Charlie Hughes is a sought after speaker who enjoys covering his favorite topics of vision, branding, and organizational culture. Laced with stories from his extensive career in the automobile business, Charlie shares with his audience the foolishness of conventional wisdom preached and practiced in too many businesses and the need for greater courage than is commonly found in business today.

Charlie is co-author of the book Branding Iron, Branding Lessons from the Meltdown of the U.S. Auto Industry, described as "the true story behind the auto industry" that will "supercharge your risk-taking batteries and fuel your brand-building strategies" by Thomas D. Kuczmarski, President of Kuczmarski & Associates and Author of Innovation and Managing New Products. (Branding Iron is available at Amazon.com.)

Charlie enjoys sharing his experiences as a global maverick who built Land Rover from the ground up and learned the challenges of entrepreneurialism at CarBuzz.com. He stirs audience’s imagination with visions of building their own world class brand and guides them on how to do it. No easy task in an over crowded market.

In a business world enamored with the expense side of the profit equation, Charlie captures the essence of what it takes to grow revenue by setting yourself apart in your market. Topics range from “Branding lessons from the meltdown of the U.S. Auto Industry” right from his new book Branding Iron to how to brand your retail experience—a topic shared at the National Jewelers Convention.

With businesses seeking insights on how to compete in our over served world, audiences resonate with Charlie’s current two favorite topics:

• “What Sets You Apart,” a fresh look at branding and how to make it work for you

• “Your Company’s Culture—Friend or Foe,” how to make culture your in-plain-sight secret weapon.

Charlie also enjoys crafting custom speeches based on client’s needs and tailors his speeches to each audience. His talks showcase not only his breath of experience in the car business, advertising, and consulting but also his sense of humor and passion. Reviewers have used words like inspiring, powerful, while commenting about how much they learned that they could not wait to put to use.
  
Having sat on the Dillard University Board of Trustees and served on advisory councils for both the Graduate School of Management at UCI and the Simon School at the University of Rochester, Charlie has an affinity for higher education and thoroughly enjoys speaking to college audiences.

For more information contact the Ovation Talent Agency at http://www.ovationtalent.com/speaker.aspx?spid=50. 

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Click here to view a video of a few of Charlie's appearances over the years as both a speaker and as leader of two of the world's most prestigious car companies. (7:22 mins.)