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St. Charles Consulting Group Releases “Enterprise Skills Unlocked”

The First Practical Guide to Building Skills-Based Talent Management

ST. CHARLES, Ill., June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — St. Charles Consulting Group, a leader in strategic consulting for Fortune 1000 organizations, is proud to announce the release of Enterprise Skills Unlocked: A Blueprint for Building Skills-Based Talent Management. Authored by Craig Friedman, Talent Strategist at St. Charles Consulting Group, this groundbreaking book is the first practical and comprehensive guide to implementing a skills-based talent strategy in today’s enterprise.

A companion to the widely praised book, The Talent-Fueled Enterprise, authored by Mike Ohata with contributions from Larry Durham and Eric Dingler (June 2024), this new release goes beyond vision and theory – offering real-world tools, frameworks, and step-by-step guidance to help HR, learning, and business leaders transform how their organizations attract, grow, and retain talent.

“Skills-based talent strategies are emerging as a key pillar of HR transformation,” said Friedman. “Organizations are facing talent shortages, rapid digital transformation, and evolving job roles, making adaptable talent models a necessity to keep pace with rapidly changing markets. Enterprise Skills Unlocked shows leaders how to move from strategy to action – and how to do it in a way that drives real business value.”

Drawing on three decades of consulting experience and insights from over 150 interviews and 80 client examples, Friedman and the St. Charles Consulting team bring clarity to a complex field. The book introduces proprietary, field-tested tools, such as the STREAM™ Maturity Model and Skills Value Chain, to help organizations assess their current state and plan their path forward.

Enterprise Skills Unlocked is structured to meet the needs of diverse stakeholders:

• Unit 1: For senior executives building the business case
• Unit 2: For PMOs and governance leaders, aligning teams and mitigating risk
• Unit 3: For tech leads and systems architects building the infrastructure of a skills-based organization

“Whether you lead all of Talent or Learning for your organization, drive the company’s skills strategy, or serve as a deep-expert practitioner, Enterprise Skills Unlocked is a must-have blueprint and guidebook to build your skills-based organization,” says Mike Ohata, former KPMG Partner and acclaimed author. “Craig Friedman takes the traditional talent models for People, Jobs, Work Tasks (activities), and Workforce Planning and turns them on their side, setting into motion how an organization could operate with skills as the center of gravity, unlocking possibilities of workforce capability.”

Designed to be used in tandem with The Talent-Fueled Enterprise, the two books form a powerful toolkit for Chief Learning Officers, CHROs, and cross-functional teams. With aligned language, shared frameworks, and modular sections, they empower organizations to move forward together, from vision to execution.

Whether your organization is experimenting with localized pilots or aiming for an enterprise-wide transformation, Enterprise Skills Unlocked provides the blueprint to make it happen. This first-of-its-kind book is now available for purchase through Amazon, with the audiobook to be released later this summer on Audible.

About St. Charles Consulting Group

St. Charles Consulting Group specializes in maximizing the value of talent for Fortune 1000 organizations through strategic consulting, innovative learning solutions, and managed services. Our Innovation Center, The HIVE, is dedicated to researching and developing cutting-edge talent development solutions. With 25 years of experience, we have delivered thousands of talent development solutions to more than 200 client organizations.

About the Author

Craig Friedman is a respected human capital consultant with more than 30 years of experience helping global organizations align talent strategies with business goals. He currently serves as a senior leader at St. Charles Consulting Group, where he brings data-rich insight and tested methodologies to drive workforce transformation.

**Media Contact**

Melinda Adamec
Email: melinda@karmamarcom.com
Phone: 202-276-5335

PRESS RELEASE

St. Charles Consulting Group Publishes The Talent-Fueled Enterprise – A Powerful Guide to Build Tomorrow’s Workforce

ST. CHARLES, IL – July 9, 2024 – St. Charles Consulting Group, a leader in strategic consulting for Fortune 1000 organizations, proudly announces the release of “The Talent-Fueled Enterprise”. Authored by talent development expert Mike Ohata, with a foreword written by St. Charles Consulting’s President, Larry Durham, and a reflection authored by industry veteran Eric Dingler. This groundbreaking book is now available for purchase through Amazon, with the audiobook to be released later this summer on Audible.

The Talent-Fueled Enterprise provides a comprehensive strategy for creating a resilient and agile workforce, essential in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. The book addresses the challenges posed by technological disruptions like artificial intelligence and the dynamics of hybrid work environments. It offers practical guidance for business leaders and HR executives to develop a workforce that is both adaptable and aligned with organizational goals while also promoting personal growth among employees.

“This book is an essential read for any CEO, CHRO, or CLO looking to harness the full potential of their employees through inclusive and skills-focused talent initiatives,” says Linda Cai, former VP of Talent at LinkedIn. “The combined expertise of Mike Ohata, Larry Durham and Eric Dingler makes this book an indispensable tool for forward-thinking executives.”

The authors bring over 80 years of collective experience in talent development and organizational transformation. They have held executive positions at major companies such as Microsoft, KPMG, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, and PwC. Their extensive knowledge and insights have been featured in numerous industry articles and conferences. This collaborative effort marks their debut book, underscoring their commitment to advancing the field of talent development.

