Speaking Engagements
“Charlie Leichtweis has the unique skill of presenting complicated business concepts in a very understandable way. His ability to present the case for business intelligence in a way that related to the organizational challenges faced was amazing. After the presentation many members of the audience commented that Charlie’s knowledge and style could help them and their organization understand how to achieve results in ways they have struggled to do so to date.”
D. Webber Scott, Account Executive, Analytics8
PREVIOUS SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:
Charlie speaks to the Association of Charlotte Area Consultants
Charlie speaks to a group of CEOs about “The Power of Respect in Business”
Charlie speaks to students at Belk College of Business UNC Charlotte
Quarterly meeting of The Carolinas’ Chapter of The Institute of Management Consultants
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2019
Workshop #1 Presenter: Charlie Leichtweis
“Empowering Companies to Identify, Prioritize & Structure Solutions”
Through his process solutions, Charlie helps to empower companies to identify, prioritize, and structure solutions to their barriers to achieve and sustain profitable growth. A global strategic, operational, and financial leader, Charlie knows “how to help” organizations achieve sustainable, profitable growth by leveraging their core competencies and market trends.
CFO Magazine Webcast titled “The CFO Playbook on Planning: Best Practices for Creating a Forward-Looking FP&A Function.”
The webcast focused on how CFOs have become valuable contributors to their companies’ strategic decisions.
Charlie Leichtweis shared his insights on how the CFO’s role is changing. “The planning and analysis role has had to keep up with the rapid pace of business and technology,” said Leichtweis. “Critical to success is the ability to turn financial data into actionable information for the purpose of giving the company a competitive advantage, often based on not just the information itself, but in shorter time horizon upon which to detect, analyze and act on that data. While traditionally the CFO’s role was in analyzing past performance, today the CFO is increasingly leveraging financial planning and analysis techniques to identify future opportunities as well as unseen risks.” “Previously, the CFO asked the question, ‘What happened’ and ‘Why it happened’ based on historical events,” said Leichtweis. “Today, companies are using the increased analytical capabilities afforded them to go a step further and answer the question: ‘So what?’ This helps organizations better come up with a strategic response plan, and a more accurate prediction of what the future holds.”
The Private Directors Association is committed to creating value through Board excellence.
Charlie Leichtweis spoke as a panelist in their program: Boards in Family Businesses: Composition, Non-Family Members, & Twists and Turns
The purpose of this event is to discuss the unique attributes and requirements for boards of directors in family businesses. We addressed the common questions such as board member qualifications, board composition and non-family involvement, but also the more challenging ones including how to create a culture of open dissent while maintaining high levels of trust and effective decision making.
Road Map for Ascending to CEO sponsored by BPI Group, a global management and human-resources consulting firm.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming the skills and experiences you’ve gained in finance automatically make you the leading candidate for the top job.
Leichtweis’s experiences highlight the shrinking gap between the CFO and CEO roles, as finance chiefs are increasingly asked to conceptualize organizational strategy, help the CEO assess risk and be a partner in driving growth. Yet there remain significant challenges for CFOs in taking on the CEO role.
Charlie shared his views on bridging the gap: “Being analytically minded, I tended to think in terms of processes and results versus relationships,” he says. “The most difficult adjustment for me was taking the time to listen longer, getting to know the motivations of different personality types. I needed to approach results conversations from a relationship point of view. With that approach I was able to build more trust and enable my teams to accomplish more.”
“While you’re building your business acumen, don’t neglect the importance of relationship-building. That’s what most CFOs are least prepared for. I recommend focusing an equal amount of attention on relationships and results. “Learn how to listen longer, Listening builds relationships and builds ownership.”
Financial Poise™ presented “BOARD OF DIRECTORS BOOT CAMP 2018,” a New Webinar Series through West LegalEdcenter. The BOARD OF DIRECTORS BOOT CAMP 2018 webinar series is produced by Financial Poise.™ The series is sponsored by BoardBookit.™
Charlie Leichtweis shared his perspective on the value different kinds of advisors, boards and committees can bring to organizations. As he shared, private company owners, including family businesses, ESOPs, and private equity owners, often have different expectations for their boards than is common in publicly traded firms. In this webinar, the audience gained insights on what companies are really looking for (or should be) from their boards, and the many ways that boards contribute to private company success.
Business Intelligence user group sponsored by Analytics 8.
Charlie spoke to the group of IT and Finance professionals regarding “the case for business intelligence”.