Robin Speculand

Last year I was co-nominated with Piyush Gupta (DBS CEO) for one of the Thinkers50 awards and won the Singapore Prestige Strategist of The Year. This was on the back of publishing in 2021 World’s Best Bank – A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation that tells the story of how DBS did not just digitalise the bank but revolutionised the industry.

I passionately live and breathe strategy implementation and continually create new approaches to support leaders in transforming their organisations. I have a number of breakthroughs on implementation methodology and techniques, including the Implementation Compass™, a proprietary framework built on the eight areas for excellence for execution; Readiness2Execute Assessment; Ticking Clock© Model, a framework for digitalising an organisation; Digital Maturity Index, a self-assessment that reveals a person’s level of digital maturity; and the Digital Best Practices Benchmark.

I’ve also called co-founded two companies, Strategy Implementation Institute, that provides leaders with a community, online course, and online certification in the field and Digital Leadership Specialists.

In 2014, I recognised that digital transformation was markedly different and presented new challenges. I researched the challenges globally and in 2018 co-authored the white paper Transforming Your Company into a Digital-Driven Business. In 2021 I co-authored the white paper The Future of Strategy Implementation.

I have published five books on strategy implementation. My latest, World’s Best Bank—A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation, is an Amazon best seller. My pioneering work has been featured in media worldwide, including BBC World and Forbes. I am a TEDx speaker and an educator for Duke CE, IMD, and an adjunct member of Singapore Management University and guest lecturer at NUS. I am also an award-winning and Harvard listed case writer and a GlobalScot appointed by the First Minister of Scotland.

Outside of work, I compete in Ironman events around the world and call Singapore home.

The NUS EMBA helped lay the foundation, complimented my thinking, and gave me the confidence to launch my company in 2000. In the year I graduated from NUS EMBA, I left my position as a Regional Vice President at Citigroup Asia Pacific and started Bridges Business Consultancy Int.