• Date: 16th July, 2009
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Topic: ‘The Competitive Landscape: getting inside your competitor’s minds”
• Guest Speaker: Badri Narasimhan, SABMiller, Group Strategy & Planning Manager
• Location: Morton’s Club (28 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EN)

• Date: 15th July, 2009
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Topic: Bye bye to Bling?—The recession is reshaping the luxury goods sector. What does the future hold?
• Location: Boyden UK, Ames House, 7 Duke of York Street, London, SW1Y 6LA

Cognosis and Boyden are teamed to offer an exclusive breakfast event for Chief Executives from the Luxury Goods sector. Richard will reviewed highlights from a significant piece of analysis Cognsois recently completed investigating the effects of the recession on the premium sector.

• Date: 30th April, 2009
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Location: Morton’s Club (28 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EN)
• Theme: Employee Engagement & Communication—Busting the ‘What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas’ Myth
• Guest Speaker: Nigel Martin, VP International HR, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.

Keeping quiet about the plans & activities taking place at the Caesar’s Palace in Vegas may be expected, but keeping quiet about the plans & activities taking place in today’s boardroom during a recession is a recipe for disaster. In recessionary times, companies need to be effectively & efficiently communicating their strategic goals to internal & external stakeholders to instil much needed trust & confidence. Nigel Martin, VP International HR for Harrah’s Entertainment, busted the ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ myth at Cognosis’ April event.

• Date: 5th March, 2009
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Location: Morton’s Club (28 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EN)
• Theme: Future for Premium

The group discussion for this investigated the outlook for luxury/premium brands in recessionary times. Cognosis has conducted an extensive analysis on premiumisation specifically focused on the drinks sector and our findings have proved to be applicable across sectors.

• Date: 12th February, 2009
• Time: 8:00-10:30 AM
• Location: Morton’s Club (28 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EN)
• Theme: Psychology of Recession

The theme for the February breakfast was the Psychology of Recession—understanding the psychological implications of change and discussing what leaders can do to help their people progress through the change process during a recession.

• Date: 21st January, 2009
• Time: 6:30-10:30 PM
• Guest Speaker: Sally Cohen, Managing Director, Elizabeth Arden
• Location: Morton’s Club (28 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EN)

Cognosis hosted an intimate dinner event to connect and appreciate our network of contacts. We welcomed Sally Cohen, Managing Director, and Elizabeth Arden, as our guest speakers for the evening

• Date: 15th January, 2009
• Time: 8:00-10:30 AM
• Location: Morton’s Club (28 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EN)

• Date: 20th November, 2008
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Theme: “The tangible link between effective strategic engagement and business performance”
• Guest Speaker: Kevin Howard, VP Marketing, Organización Corona
• Location: Haymarket Hotel (1 Suffolk Place, London, SW1Y 4BP)

At this event we reviewed the recent Hard EDGE research findings—linking the EDGE 1 & 2 findings to tangible business results of companies included in the research sample. This analysis allowed us to demonstrate the bottom-line impact of effective strategic engagement on the performance of various companies throughout the UK.

Kevin Howard, VP Marketing, Organización Corona, joined us to offer his experience and opinion on managing a multi-national brand while staying committed to emotional engagement and whole-mind planning.

• Date:21st October, 2008
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Theme: “Strategy Must Move with the Times”
  Guest Speaker: Andy Newall, Group HR Director, United Biscuits

The theme for this event focused on the changing language of HR in light of the current economic downturn. Andy Newall provided the unique perspective of a private equity and shared examples of how he’s managed to promote the value of intangibles within United Biscuits.

• Date:25th September, 2008
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Theme: “Downturn Strategies Need Emotional EDGE”

Cognosis recently hosted the September EDGE Breakfast Briefing to discuss with clients ways to successfully manage strategy through the downturn. The event was attended by a variety of top executives from a diverse group of UK organisations. We assessed their response to a variety of questions to understand their outlook on the current economic state of the UK in the context of other recent research findings.

• Date: 11th September, 2008
• Time: 6:30-10:30 PM
• Guest Speaker: Eva Eisenschimmel, Chief Operation Officer for EDF Energy Customers Branch.

Cognosis welcomed an intimate group of 10 clients to listen to Eva discuss the inside story on how she changed the EDF Energy Customers Branch culture & leadership focus and built the corporate brand.

Client Feedback:

“Many thanks for the kind invitation to the dinner last night. I thought both Eva's presentation and the dinner were most enjoyable.”

“I really enjoyed the evening and the round table chat and focus on a business (EDF) worked really well for me.”

“The company was stimulating and the presentation and discussion thought provoking.”

• Date: 25th June, 2008
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Theme: Leading EDGE Findings Review
• Guest Speaker: Andy Brown, Managing Director, You Gov Organisational Consulting

The June EDGE Breakfast Briefing was focused on the newly released Leading EDGE research findings, investigating the impact of leaders, leadership teams and organisational culture on strategy. Andy Brown co-presented the research findings with Richard.

• Date: 9th May, 2008
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Theme: Managements’ Influence on Organisational Effectiveness
• Guest Speaker: Stefan Stern, Management Columnist, Financial Times

EDGE research revealed that leadership teams have the strongest direct impact on driving an effective organisational culture.  With an opening address by Stefan Stern, Management Columnist for the Financial Times, this May EDGE Breakfast Briefing focused on the particularly influential role that management plays in driving organisational effectiveness.

Discussion Highlights:

“Talking about ‘emotion’ in the UK is a brave thing to be doing in a world that is driven by shareholder returns, data, and bottom-line facts.”

“The fear of losing control by referring to ‘emotion’ and ‘softer’ issues is present in most Leaders and Leadership Teams. This must be overcome as research confirms that a truly whole-minded approach is most successful.”

• Date: 24th April, 2008
• Time: 8:00-10:00 AM
• Theme: Closing the Strategy Performance Gap

Client Feedback:

“It was great to spend so much time thinking about something a little more distanced and strategic than the everyday operational hustle. EDGE looks like a great call to action.”

“The EDGE research discussion confirmed for me that the opportunity for the strategic process to motivate people and drive success is considerably less than the simple combination of good ideas, rigorous execution and a positive mindset.”

• Date: 1st April, 2008
• Time: 6:30-10:30 PM
• Guest Speaker: Andrei Gemeneanu, Global Brand Director for Sunsilk, Unilever

Cognosis welcomed an intimate group of 10 clients to listen to Andrei discuss the inside story on how he challenged the paradigm for re-launching global brands within Unilever.  Andrei chatted about how he managed internal challenges, reinvented traditional agency management and attained critical buy-in from operating units to successfully create one of the largest global re-launches in the history of Unilever.

Client Feedback:

“I really enjoyed meeting everyone, and learnt a lot from all the stories. Innovation was a hot topic, so I was particularly lucky. It was great to also hear Andrei's story.”

“Really enjoyed last night. Great location; great people; thought the Sunsilk guest speaker was VERY impressive.