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Charlene Li

Chief Research Officer at PA Consulting

San Francisco, California, United States

I help leaders and organizations thrive with disruption as an expert on digital transformation and leadership expert. I've been writing since 1999 and have seen business, society, and the world undergo seismic changes. My work includes writing books, speaking, consulting, and serving on boards.

I help leaders and their organizations in four ways:

1) Research and Writing: I share my research and thinking through books, going on six! Books provide an opportunity to go more deeply into specific topics. I also periodically publish research through Altimeter. My latest research focuses on creating disruptive transformation strategies, leadership in the digital era, changing the culture to work at the speed of digital customers.

2) Speaking and Workshops: From opening conference keynotes to intimate executive gatherings, my speeches and workshops educate and identify specific actions people can take to thrive in the digital era. Peppered with relevant examples, these speeches and workshops are tailored for each engagement.

3) Consulting Projects. I'm lucky to have 400+ globally-based colleagues at Prophet with whom I partner with to deliver in-depth strategy development. These range from creating a robust digital or social strategy to developing an employee engagement plan and community. For more information about Prophet, visit Prophet.com.

4) Board and advisory roles: I serve on several boards of companies seeking to create disruptive, exponential growth, advising on issues from strategy and fundraising to organization and culture.

Charlene Li Points
Academic 0
Author 297
Influencer 2790
Speaker 0
Entrepreneur 80
Total 3167

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Company Information

Company Type: Company
Minimum Project Size: Undisclosed
Average Hourly Rate: Undisclosed
Number of Employees: Undisclosed
Company Founded Date: Undisclosed

Areas of Expertise

AI
Business Continuity 30.24
Business Strategy 30.03
COVID19 30.27
Culture 30.13
Digital Disruption 34.35
Digital Transformation 32.67
Diversity and Inclusion 30.09
Entrepreneurship 33.15
Future of Work 30.05
HR 30.04
Innovation 33.76
Leadership 33.80
Management 32.73
Social 46.70

Industry Experience

Publications & Experience

1 Advisory Board Membership
The Poynter Institute
LinkedIn
January 07, 2009
Served on the advisory board for The Poynter Institute. Focused on how Poynter should adjust its activities with the digitization of journalism.

The Poynter Institute is a global leader in journalism. It is the world’s leading instructor, innovator, convener and resource for anyone who aspires to engage and inform citizens in 21st Century democracies.

See publication

Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

24 Article/Blogs
Five Actionable Ways to Create More Psychological Safety at Work
LinkedIn
September 23, 2022
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Future of Work

Strong Teams Know Their Strengths: Here’s How to Build One.
LinkedIn
May 05, 2022
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

See publication

Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Future of Work

Surviving or Thriving? How Resilience Predicts Your Company’s Success
LinkedIn
April 21, 2022
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

See publication

Tags: Digital Disruption, Culture, COVID19

I'm joining PA Consulting and here's why
LinkedIn
March 14, 2022
For those familiar with my research and work over the past 20+ years, you’ve seen me shift my focus as the markets and technology evolve. My most recent work around thriving with disruption and digital transformation was especially relevant (and timely) over the past three years.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Future of Work

Going through a lot of (personal) change — here’s how I manage it
LinkedIn
March 04, 2022
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

See publication

Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Leadership

Feedback Is Critical to Transformation. Here’s How (and Why!) to Embrace It
LinkedIn
February 25, 2022
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

See publication

Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Leadership

Can Operational Efficiency and Innovation Coexist? Yep! (And It’s Your Job As a Leader)
LinkedIn
February 11, 2022
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

See publication

Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Leadership

Are You Prepared for What’s After Digital Transformation?
linkedin
December 17, 2021
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

See publication

Tags: Digital Transformation, Management, Leadership

TMI on TMO — Breaking Down the Transformation Management Office
LinkedIn
December 10, 2021
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth. For more insights like these, join my private email list.

See publication

Tags: Management, Leadership, Culture

This one fear is mucking up disruptive leadership
LinkedIn
October 01, 2021
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth.

See publication

Tags: Digital Disruption, Leadership, Business Continuity

Can Your Employees Answer These Three Questions? (They Should!)
LinkedIn
September 24, 2021
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth.

See publication

Tags: Digital Disruption, Leadership, Business Continuity

4 easy-to-implement strategies to future-proof your organization
LinkedIn
September 17, 2021
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth.

