Insights from Our London Event

An exhilarating mind bender in the midst of a London tube strike!

I was excited about this discussion ! Our London team had invited an accomplished panel- Laurent Bendavid - CEO , World Courier, Ronan Cassidy, former CHRO Shell, Usha Kakaria-Cayaux, CHRO at OFI and Deepak Mishra Operating Partner, Global Asset Capital. Add to that 35–40 brilliant people including our UK-based hashtag#TalenttoValue community> We had the makings of a great evening ! And on the morning of the event—London was hit by a tube strike. Ubers were taking an hour to move 1 mile and for a moment, cancellation loomed, but the team and the panel vetoed it 🙂 and all the explorers showed up!

We set out to tackle a tough question: once strategy is set, why do so many transformations stall? The conversation began with a bold hypothesis: most companies know how to design strategy and operate businesses. But 73% of transformations fail in the space between those bookends … why? Is Talent the ghost in the machine?

Key Takeaways That Lit Up the Room;

1. The world actually does NOT do Strategy well!
Deepak and Ronan challenged the idea that “the world has figured out strategy.” Organizations often overrate their strategy chops and overlook the hard truths of market structure. If a broken market structure meets a talented team, the market structure prevails.

2. The ‘How’ Is a Missing Ingredient – go slow to go fast
Too often, organizations rush ahead from strategy to scorecards . We need to pause and define hotspots – the roles and the teams , where we need new muscles to get this strategy in motion . Talent allocation continues to lag Capital allocation.

3. Beyond the "How," the Human Factor Demands Effort
Alignment was an oft mentioned speed trap. Usha warned of underestimating the challenge of melding different talent pools and cultures in mergers. Laurent emphasized that leadership rooted in humility and honesty and reminded us that humans on the frontline need much more “Why” , beyond the “what”

4. Talent: The Great Untapped Accelerator
Pivotal roles just below the top team can unlock outsized value, yet too few organizations direct enough talent to them. Classic traps persist: hiring “trophy CEOs” or leaders misaligned with the real jobs to be done.

5. Wisdom into a Widget!
To get strategy into motion, organizations need new routines— a “widget”—that delivers the precise spots where the business needs to get more talented. Claire Hogg shared a scalable diagnostic approach used at General Atlantic. Ranjay Radhakrishnan and Ross Davies reflected on the Talent to Value lessons at Reckitt , noting the biggest risks often lie not in talent but in role design.

I left the room energized. Let’s keep the momentum alive—share your stories and breakthroughs to power our learning.