RON PORTER is the VP, Innovation Practice and principal consultant at Linkage. He brings a broad business perspective to helping complex, global organizations grow and improve. Ron has over thirty years of consulting & coaching experience working with senior executives and managers, especially in the areas of innovation, strategy development & execution, organizational effectiveness, leadership alignment and development, organizational change and strategic communication. He has a particular interest and expertise in helping organizations and individuals develop their innovation capabilities.
Ron's accomplishments include:
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Training US innovation group of global company on innovation process based on recognized thought leader’s work. Worked with US marketing group on refocusing annual brand planning process into innovation process. Created / delivered training for US marketing group on implementing innovative solutions more effectively and efficiently by using specific change process & tools. Trained Asia Pacific marketing leaders and Latin America country business unit leaders on innovation process. Creating next generation innovation/change training programs using computer-based simulations.
- Guiding internal brand team of global company as it assessed innovative alternatives in deciding if and how to enter a new business
- Training key executives of a global company on innovation processes based on concepts of the two leading innovation consulting firms—Design Thinking and Growth Through Innovation approaches. Worked with one division on creating an innovation capable organization.
- Guiding CEO and leadership team of a global company in clarifying the company's vision, mission, values and overall business strategy, including creating a Balanced Scorecard to identify key initiatives. Involved identifying and prioritizing the key initiatives required for profitable growth, as well as creating a business culture supporting growth & improvement, and developing & assessing required leadership competencies for successful execution.
- Developing and implementing an overall integrated organizational effectiveness strategy and detailed tactical plan for a global company to support many large-scale change initiatives, including change in business strategy, business process improvements, SAP implementation, supply chain reengineering and new shared services center.
- Creating /implementing leadership development strategies, solutions & supporting programs for executives in a variety of organizations; specialize in applying “action learning” principles to accelerate leadership development while delivering immediate results to the business. Specific areas of focus included how to become better leaders, to execute strategies more quickly, to think more strategically, to deal with change effectively, to have conversations that build commitment and drive people to take action, to drive innovation and to apply learnings from recognized leaders.
- Creating /implementing action learning approach for several organizations including major US financial services organization, global chemical company, and electrical utility; elements included classroom learning to improve specific leadership competencies, selection on real business issues for teams to address, coaching of teams as they work on the business issues.
- Coaching a number of executives at all levels of the organization (President down to middle managers) to help them improve on specific leadership behaviors, as well as working with intact leadership teams to improve team effectiveness, conducted coaching certification programs that help executive coaches improve their skills, abilities and effectiveness; used customized assessment instruments and interpreted results as part of coaching process.
- Reshaping organizational culture for business growth and expansion of a national, multi-location company. This assignment involved working with thirteen culturally diverse leadership teams globally to implement initiatives and strengthen the leadership team's ability to transform cultural barriers into profitable growth opportunities.
- Developing the Balanced Scorecard for the Office of Technology for a global telecommunications company, including translating the measures / targets into individual performance objectives for the CTO's leadership team and cascading it into the organization.
- Developing and implementing the organizational effectiveness and strategic communication strategy for a global pharmaceuticals company as it reengineered its drug safety processes, practices and technology and transformed its culture.
- Developing new product offerings and services, including methodologies and marketing approaches, and grew revenue quickly in start up practice situations. Created and implemented business development strategies, including segmenting target markets effectively, translating customer needs into business opportunities, and prospecting / cold contacting new and previously untapped markets; selling frequently to executive leadership teams.
- Creating and implementing the marketing & business development process for several companies, including marketing strategies that build brand recognition and assessing the feasibility of a "Marketing Resources Management" approach to improve operations.
- Creating new offerings in the area of innovation.
Prior to joining Linkage, Ron served in various organizational effectiveness leadership positions at several major consulting firms, including Deloitte and Towers Perrin. He also has international experience working at the executive level with many global organizations undergoing significant change. He had his own consulting firm that helped organizations remove their major barriers to profitable growth. Ron has a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration in Organizational Behavior from Villanova University and an MBA in Management from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Ron has consulted across a wide variety of industries and organizations including Aeropostale, Allergan, Arrow Electronics, BASF, Cable & Wireless, Carolina Power & Light, Centocor, Chubb, CIGNA, Cooper Tire, Deere, Discover Financial, Disney, DuPont, Efes Beer Group (Turkey & Russia), Ernst & Young, Evonik, FBI, Frazer Health System (Canada), Goodyear (Turkey), Government of the Cayman Islands, Grupo Vitro, Gruma Corporation, Harleysville Insurance, Highmark, Honda, Howard University, Iron Mountain, IRS, Johnson & Johnson, Keurig, Liberty Mutual, Marshall Medical Center, Merck, Mission Foods, Motorola, New York Times, NRG Energy, PP&L, PSE&G, Reliant Energy, Roche, Salt River Project, Samsung, sanofi-aventis, Sears, Solutia, Takeda , TUVSUD America, Telia Sonera (Asia),Teleflex, Tyco Electronics USAA, US Steel and Wyeth.