“The call for talent has never been clearer,” says Mike Ohata. “Organizations need to adopt a balanced and inclusive view of their workforce, recognizing employees as integral members of a living, learning organization. This book offers simple, actionable strategies to build a durable and agile workforce.”
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About St. Charles Consulting Group

St. Charles Consulting Group specializes in maximizing the value of talent for Fortune 1000 organizations through strategic consulting, innovative learning solutions, and managed services. Our Innovation Center, The HIVE, is dedicated to researching and developing cutting-edge talent development solutions. With over 20 years of experience, we have delivered hundreds of talent development solutions to more than 120 client organizations.

About The Talent-Fueled Enterprise

The Talent-Fueled Enterprise explores strategies for tapping into the contemporary workforce and invites CEOs and CHROs to adopt a new mindset for building resilient talent. This book provides actionable strategies for creating a workforce that is both adaptable and aligned with business goals, while celebrating the personal growth of employees. Priced at $25.99, The Talent-Fueled Enterprise is now available on Amazon.

**Media Contact**
Melinda Adamec
Email: melinda@karmamarcom.com
Phone: 202-276-5335

NIIT Acquires St. Charles Consulting Group

Atlanta, GA, November 4, 2022: NIIT Limited (NIIT), a global talent development corporation and leading provider of managed training services, announced today that it has acquired 100% membership interest in St. Charles Consulting Group LLC (StC) through its wholly owned subsidiary, NIIT (USA), Inc. Headquartered in St. Charles, Illinois, StC is a leading provider of consulting, design, and implementation solutions for strategic learning programs to professional services firms and Fortune 500 companies.

The acquisition was completed at a fixed consideration of USD 23.428 Million subject to certain adjustments as per definitive agreements. In addition, the definitive agreements provide for payment of annual performance based earnouts over the next four years.

Founded in 2002 by two former Arthur Andersen Partners, St. Charles Consulting Group has a network of over 500 premier management consultants in the fields of learning, organization development, knowledge services, and workforce planning. The company offers solutions in four key areas – strategic consulting, custom learning experiences, learning curation, and managed services.

With their genesis as leading Arthur Andersen learning professionals at Andersen’s Worldwide Center for Training and Development, the company’s founders and key team members have served over 12 out of the top 15 global professional services firms.

The acquisition helps NIIT add significant presence in the professional services and management consulting sectors while strengthening NIIT’s rapidly growing learning consulting practice.  The transaction is in line with NIIT’s stated goal of accelerating growth through investments that add new capabilities to bring more value to its customers and strengthen presence in attractive customer segments. St. Charles’ deep experience in Strategic Learning Programs aimed towards advancing overall strategy, addressing strategic business priorities, and key initiatives at large organizations are in high demand across large, global organizations. NIIT believes there is a significant growth opportunity for StC’s business going forward and expects the transaction to be margin and EPS accretive from the first year.

“Learning and Development is at the epicenter of change in a post-pandemic world that is going through rapid business and industry transformation. As organizations strive to build and retain talent and skills for a future-ready workforce, L&D is leading the way on many key initiatives. St. Charles Consulting Group brings deep expertise and experience in building strategic learning programs which are in high demand across our customer base,” said Sapnesh Lalla, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, NIIT Limited.

“As NIIT helps our global customers build sustainable learning ecosystems for the future, the experience that the St. Charles team brings will be invaluable. Our consulting team is also on a high growth trajectory and the St. Charles team will help us fulfil the exponential demand for experienced learning consultants globally,” he added.

“The acquisition of St. Charles Consulting Group will give our customers access to an expanded capability of consulting, designing, and implementing strategic learning programs. This will enable us to engage with our customers on a deeper level to help them attain their strategic objectives,” said DJ Chadha, Chief Customer Officer at NIIT.

“Given the accelerated change that businesses are experiencing as a result of advanced technologies, accelerated evolution of skills, and new service delivery models, organizations’ ability to learn and adapt must be at the core of their business strategy and imperatives. As a result of the current business climate, St. Charles has experienced incredible growth over the last few years, helping our clients in this new frontier of learning.

The time couldn’t be better to join forces with NIIT to bring a broader array of capabilities to our clients. The two firms bring complementary learning capabilities and offerings which will allow us to more fully serve our clients and be even more competitive in the marketplace,” said Larry Durham, President of St. Charles Consulting Group.

VectorSpan and AGG acted as the financial and legal advisor respectively in this transaction.

About NIIT

NIIT Limited is a leading global talent development corporation that builds skilled human capital and enables workforce talent worldwide.  At NIIT’s Corporate Learning Group, we’re transforming the way the world learns, for the better. That’s why the world’s best run learning functions across 30 countries trust us with their learning and talent. Since 1981, we have helped leading companies transform their learning ecosystems while increasing the business value of learning. Our comprehensive, high impact managed learning solutions weave together the best of learning theory, technology, operations, and services to enable a thriving workforce.

Visit us at www.niit.com or write to us at businessimpact@niit.com. Follow us on twitter @NIITMTS. For more information, visit www.niit.com

About St. Charles Consulting Group

St. Charles Consulting Group is known for helping Fortune 1000 organizations maximize the value of their talent by providing strategic consulting, innovative learning solutions, and managed services. We grow and build on the legacy of quality learning by not only using time-tested practices but also researching and innovating talent development solutions in our Innovation Center, The HIVE. Our innovative perspective on what needs to be done to design, build and support people solutions for our clients is derived from years of experience.

We have invested over the last 20 years to build a premier, management consulting organization delivering hundreds of talent development solutions to over 120 client organizations.  The St. Charles Promise is Quality, Guaranteed.  We ensure satisfaction.  We deliver quality.  We guarantee our work.

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