Saks is located in the Galleria on the Northeast corner of LBJ and Dallas North Tollway.  We will be meeting on Level Two in the Event Room.

A blind spot can be described as a subject that is obscure or unintelligible to otherwise sharp and intelligent people. Information technology (IT), unfortunately, is that kind of subject to many business leaders and it can either enable or disable the success of any enterprise in the 21st century.

Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide to IT-Enabled Business Transformation describes a framework developed and enriched by Charlie Feld over the last 30 years in a variety of organizations, including Frito-Lay, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, and Southwest Airlines. This framework demystifies technology, serves as a foundation and confidence builder, and is durable through the eras, across industries, and is simple in nature. This way of doing things is woven into a management system that has been proven to work in many large enterprises.

The framework—focused on business leadership—defines and describes the principles and mechanisms for an IT-enabled business transformation -

WHY (Why do anything?)

WHAT (What will we do?)

HOW (How will we do it?) and

WHO (Who will lead and manage the change?)

If you manage to this framework, you will dramatically improve your business agility, reduce the risk of the journey, and increase your probability of success. And if there’s a time that you cannot afford to fall behind in modernizing your business, that time is now.There are differences between management and leadership, and yet your role may demand both. Julie will share some thoughts with you about skills and experiences that play a role in building business leadership. Here’s something to think about – most engineering firms are led by engineers. They are led by executives who started as engineers. Also, there are leaders at all levels. No matter where you fit into an organization, you can demonstrate leadership beginning at the project level. You have to plan for success in your career; just like you plan for success in your projects. The skill sets, in many respects, are the same. She will focus on the steps each of us can take, to be open to Leadership.

Speaker:

Charlie Feld, former CEO The Feld Group

Background:

As founder and former CEO of The Feld Group—based in Dallas, Texas—Feld built a team of information technology executives that enabled dramatic results in Fortune 500 companies through the transformation of their own IT organizations. The Feld Group was acquired by EDS in 2004, which was subsequently purchased by Hewlett-Packard in 2008. In September 2008, Feld retired as a senior executive vice president and member of EDS’ Executive Committee. The Feld Group was re-launched as a Leadership Development firm in 2009.

Feld has garnered accolades from numerous sources, including Business 2.0 and Computerworld magazines. He has also been featured in InformationWeek and CIO magazines, which placed him among its “5 Top CIOs” in 2001. In 1997, Feld was named “One of the 12 Most Influential IT Executives of the Past Decade” by CIO magazine and Computerworld named him as one of “25 IT People to Watch in 1998.” His articles on IT leadership topics have appeared regularly in Computerworld Executive Suite, Harvard Business Review, and CIO magazine. He has received several industry awards, including the Smithsonian Award for Technology Excellence and the Carnegie Mellon Award for Innovative Technology. In addition, The Feld Group’s work has been the subject of multiple case studies appearing in the Harvard Business School, MIT and McKinsey Quarterly.

Charlie Feld earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the City University of New York, Hunter College.

Agenda:
5:30 - 6:00 pm Check-In & Connecting
6:00 - 7:00 pm Executive Leadership Forum Program
7:00 - 7:30 pm Fall Fashion Trend Presentation with ATW models
7:30 - Closing Shopping with 15% discount, 30% discount at the Salon and Spa

Hosted by:
Saks Fifth Avenue

Food:
Hors d'oeuvres
Wine donated by Hitachi Consulting

Cost:
$25 for early bird members
$30 for members, TENG, and In Transition
$35 for non-members