See publication

Tags: Digital Disruption, Leadership, Culture

How to Accelerate a Disruptive Career
LinkedIn
July 16, 2021
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth.

See publication

Tags: Digital Disruption, Leadership, Culture

3 Ways to Create Order to Encourage Change (Yes, Really!)
LinkedIn
July 02, 2021
Here’s a contradiction: using order to create change.

Or IS it a contradiction? It might seem like “order” and “change” live in two different universes, but in fact you need order to create change – and vice versa.

How is that possible?

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Tags: Management, Leadership, Culture

How Disruptors Build Trust and Power
LinkedIn
June 07, 2021
Leadership is about the gathering and the exercising of power, which allows you to influence people so that they take action. That is what power is all about — not control, not force, but influence. Strong, effective leaders know how to accumulate power and use it at the right times.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Leadership, Business Strategy

How Let Go of Control and Lead With Relationships
LinkedIn
May 24, 2021
Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth.

See publication

Tags: Digital Disruption, Leadership, Culture

Three Ways Digital Transformation Can Close The Diversity Leadership Gap
LinkedIn
March 31, 2021
As a woman of color, I’m often asked how leaders and their organizations can address systemic inequities in our society. My response is to look in our own backyards, within our own organizations. You don’t have to look far to see inequities that we have chosen too long to ignore.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion

Why Brands Should Care About Clubhouse’s Success
LinkedIn
February 24, 2021
Clubhouse is the "it" tech platform of the moment, having exploded 10X from just 600,000 users in December to 6 million users in February. It's an invitation-only, audio-only app with an underlying social network to support connections. There are a few things driving this ferocious growth.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management

Creating a Culture That Supports Disruptive Innovation in a Post-COVID World
LinkedIn
December 01, 2020
We’ve been living in a world turned upside down by a pandemic, going into the winter with dire predictions of the next surge. Yet, there’s hope in sight with the development and distribution of vaccines. We will emerge at some point – and the time to prepare for that post-COVID world is now.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Innovation, Culture

Five Ways to Lead in Disruptive Times
LinkedIn
March 25, 2020
Like many of you, the events of the past few weeks have thrown me flat on my butt. My heart goes out to the many people who are dealing with COVID-19 in their families or have lost their jobs. And my soul grieves for the pain that is yet to come.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Innovation, Leadership

Four Disruption Lessons from Book Self-Publishing and Burning Man
LinkedIn
December 08, 2019
This fall I did two things that pushed me far out of my comfort zone: self-publishing my latest book and going to my first Burning Man. These seemingly unrelated adventures have some surprisingly common challenges. Book publishing is an arduous process that requires seemingly unending days of solitary focus, laboring over words that won’t come. Burning Man requires a journey to a lifeless desert and enduring dust storms and freezing nights.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Social, Leadership

Employee Adoption of Collaboration Tools in 2018
linkedin
August 27, 2019
Last week I had the honor of speaking at the Evanta Global CIO Executive Summit and toward the end of the speech casually mentioned that I'd be releasing this report on Monday. Afterwards, many of the CIOs expressed deep interest in the data, sharing that this is one of their top priorities through the end of 2018 and into 2019. So I'm excited to share the report!

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, HR

5 Ways to Train Your Executives on Digital Transformation
linkedin
August 01, 2018
If you are leading a digital transformation effort, you know how important it is get executive buy-in. Yet many leaders have only a tangential grasp of what it means to be “digital” and shy away from getting their hands dirty. Altimeter found that low digital literacy or expertise among employees and leadership was the top challenge facing digital transformation initiatives. What’s frustrating is that while there is a plethora of training and development options, most executives still hang by their fingertips.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation

Reflecting on 10 Years of Groundswell -- and What Comes Next
linkedin
April 24, 2018
10 years ago, my co-author Josh Bernoff and I released our first book, “Groundswell: Living in a World Transformed by Social Technologies”. On this anniversary, I wanted to reflect on what our expectations were when we published that work, what has changed, and what has not. Josh has shared his thoughts as well.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership

15 Author Newsletters
Four AI Predictions for 2026 — And What to Do About Them
Linkedin
January 12, 2026
They're useful in that they tell you what observant people think is coming. But here's my issue: Most prediction lists leave you hanging. Often, they throw a bunch of info at you, and that’s it. They don’t usually offer any actionable advice.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Did AI Deliver Value in 2025? Here’s How to Tell.
Linkedin
January 06, 2026
As we wrap up 2025, I'm willing to bet your inbox is flooded with year-end recaps, performance reviews, and demands for ROI calculations on every initiative your team launched this year.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

The Broken Rung: What Your Promotion Data Says About Your Organization
Linkedin
December 22, 2025
If your organization were truly a meritocracy, would the numbers reflect that?

