Carlos Salum

Carlos Salum is a Leadership Decision Strategist and the President of Salum International Resources, Inc. (SIR), a strategic advisory firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. He works with senior executives, boards, founders and family enterprises before high-stakes decisions.

He is the developer of Leadership Decision Architecture, a process he applies with senior leaders, with leadership teams, and across organizations in strategy, culture, innovation and team dynamics. One principle drives the work: Strategic Clarity First. Breakthrough Always.

Since 1993, his international clients are in private banking, diplomacy, insurance, healthcare, technology, consulting and sports management. They include UBS Wealth Management, Credit Suisse, Julius Baer Bank, HSBC Private Bank, ABN AMRO Private Banking, Heritage Bank, Morgan Stanley, Aberdeen Asset Management Switzerland, Bausch & Lomb, ATKearney, Coca-Cola, Mission Foods, The British Embassy in Spain, ALSTOM Power, KUONI Travel Holdings, KPIT Cummins, Istituto Adriano Olivetti, CTC Bologna, Hospice Care of South Carolina, The Neurological Institute, United Sleep Medicine, The New York Knicks Organization, The WNBA Washington Wizards, Sense Arena Tennis VR and the ATP Tennis Tour, among many others. He works in English and Spanish.

He is the author of five leadership books that turn his methods into tools leaders can use to see possibility, clarify what matters and decide well under pressure: “The Glass is Full and a Half” (foreword by Richard Saul Wurman, founder of the TED Conferences), “From Fog to Focus” (foreword by Gustavo Raitzin, former Executive Board member, Bank Julius Baer), “Speak.Align.Become.” (foreword by Formula 1 driver Pietro Fittipaldi), “Foresight Under Pressure” and “TheSircle: a Theater of Purpose”.

As a speaker, he addresses executive audiences on how capable people see clearly, decide with confidence and perform when the stakes are high. He was the opening speaker at TEDx Charlotte in 2010 and spoke alongside Nobel Laureates in Economics at The Nobels Colloquia in Venice, Italy, in 2011. Each keynote can extend into executive working sessions, workshops and private counsel in the USA and Europe.

Carlos served as a Mentor with LEAD.vc, created by the grandsons of Adi Dassler (the legendary founder of Adidas), and collaborates with their ADlegacy operation based in the Bahamas. In 2009 he founded TheSircle Executive Club in Charlotte, hosting private dinners for leaders at Enventys, a leading product innovation company. He is the co-founder of Synergize Sports, an international sports innovation consultancy, and the co-producer of the Tennis Innovation Conference.

His decision architecture was first tested in elite sport, working alongside some of the world’s leading sport scientists. He contributed to the careers of Grand Slam champions Gabriela Sabatini (U.S. Open, 1990) and Sergi Bruguera (French Open, 1993 and 1994) and the Argentine and Italian Davis Cup teams. He coached Formula drivers Pietro Fittipaldi (Formula 1, Haas), Enzo Fittipaldi (Formula 2, Red Bull Junior Team) and sisters Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi (F1 Academy). Earlier, he held senior management roles in sports marketing and information technology, and worked as a radio and television journalist, a produced playwright (London, Tampa and Buenos Aires) and a TV documentary producer.