David E. Morey, Vice Chairman of Zyman Group and founder and CEO of DMG, Inc., is one of the leading strategic consultants in America. He is currently Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at Columbia University, specializing in media and politics, and is the award-winning co-author of The Underdog Advantage: Using the Power of Insurgent Strategy to Put Your Business on Top (McGraw Hill).
Mr. Morey has advised senior officers in a number of Fortune 100 entities. He has developed international business, marketing and communications strategy for Arnold & Porter, Avant!, Bancomer, Verizon, The Coca-Cola Company, Mars, Cytogen, J.E. Seagram, KPMG, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Multinational Strategies, News Corp., Nike, Omnium Communications, Procter & Gamble, Disney, Reebok, APT, Inc., Visa, Ernst and Young, Allied Domecq, Hughes Space and Communications, CBIZ, Newbridge Capital, Cablevision, HBH Company, TPG, Wendy’s International and a range of venture capital projects.
He was an advisor to the Obama campaign over the last 18 months. In addition, Mr. Morey has worked with a number of foreign candidates, parties and governments including: Colombian President Virgilio Barco; Philippine President Corazon Aquino; Russian President Boris Yeltsin and The Dalai Lama. In 1997, he advised the winning presidential campaign of Kim Dae Jung, the first opposition leader to be elected in Korean history. Subsequently, he was an advisor to the Government of Korea during its financial crisis and recovery.
Recently, Mr. Morey advised the successful campaigns of Chen Shui-bian, whose victory represented the first peaceful transfer of power to an opposition party in Chinese history, Vicente Fox, Mexico’s first successful opposition presidential candidate in 70 years and South Korea’s Roh Moo Hyun. Mr. Morey was also Foreign Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator John Glenn and a journalist in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Mr. Morey serves on a number of corporate and public sector boards and is Co-Chairman of Drinks That Work, Inc., a functional beverage company, and Co-Chairman of the Fund For Peace. He was four-time All-American Decathlon competitor, IC4A Champion and a member of several U.S. national teams.
Recommended Topics:
1) Learning From The Obama Brand: The Underdog Advantage - with David Morey.
David Morey has helped direct over 10 winning global presidential campaigns and is Vice Chairman of Zyman Group and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. He says these are the keys:
- Always playing offense
- Making strategy boss
- Re-focusing and re-energizing your business and marketing efforts
- Controlling dialogue and definition
He notes that these "are all part of the way businesses and CEOs today navigate through and win in these turbulent times. It’s a framework more than relevant for us all." David further explains:
Show me an American CEO with the fortitude to pick an issue, a theme, a brand, a strategy, a mission that is truly authentic and touches the hearts and minds of their consumer, and then devotes their unwavering commitment, support and resources to that focus for nearly two years, and I’ll show you a CEO who is winning their campaign for consumer allegiance.
Regardless of one’s voter preference, there are significant strategic lessons to be learned from the historic victory of Senator, and now President Barack Obama. After all, this election witnessed the most engaged electorate in the history of this great nation, which culminated in the largest voting population ever. And what is a vote, but perhaps the most meaningful reflection of consumer engagement and behavior.
And while “change” may be taking its course on the landscape of American politics, change should also be infiltrating the strategic direction of the “C” suites and boardrooms across America by applying the lessons of modern day politicking to the branding and marketing of their products and services.
David says, "Winning today demands new ways of thinking and uniquely aggressive competitive strategies," including these key points he will explain and probe with members of the audience:
- First, position as the insurgent underdog—and not the incumbent.
- Strategy is boss: In politics and business, strategy forms a trajectory toward either victory or defeat.
- Use communications to control every definition involving your business leadership: Yourself or your company, change, and the future
2) The Underdog Advantage: Using the Power of Insurgent Strategy to Put Your Business on Top