Sustained and enthusiastic words
Many thanks go to Michael Raynor for his participation in the Overlap 07 event on innovation and strategy. It was particularly telling that the multi-disciplinary audience of consultants, academics and corporate executives appreciated his incisive and compelling presentation on The Strategy Paradox. As the first presentation of our conference he effectively established a tone of rigor and quality and the Q&A that followed proved to be equally informative, challenging and entertaining. On behalf of all of the attendees, thank you for your contribution to a memorable experience.
Robin Uchida, Partner, Torch Partnership
Thank you for your enormously successful keynote presentation at this year’s ASP conference. Your talk was the highest-rated of this year's event, our biggest yet. We have hosted several of the most prominent business thinkers in the world, and your presentation was in a class with the best of them. You communicated some of the most powerful and compelling ideas that I have seen in years with rare clarity, insight, and humor.
Soren Eilertsen, Ph.D., VP of Programs, National Board of Directors, Association for Strategic Planning
We invited Michael Raynor to be the lead-off keynoter of day three of our Annual convention to advance our "Strategy Matters" initiative. And advance it, he did. Audience comments seemed to be universally laced with the word 'mesmerizing". As for me, I found Michael's insights profound and extremely applicable to today's strategic decision-making which must be done in the face of extreme uncertainty. In a conference which featured consistently high levels of intellectual thought, Michael kicked the last day up a notch...and our audience was grateful.
Robert L. Barocci, President & CEO, The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF)
Who said hard-core strategy is only for the corporate giants? Our membership covers the gamut from Fortune 500 Companies to small and mid-size organizations, and it was fascinating to see how your principles and frameworks can revolutionize strategy-making at companies of all sizes. Your approachable style combined with awe-inspiring intellectual rigor and real-world applicability made for an outstanding session. Our meetings continue to be infused with your concepts and frameworks for managing strategic uncertainty.
Leon Goren, President, Presidents of Enterprising Organizations
You were the highest-ranked speaker at this year's event, and it's easy to see why: your presentation was absolutely spellbinding -- compelling, provocative, and unnervingly right. "The Strategy Paradox" is a great contribution to management practice, and your talk unfolded the central ideas with a power and clarity that I have rarely seen. You've got it all: content, delivery and style to burn!
Ralph A. Oliva, Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Business Markets
Professor of Marketing, Smeal College of Business, Penn State
Michael Raynor’s session The Innovator’s Solution: A Prescription for Innovation Driven, Profitable Growth presented to an exclusive audience of technology CEOs was a highlight of the annual AceTech Symposium at Whistler. Not only did this presentation rate highest on relevancy of topic, it also ranked as one of the sessions that provided the most take-home value. Michael Raynor delivers great value! We look forward to a return engagement.
Kathy Troupe, Executive Director, AceTech
As founder & president of an executive education firm, I work with many top tier speakers. We have come to expect the "best & brightest" and Michael delighted us. He built relevance into the breadth & depth of his content while provoking new thinking & fresh perspectives in the participants with professionalism, humor & real world case studies.
John Horton, The Leadership Forum
Our sincerest thanks for your excellent presentation at Lindsay, Stone & Briggs’ Brandworks University! We are grateful for the obvious effort you put into preparing for our conference and for the quality of your delivery. I’m personally grateful for the way you wove in to your presentation connections to the overall points of the conference. Your presentation in particular was cited by many as the highlight of the conference, with comments like:
Clear, concise and excellent! The best!
Disruptive aspect of marketing is extremely intriguing. Best of all presenters!
Wonderful examples – brilliant speaker!
Presentation was clear, concise and really brought his concepts to life. Significantly exceeded my expectations!
Marsha Lindsay, President and CEO, Lindsay, Stone & Briggs
Thanks for the excellent presentation at our recent "Technology Transfer Investment" workshop. Your easy-to-understand examples helped our top scientists, researchers, and managers understand the concept of disruptive technologies and how they apply to our missions and innovations. The presentation energized the audience and shed new light on how we should approach solving NASA's mission needs and transferring our innovations. Much thanks, again, for the great speaking engagement and for your thought leadership!
Peter M. Hughes, Chief Technologist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Michael Raynor's insights into how to create and hold onto a sustainable competitive advantage through innovation represents one of the most fresh and creative approaches to the subject in recent years. Michael challenges the conventional wisdom of always trying to exceed customers' expectations and demonstrates that wise firms are always on the look out for those competitors whose seemingly innocent incursions represent the Trojan Horses of their industry. Every current "industry leader" should hear and heed his message. And those who don't, do so at their peril.
Dr. Chris Bart, Professor, DeGroot School of Business, McMaster University, Faculty Sponsor, 25th Annual McMaster World Congress
Michael possesses the rare combination of great content and great delivery. His challenge of driving growth through increased focus on your worst customers was hugely stimulating for the entire Corus management team.
John Cassaday, CEO, Corus Entertainment
Your keynote presentation on Strategic Flexibility was a tremendous hit with our audience! Participants often struggle with applying the principles and techniques they are exposed to at conferences, however your presentation offered depth for accomplished CI professionals, while simultaneously providing a lucid framework for those with less experience. Your sense of humor, practical experience and command of business strategy thoroughly impressed our board of directors, and our members. Thank you for contributing to a successful conference.
Michael Reed, Director of Learning, Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
Michael Raynor was a big hit. I had lots of great feedback from very senior level attendees and advisors to my program that he was a great addition to the event and got people thinking at an out of the box, more strategic level than they usually have time to do. Thanks again for everything.
Institute for International Research
Michael:
Thank you very much for speaking. You were terrific and the subject was perfect for the opener of the conference. I think the topic did resonate. Many of the speakers referred to your presentation and many attendees mentioned it as well.
An industry conference, financial services
Dear Michael:
We have received tremendous feedback from the more than 900 people that attended or participated ... Any executive conference is only as good as the speakers presenting. We had an incredible lineup, and I am very grateful that you agreed to participate.
The feedback we received on your opening keynote was awesome. 63 percent of people who filled out the evaluation forms said it was "excellent" and 23 percent said it was good, making it one of the most valued presentations of the entire conference. It was everything we were hoping for.
An executive conference
Fantastic job, very appropriate, very good, charismatic, witty, credible, very effective, interesting & thought provoking, all around great.
A major health insurance company
Raynor did a fantastic job, very appropriate, very good, charismatic, witty, credible, all around great, very effective, interesting & thought provoking.
The state organization of a major health insurance company
