Advisory | The Vanguard Network

LEADERSHIP ADVISORY & DEVELOPMENT

Through its advisory work, The Vanguard Network (TVN) collaborates with senior and up-and-coming executives to effectively unlock their full potential as leaders through a real-world approach of one-to-one coaching and contextual business insights. Having been given the tools, these leaders drive the evolution required to transform their businesses during these times of rapid and unpredictable change.

This work is based on decades of project experience working with top leadership on advisory and development assignments in large multinationals and global service firms and dozens of individual advisory engagements.

TVN has a robust network of current and former CEOs and C-suite leaders who interface regularly with TVN CEO Ken Banta and his senior colleagues via face-to-face forums, virtual meetings, and webinars. This group of more than 200 CEOs and C-suite executives participates throughout the year in a robust series of catalyzing conversations on topics ranging from seeing around the corners of policy trends to working with the Board to mastering new capabilities required for advancement.

These ongoing interactions with TVN’s C-suite and Board members uniquely enrich the perspectives and approaches that Ken and colleagues have at their disposal to work with individual executives and executive cohorts in three ways:

Through a coaching relationship
As a sounding board for leadership and decision-making
TVN’s special Next Generation Leader curriculum is specifically designed to develop high potentials for C-suite and partnership roles in companies and firms

COACHING

We work with leaders on specific development goals to help them be more effective decision-makers and developers of their people. This can include exploring additional personal or professional growth areas, creating and implementing organizational strategies for incremental improvement, and contributing to enterprise transformational change.

We also help leaders similarly with their teams, developing high performance and overcoming barriers. This work can include customized training and development programs, building effective working cultures, and carrying out talent assessments and development plans.

SOUNDING BOARD

This approach is typically most appropriate for the senior leader in the organization or team and their direct reports.

TVN’s Ken Banta and Richard Hulme have decades of experience supporting CEOs and C-suite executives and their reports as they work through specific challenges and develop strategy and execution plans for themselves and their teams. This real-world experience directly benefits clients as they develop their responses to diverse leadership challenges.

Examples of topics for which this approach can be beneficial:

Reinventing the leadership team and the roles of direct reports
Self-assessment and self-reflection on personal leadership strengths and development areas
Developing insights and strategies around relations with Board members, the CEO, and other top stakeholders

NEXT GENERATION LEADER

Based on our top leadership work, our C-suite members asked us to develop a curriculum geared towards helping high-potentials move from "next level" roles into a C-suite or Partner position.

They identified the central issue that TVN addresses through this program: “What got you here won’t get you there.” That is, all the technical and managerial competencies that drive success at other levels are insufficient at the higher organizational levels, which rely on indirect influence and insightful decision-making.

With this in mind, TVN created a six-month modular program combining face-to-face and virtual elements. The program is designed to run concurrently with participants’ full-time jobs in their current roles.

Each module is a highly interactive conversation with a partner, C-suite executive, or other source of top-leader insight. The topics range from developing personal EQ to leading by influence to working with a CEO.

Each Next Generation program is customized to a role or a specific organization.

The Next Generation General Counsel program is now entering its third year. This program exemplifies the Next Generation Leader approach.

To view the overview of the program, please click here. To view the curriculum, click here.

EXECUTIVE ADVISORY TEAM

KEN BANTA

Founder & CEO

At Vanguard, Ken Banta and his team create unique leadership conversations and networks among its C-suite and board-level members. Vanguard also supports top executives as they transform and reinvent organizations for long-term high performance. Ken helped lead eleven global turnarounds, mergers, and transformations. Those situations all resulted in long-term growth and performance, generating more than $83 billion in accretion–in the context of the overall 70-90% failure rate of complex corporate change initiatives. Ken has advised on many more initiatives of varying scale and global reach. Applying playbooks that build high-performance cultures is a hallmark of Ken’s expertise and Vanguard’s value. The Vanguard Network is a by-invitation program for top executives across the business ecosystems. Vanguard members advance their leadership capabilities through events, unique content, online engagement, and other resources. They also develop new networks among their peers. Vanguard advises C-suite executives on leadership challenges and on driving cultural change to the frontlines. It also creates intimate, highly impactful events for service firms and C-suite customers and prospects. Before founding Vanguard in 2013, Ken participated in the executive team at Bausch + Lomb, led by CEO Brent Saunders, playing a pivotal role in the turnaround that led to the company’s acquisition at a significant multiple. Before that, Ken was a member of the leadership team at Schering-Plough Corporation. He worked with CEO Fred Hassan and colleagues to transform a deeply stressed company into a high-performance player. Schering-Plough was subsequently acquired by Merck. Earlier, Ken helped lead Pharmacia Corporation's textbook turnaround. Pfizer ultimately acquired Pharmacia. Ken began his career as a correspondent and writer with Time Magazine for almost a decade, including as Eastern Europe bureau chief covering the fall of communism and the democratic revolutions of the region. Ken is a regular contributor to The Harvard Business Review, and co-author of HBR’s “Ten Must Reads for CEOs” and "10 Must Reads on Career Resilience." Ken graduated with a B.A. from Amherst College and was a Rhodes Scholar at University College, Oxford.

