight areas leaders must address to move from plan to action. Through case studies, video and audience discussion, he shows why so many strategies fail at the implementation stage and what leaders can do differently. This is a direct, practical session for leaders who want to close the gap between deciding and doing.Strategy Implementation Challenge
Key Takeaways:
- The eight areas of the Implementation Compass™ and how to apply each one
- How to identify the right actions for their organisation, and build the discipline to see them through
- How to mobilise a workforce behind implementation, beyond token gestures like t-shirts and coffee mugs
Excellence in Execution: The Secrets for Success
Synopsis: Leaders are taught how to plan a strategy, but rarely how to execute one, and Robin Speculand argues this skills gap is the biggest reason strategy execution fails more often than it succeeds. Opening with an interactive implementation quiz, this keynote moves through the eight areas of the Implementation Compass™, the framework Speculand built to guide organisations from planning to doing. Stories and examples throughout show how leaders can engage, excite and support their people through execution rather than leaving them to work it out alone. Audiences come away with both the framework and the confidence to see their strategy through to completion.Excellence in Execution: The Secrets for Success
Key Takeaways:
- The eight areas of the Implementation Compass™ as a practical guide from planning to doing
- How to close the strategy execution skills gap most leaders are never taught to address
- Best practices for engaging and supporting employees through execution, not just at the planning stage
Video
Keynote for Edge 2020 Executional Excellence conference
Strategy implementation is one of the fastest-growing areas in business.Transforming Digital World Malaysia 2023
Customers don't notice your strategy, they notice its implementation. Robin Speculand is a recognized pioneer and expert in strategy and digital implementation. He is driven to transform strategy implementation globally by inspiring leaders to adopt a different mindset and approach. Robin is CEO of Bridges Business Consultancy Int. and co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute and the Digital Leadership Specialists. Robin was co-nominated with Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Bank, for the Thinkers50 “Ideas into Practice Award.” He is also a TEDx presenter and facilitator for IMD, Duke CE, and Singapore Management University. A prolific author, he has written five best-selling books, including Excellence in Execution and World’s Best Bank: A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation.