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

AI Resistance Has Nothing to Do With Age
Linkedin
December 15, 2025
"Let's get the Gen Z folks to lead our AI adoption. They grew up with technology, so they'll show us old folks how it's done."

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Beyond Efficiency: How AI Helps Us Become More Deeply Human
Linkedin
December 08, 2025
Here's a radical idea: what if the greatest value of AI isn't how much productivity it can squeeze out of people and systems?

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Stop Treating Compliance Like a Burden. It's Your Competitive Advantage
Linkedin
December 01, 2025
Here's the question that separates winning organizations from struggling ones: Are you treating AI regulation as a constraint, or as a forcing function?

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Agentic AI: Cutting Through the Hype to Find the Reality
Linkedin
November 17, 2025
Here’s what I keep hearing: “2025 is the year of the agent!” “Agentic AI will replace knowledge workers!” “It’s fully autonomous and delivers immediate ROI!”

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

How to Build the Custom AI Model You Actually Need
Linkedin
November 03, 2025
Picture this: You're in a strategy meeting and someone on your tech team confidently announces, "We need to build a custom AI model."

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

AI Isn’t an IT Project: Here’s Who Should Be Leading Your AI Efforts
Linkedin
October 30, 2025
During our research and writing, one thing became crystal clear: regardless of how motivated and excited a company is to use AI, implementation can’t succeed without dedicated AI leadership.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

The Human Side of AI: Why Speed Matters More Than You Think
Linkedin
October 27, 2025
A lot of people I talk to compare the ChatGPT moment to the dawn of the internet, and how it revolutionized the ways we work and connect. But today, I want to challenge that thinking

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Stop Doing AI Pilots and Start Creating Strategic Impact
Linkedin
September 22, 2025
If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it, does it make a sound? Here's a better question. If your AI pilot succeeds brilliantly but has no path to scale, does it create value?

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Executive AI Fluency: The Missing Link in Transformation
Linkedin
September 15, 2025
Here's what I keep hearing from organizations: "Our AI initiatives aren't delivering the results we expected."

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Plan Your Burn, Then Burn Your Plan: Leadership Lessons From Burning Man
Linkedin
September 08, 2025
We make lists. We create spreadsheets. We double-check everything twice. We plan for dust storms, extreme heat, and logistics nightmares. We pride ourselves on being ready for anything the desert can throw at us

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

Your Personal Brand Isn't About You
Linkedin
September 01, 2025
Most people get personal branding completely wrong. They think it's about crafting the perfect bio, posting polished headshots, or sharing their achievements.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

How to Solve Leadership Challenges in a Disrupted Workplace
LinkedIn
March 08, 2024
I’m not just talking about top executive leaders, either: I’m talking about leaders across an organization. If they don’t believe in what you’re doing—if they cross their arms, shake their heads, say, “This is crazy!” when employees ask them what they think—you’re going to have a hard time creating the change you know is necessary.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Social

1 Board Membership
Jumpshot Inc
LinkedIn
September 19, 2018
Served on the Jumpshot Board of Directors and the Audit Committee. I'd been following Jumpshot for over two years and joined the board because they provide deep insight into customer journeys while adhering to the strictest protocols around personally identifiable information (PII).

