Many successful people have a knack for “reading people.” Quickly understanding how a potential client, boss or top executive will react can be a valuable asset.

Dan Korem

Dan Korem

Those skills, or “rapid-fire profiling,” will be the subject of training and a keynote speech by author, documentary producer and independent investigative journalist Dan Korem at the Naveen Jindal School of Management’s seventh annual Fraud Summit on March 29-30.

Korem defines rapid-fire profiling as the ability to obtain crucial behavioral data about a person on the spot, without tests or batteries of questions. In a daylong interactive session, he will teach participants how to profile almost anyone without stereotyping. Using interactive keypads, participants will profile video clips of real people in real situations. Within a day, the average attendee improves from 25 percent to 75 percent accuracy, Korem said.

Korem, president of Korem & Associates, said he and his faculty have trained more than 35,000 professionals worldwide. He developed the Korem Profiling System after several years of research and introduced it in his 1997 book The Art of Profiling – Reading People Right the First Time. Each of the Fraud Summit’s 425 attendees will receive a copy of the expanded second edition of the book.

Korem said the system applies to recruiting, sales, negotiations, team leadership, coaching and recruiting athletes, investigations, military operations and educating students.

The sold-out conference, hosted by JSOM’s Center for Internal Auditing Excellence, has grown in reputation and attendance since it began in 2006. Featuring a day of workshops and a daylong summit, the event is recognized as a pre-eminent internal audit-related fraud conference.

This year, the summit will net $110,000, which will go toward student scholarships and an endowment fund benefiting the internal audit profession.

Mark Salamasick, director of the UT Dallas internal audio program

Mark Salamasick

“We’ve built the summit into an event that has achieved brand recognition and a reputation that makes people want to return year after year,” said Mark Salamasick, the center’s director and head of JSOM’s internal audit program. “It’s a quality, first-class event featuring speakers who are unique, charismatic and typically difficult to book. It also offers great networking opportunities.”

How can rapid-fire profiling assist auditors in their daily tasks?

“Auditors are the windows into how companies function,” Mr. Korem said. “They are the ones who monitor systems and ensure they function properly. Auditors regularly use rapid-profiling skills for fact gathering — increasing time efficiencies, as well as the quality and accuracy of data.”

Other presenters include UT Dallas senior accounting and finance lecturer Richard Bowen and Frederick Bennett, managing director in Grant Thornton LLP’s forensic and litigations services practice.