Welcome to the first part of a five-part series of articles based on the recent CorporateLeaders Executive Briefing in partnership with Raytheon Professional Services entitled Reignite Business Performance for Competitive Edge – Building blocks for Higher Performance. The articles that follow summarise viewpoints and advice offered by the event’s hosts CorporateLeaders and Raytheon Professional Services, and keynote speaker, Dr. Isaac Sheps, CEO of Carlsberg UK.

On 30th June, 25 senior executives from a range of leading multinational companies gathered at Gordon Ramsay's York and Albany restaurant in central London to share insights on increasing competitiveness, raising performance levels, controlling expenditure and positioning a company for growth in an ever uncertain, fast-changing global marketplace.

All is eerily quiet on the corporate front. Even though the global economy continues to grow strongly, and the economic recovery is nearly a year old even in America, corporate investment, and mergers and acquisitions, remain at low levels even though firms are sitting on record piles of cash.

CEO pay has been blasted for increasing risk to the economy, being out of proportion to ordinary wages and being unrelated to actual company performance. And, according to a new study, a high salary may actually make your company's CEO meaner. (Hat tip to Harvard Business Review)