Creative solutions for complex companies.

Before diversity training was fashionable, American Express embarked on a program with Lapin and its partners at the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance to learn about global cultures and to develop the skills and insights with which to lead diverse teams of people. Lapin’s Three Cultural Lenses Model was pioneering for that time and set the organization on course to master challenges that others had not yet identified.

Cromwell, Australia’s leading Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), was planning a five-year growth and globalization trajectory. The company needed a clear strategy driven by a common purpose to align and inspire the entire organization. It also needed to fundamentally change its thinking and its strategy about who its primary client was and how best to serve them. Lapin worked with the senior leadership team in Melbourne, Australia . In this process, Lapin helped Cromwell paint a clear picture of the group of people who would benefit most from its unique capabilities. This enabled a clear vision of whom to design and fund for, propelling unprecedented growth for the organization.

Lapin’s work with Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) began shortly after it acquired First National Bank (FNB), a bank many times its size. Together they formed one of Africa’s four largest banks. Aware of how few mergers deliver added value, CEO Paul Harris engaged Lapin to build a purpose-driven philosophy for the merged entity around which the entire leadership of the new bank could rally. The result was not only that value was not lost in the merger, but also that significant value was added to the new entity and their cultures, where appropriate, successfully merged. Subsequent to the merger, Lapin has enjoyed a 20 year relationship with RMB, working with the executive team to continuously adapt the Bank’s strategies to the ever-changing environments in South Africa, Africa, and India. Lapin guided the Leadership team through the development of the RMB Purpose and Leadership Brand and trained more than 350 leaders in 16 cohorts, to activate Purpose while being faithful to the Brand. Additionally, Lapin has worked with the executive committees of each of the business units to differentiate them from competitors and align their strategies to RMB’s Purpose. When the FNB Corporate Bank was incorporated into RMB’s control, Lapin helped the Corporate Bank to modernize its strategic thinking and redefine corporate banking for the future.