RICHARD HULME

Managing Director

Richard Hulme is Managing Director of The Vanguard Network. Richard has over 25 years of experience in strategy consulting, global operations, and organizational excellence with a particular focus on developing people for new roles. During his 15 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he served as chief of staff to the PwC Global Board Chairman, delivered special projects for the PwC Global CEO, and built a global healthcare consulting practice by integrating 20+ country-level firms into a single go-to-market business. His diverse industry experience in consulting, professional and business services, retail, e-commerce, and technology across a broad range of functions, including strategic planning, global operations, human resources, IT, legal, and finance, enables him to help organizations build new revenue capabilities and adapt to changing market conditions. Richard is a certified OKR coach and a passionate advocate for customer and employee experiences that align with the Brand. He previously held senior and executive roles at IBM and other boutique consultancies and start-ups. Richard has a BS from William & Mary and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon.

GARRICK ISERT

Principal

Garrick Isert brings a wealth of corporate and consulting experience to help organizations better align the human element of business with strategy and execution to achieve success. He coaches leaders and teams to find clarity, achieve results, and lead authentically. Other areas of expertise include creating high performing teams/culture, engaging employees, facilitating, and designing training. His style is compassionate, supportive, direct, and challenging. Clients call on him for his unique blend of coaching skills, people savvy, strategic problem-solving, and business experience. Driven to make an impact, clients appreciate his passion for results and bias towards the pragmatic. Garrick has more than 20 years of corporate and management consulting experience working with global senior leaders and teams across a diverse set of industries including hospitality, law, e-commerce, financial services, travel, energy, and consumer goods. Highlights include: 1. World 50 – owned a P&L while building and leading a global membership of 65+ F500 C-level executives for them to learn, collaborate, and find inspiration. 2. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) – executive roles in Strategy, Corporate Responsibility, and Organizational Design including launching a new business at the world’s largest hospitality company. 3. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) – projects in post-merger integration, change management, sales force effectiveness, and assessing human capital and business processes. 4. General Electric (GE) – graduated with honors from GE’s premier leadership development program; roles in Finance, Business Development (M&A), and as a Six Sigma Black Belt. Garrick has a B.S. in business (cum laude) from Wake Forest University, a J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law, and an MBA with a specialization in Management & Organizations from the Kellogg School of Management.

AILEEN GONSALVES

Principal

Aileen brings to Vanguard her unique leadership communication approach, the Gonsalves Method. It is rooted in her career as an actor and director, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Aileen’s method focuses on creating an authentic connection between the speaker and the audience. She enables leaders and their team members to “hold any audience in the palm of their hand”. Clients work with Aileen to reconnect to their unique point of view, strengthening their belief in themselves, their story, and their objectives. They improve their ability to respond accurately, flexibly, and authentically, as well as their EQ and ability to read the room. Aileen works with actors and other artists, business executives and professionals, and political leaders face-to-face and virtually. She is writing her second book for Bloomsbury, Introduction to the Gonsalves Method, following the success of her first book, Shakespeare and Meisner, for Bloomsbury and Arden. During her time with the RSC, Aileen directed leading actors, including Dame Judi Dench and Sir Simon Russell Beale. She has worked alongside Vanessa Redgrave and RSC directors Michael Boyd and Greg Doran. Aileen also has coached individual stage and screen performers, including musical theater star Alfie Boe, RSC leading actress Pippa Nixon, and Witcher and Lord of the Rings star Zates Atour. Aileen has served as the head of acting at various drama schools and as a professor at RADA. Aileen’s The Gonsalves method is becoming a gold standard for actor training, including at the University of Northampton in the UK. Aileen also founded and leads the Butterfly Theatre Company. For the past 12 years, the ensemble has performed immersive, accessible productions of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and other Shakespeare classics up close in locations of extraordinary beauty–cave labyrinths, ancient woodlands, and historic castles. Aileen is also the Kali Theatre Company's associate director, specializing in new writing from women of South Asian descent.