Burlington, MA (PRWEB) February 02, 2012

Linkage, a global leadership development company, announced its partnership with innovation guru Stephen M. Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro has consulted with Fortune 500 corporations for nearly 20 years on the subject of innovation; specifically focused on bringing together divergent points of view in an efficient manner. His partnership will provide Linkage’s clients with his proven innovation methodology through hands-on leadership training programs.

“This partnership adds an important dimension to Linkage’s innovation offerings by teaching leaders how to make their organizations more capable of innovation. This is a common challenge that we hear from clients. We are very excited to partner with Mr. Shapiro to help organizations improve their results in this critical area, and are pleased to introduce his cutting-edge methodology as part of our suite of leadership development programs,” said Ron Porter, Regional VP and VP, Innovation Practice at Linkage.

As President and CEO of 24/7 Innovation, Mr. Shapiro has worked extensively with global organizations in over 40 countries. Prior to that, he trained more than 20,000 consultants in innovation during his 15 year tenure with Accenture. His latest book, Best Practices are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition, has been featured on ABC News, CBS Interactive’s BNET, Southwest Airline’s Spirit Magazine, and Investor’s Business Daily, to name a few. Best Practices was selected as a best book on innovation by 800-CEO-READ. Mr. Shapiro also authored 24/7 Innovation, Personality Poker, and The Little Book of BIG Innovation Ideas. His Personality Poker® card game has been used by more than 50,000 people worldwide to create high-performing innovation teams.

“Given today’s frenetic pace of change, the organizations that repeatedly and rapidly adapt and evolve are the ones that will survive. This requires that innovation be treated like a capability rather than a series of ad hoc events. Linkage brings much more than training; they bring the ability to create sustainable change,” said Shapiro.

Shapiro will be featured in Linkage’s Thought Leader Series on How to Out-Smart the Competition on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. In his 90-minute broadcast, he will explore why innovation isn’t just about generating occasional new ideas; it’s about staying consistently one step ahead of the competition. To learn more about this elite partnership or Linkage’s Thought Leader Series call 781-402-5555.

Linkage works with leaders and leadership teams worldwide to build organizations that produce superior results. For over 25 years, they have delivered on this promise by strategically aligning leadership, talent, and culture within organizations globally. They do this by providing strategic consulting on leadership development and talent management topics and through their learning institutes, skill-building workshops, tailored assessment services, and executive coaching.

Linkage is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts with operations in Atlanta, Boston, New York, San Francisco, St. Louis and outside the U.S. in Athens, Bangalore, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Hamilton, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait City, Mexico City, Rome, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Vilnius.

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