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Tags: Management, Leadership, Entrepreneurship

4 Books
The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Organizations Transform While Others Fail
Amazon
September 24, 2019
Many companies make disruption their goal. They believe that if they develop the right innovation, they will disrupt their markets forever and drive the kind of growth worthy of a magazine cover story. But as bestselling author Charlene Li explains, that’s not how disruption works. Disruption doesn’t create growth; instead, growth creates disruption.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Amazon
March 25, 2019
Corporate executives are struggling with a new trend: people using online social technologies (blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, podcasts) to discuss products and companies, write their own news, and find their own deals. This groundswell is global, it s unstoppable, it affects every industry and it s utterly foreign to the powerful companies running things now.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Social

The Engaged Leader: A Strategy for Your Digital Transformation
Amazon
March 17, 2015
NYT and WSJ bestselling author Charlene Li guides business leaders deeper than ever before into the uncomfortable and ever-changing terrain of the digital era

Technology has revolutionized the very idea and nature of relationships between leaders and their followers. Yet, many leaders remain stuck at arms-length from those they lead and serve, relying on specialized teams to interact with customers, their direct reports to keep tabs on how employees are doing, and on the digital natives in their organization to stay abreast of new technologies.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership

Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead
Amazon
May 24, 2010
Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead

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Tags: Social, Leadership

1 Founder
Altimeter, a Prophet Company
LinkedIn
July 14, 2015
I help leaders thrive with disruption as a Senior Fellow at Altimeter which I founded and was acquired by Prophet in July 2015.

I have written or co-authored six books, including "Groundswell: Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies"​, the New York Times bestseller, "Open Leadership"​, "The Engaged Leader", and my latest book, "The Disruption Mindset".

My current research includes leadership, digital strategy, employee experience, and creating growth and innovation cultures.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, Entrepreneurship

1 Industry Council Member
World Economic Forum
LinkedIn
January 20, 2011
Member of the New Models of Leadership Global Advisory Council, which developed leadership frameworks and priorities for the WEF.

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

6 Podcasts
The New Rules of Disruption
Apple Podcasts
November 11, 2021
To be competitive, it’s no longer enough to be innovative – you must have a strategy for disruptive growth, a plan to identify and seize an opportunity no one else has the audacity or confidence to reach for. Disruptors don’t just blow things up – they also create and build things that result in huge, positive change. Welcome to The New Rules of Disruption with Charlene Li. For the past two decades, Charlene Li has been helping people see the future and thrive with disruption. She couples the ability to look beyond the horizon with pragmatic advice on what actions work today. She helps executives and boards recognize that companies must be disruptive to compete, not just innovate.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Social, Leadership

Rule #3 - Recognize The Power Shift
Apple Podcasts
November 11, 2021
To lead disruptive change, you must understand how disruptions shift power because leadership is about the accumulation and use of power. The source of leadership power is shifting, away from positions and titles toward relationships and connection. Most importantly, when you and your employees stand in your own power and sense of agency, power is shared and amplified, unleashing exponential results.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Social, Leadership

Rule #4 - Build Openness And Trust
Apple Podcasts
November 11, 2021
Leadership is a relationship between leaders and their followers and relationships require trust. And the more audacious your goals, the more trust you need to go at the speed of disruption required. If trust is lacking in your organization, then use openness to erect “trust scaffolding” needed to develop and deepen trust.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Social, Leadership

Introduction to Disruption
Apple Podcasts
November 02, 2021
To be competitive, it’s no longer enough to be innovative – you must have a strategy for disruptive growth, a plan to identify and seize an opportunity no one else has the audacity or confidence to reach for. Disruptors don’t just blow things up – they also create and build things that result in huge, positive change. Welcome to The New Rules of Disruption with Charlene Li.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Innovation, Leadership

Rule #1 - Lead Through Relationship
Apple Podcasts
November 02, 2021
We can always claim to be in pursuit of change, but most of us are actually looking for constants in our lives - sources of habitual comfort. This tendency is acceptable for many, but leaders who want their teams to grow and prosper will have to anticipate disruption if they want their organizations to rise above the rest and deliver meaningful change. To kick off Season 1, Charlene will take you through the 3 major pressures facing leaders today, and why the outdated perception of leadership as authoritative is so harmful to any organization wishing to embrace and side-step disruption.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Social, Leadership

Rule #2 - Start with the Future in Mind
Apple Podcasts
November 02, 2021
The consistent change in technology almost makes it a moot point; Charlene would rather know how your company plans to change, why it seeks that end goal, and what steps you will take as a leader to get there! Regardless of the field in which you lead (or hope to), political movements can be an incredible demonstration of how leaders can inspire others to pursue a common goal, and at the heart of every successful political movement is a manifesto of some kind. Charlene will share her process for writing an effective manifesto and emphasize why it’s so vital to any leader that is serious about making a shared vision come to fruition.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Social, Leadership

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