• Examine what holds organisations back from delivering the results they really need to drive growth in their business
• Examine strong baseline information including financial performance, market and competitor dynamics, customer needs and organisational assessments
• Analyse the changing strategic demands on the sales and business development function in order to bridge the gap between strategy and execution
• Evaluate performance and benchmark versus latest global perspectives

• Develop a more sophisticated understanding of leadership, its associated challenges, and an appreciation for a range of tangible leadership practices to use in professional and personal contexts
• Understand leadership as a ‘craft’ activity, emphasising the importance of experience, engagement, intuition, and emotional awareness
• Acquire a range of practical coaching skills that form a crucial part of a good leader’s armoury

• Investigate how firms must develop differentiated products and services, based on sound customer insights and enhance their capability to effectively implement their strategy
• Present a compelling approach that allows suppliers to demonstrate and document superior value compared to the next best alternative from the customer’s perspective

• Examine the differences between selling approaches and understanding proactive customer and client development
• Consider buyer seller relationships in terms of how to identify win-win solutions with potential and existing clients
• Understand what areas of sales process development are necessary to improve deal movement and selling skills
• Acquire value-creating negotiation strategies and practice their application

• Create an effective organisation that is focused, flexible and operates at pace
• Develop appropriate processes, systems, and a culture of delivery
• Diagnose root causes driving the lack of performance in achieving business goals
• Position the sales/business development function within the organisation’s overall sales and marketing strategy
• Address the components required for designing and managing a highly effective sales/business development team

• Develop a robust understanding of why talent development is a key driver of profitable growth
• Utilise targeted development and succession planning techniques
• Learn the necessary skills to manage high-potential sales leaders, capitalising on high performance to achieve crucial business goals

Dr Gearóid Hardy

Gearoid is accustomed to asking the challenging and often unpopular questions that draw business leaders and teams out of their comfort zones. He continually prompts them to reassess the situation, which leads them to new found clarity from within. In today’s fast-paced world, managers rarely have time to look at the big picture, tweak it for the best results and move towards a more efficient way of working.

Gearóid has earned his business colours over more than 35 years. He has worked with many global organisation and executive management teams to help them rethink their strategies and develop resilient, energetic businesses. He has helped clients succeed in Ireland, the UK, the US, Poland, Holland, Bahrain, Jordan and Hong Kong.

Gearóid is particularly experienced in advising on and implementing lean and agile business principles for performance improvement. These help increase competitiveness by improving process efficiency, reducing operational waste and creating value.

Dr Andrew Keating is an Associate Professor in marketing at the UCD Smurfit School of Business. Andrew earned his PhD in 2008 from UCD and also holds an MBS in Marketing, a DBS in Business, and a BA. His research interests at present are in the areas of the intersection between entrepreneurship (venture creation and development) and marketing, the internationalisation of new ventures, as well as exploring consumers and austerity. His research has appeared in leading academic journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (FT 50 Journal), Industrial Marketing Management, Consumption Markets and Culture, and the Journal of Consumer Behaviour. He is the academic director for the UCD CEMS MSc in International Management and lectures in the area of consumer marketing and marketing and innovation. Andrew has also been involved in delivering executive education across many of the school’s executive education programmes including for the likes of Alltech, Enterprise Ireland, Google, InterTrade Ireland, and Bord Bia.

Stephen Boyle is a negotiation trainer, lecturer and consultant. He teaches at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, where he delivers courses in negotiation, influence and decision making on executive development, MBA, and other postgraduate degree programmes. Stephen also designs and delivers customised executive development for corporate clients and has delivered workshops in Europe, Asia and the United States in sectors as diverse as automotive, construction, financial services, food and agribusiness, government, healthcare, law enforcement, pharmaceuticals, retail and technology. Prior to embarking on an independent training and consulting career 19 years ago, Stephen held roles in management consulting, and in communication and change management at a Fortune 500 company.

Dr. Alessandro Laureani 

Alessandro has been an Operational Excellence leader in the services and tech industry for over 20 years, leading business transformation programs, particularly in the areas of Process Improvement, Customer Experience and Product Operations. 

Currently a Global Operations Leader at Microsoft, where he is responsible for the Billing processes within the Microsoft Business Operation, he previously spent 10 years at Google, in a variety of roles from Google Advertising Operations to Ads Customer Solution and finally Google Cloud, where he was Director of Business Development. He also previously held leadership roles in KBC Bank and Hertz Corporation. 

Alessandro earned a bachelor degree in Statistic from University of Rome “La Sapienza”, the Executive MBA in the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, and a PhD in Engineering Management at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 

He has published in a number of peer reviewed internationally recognised journals on the topics of Leadership and Operational Excellence and has previously lectured at the DCU Business School and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland on the topic of Operations Management. 

Alessandro also serves on the Quality Management Standards Committee of the National Standards Authority of Ireland.

Pamela holds a MSc. in Executive Coaching and an Advanced Diploma in Organisationsal and Coaching Supervision from Hult Ashridge and two Postgraduate Diplomas in Coaching from the UCD Smurfit School. Pamela is accredited as a coach and coach supervisor by Ashridge Hult and the EMCC. Pamela is a relational coach and her training is grounded in Gestalt. As part of her CPD she has completed Gestalt training in the Dublin Gestalt Centre and in the Gestalt International Study Centre in Cape Cod. Her role as coach is to provide a supportive presence for clients to safely explore how they are in life at present and what changes they might want to make. She is a thinking partner for clients and a witness to their change. As a coach tutor Pamela brings herself fully to her work and has been described as “the coach’s coach” due to her collaborative professional approach.