Don Peppers

Don Peppers: Profile

Don’s vision, perspective and thoughtful analysis of global business practices has earned him some significant citations by internationally recognized entities. Business 2.0 Magazine named him one of the 19 “foremost business gurus of our times,” and Accenture’s Institute for Strategic Change listed him as one of the 50 “most important living business thinkers” in the world. The Times of London has listed him among its “Top 50 Business Brains,” and the U.K.’s Chartered Institute for Marketing included him in its inaugural listing of the 50 “most influential thinkers in marketing and business today.”

Don has a popular voice in the worldwide media, with recent contributions to both the Harvard Business Review (May 2009) and the McKinsey Quarterly (June 2009). In addition to frequent posts on Strategy Speaks, the Peppers & Rogers Group blog, Don produces a video diary of his global business observations, entitled “Peppers Unplugged,” and is an active Twitter user, as well (@DonPeppers).

His thought leadership and presentations routinely focus on the business issues that today’s global enterprises are grappling with, while trying to maintain a competitive edge in their marketplace. These include:

• Balancing long- and short-term goals by managing customer value
• Building stronger customer relationships and customer experiences
• The role that employee engagement, customer trust, and innovation play in the viability of every business
• Why and how to overhaul your business model before your competition (or channel partner) does it for you

His compelling, clear and concise way of articulating his insights places Don in high demand as both a speaker and a management advisor. In 2010 alone he had dozens of speaking engagements on six continents, and his counsel is regularly sought by Fortune 500 executives and entrepreneurs.

With co-author Martha Rogers, Ph.D., Don has produced a legacy of international best-sellers that have collectively sold more than a million copies in 18 languages. Their latest thinking is embodied in their book, Rules to Break & Laws to Follow published in 2008, and named as the inaugural title to Microsoft’s “Executive Leadership Series.” The book addresses the challenges of success in a world where networked customers and engaged employees hold tremendous power, and further exposes the crisis of short-termism that is rampant in business today, while documenting the strategies required to grow out of this rut.

In 2005, with Return On Customer, Peppers and Rogers advanced a concept of business valuation based on the customer base as a revenue-producing asset. This book introduced and trade-marked a unique new financial metric (Return on Customersm, or ROCsm), which is now being licensed to companies around the world as a valuation and analytics tool. Fast Company named Return on Customer one of the 15 “most important reads” of 2005, and cited the book again in 2007 on their list of the 25 “Best Books” in business.

These successes follow in the footsteps of their other books, The One to One Future (1993), which BusinessWeek called “one of the bibles of new marketing”; Enterprise One to One (1997), which received a five-star rating from The Wall Street Journal; as well as The One to One Fieldbook (1999), The One to One Manager (1999); and One to One B2B, which made The New York Times business best-seller list within a month of publication in 2001. The authors have also published the first-ever CRM textbook for university use in graduate-level courses, Managing Customer Relationships (April 2004).

Previously, Don was a new business rainmaker for world-class advertising agencies, including Chiat/Day and Lintas:USA. He capped his advertising career as the CEO of Perkins/Butler Direct Marketing. Prior to Madison Avenue, he worked as an economist in the oil business, and as the director of accounting for a regional airline.

Don holds a Bachelor’s Degree in astronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy, and a Master’s Degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Cicero, Inc. (CICN), and for privately held Jetera Precision Media. Don is also on the Board of Advisors for Gridley & Co., the investment bank.