Wilson Alan LLC

Situation

Our client — a leading technology provider with nearly 30% market share — exploded from $100 million to $10 billion in annual revenues during the 1990s. Following the fall-off in technology spending (and revenues) that began in 2001, the new CEO implemented a strategy to diversify the product line and expand into software and services. The success of the strategy hinged on strong P&L management skills and the ability of senior executives to transition from a functional to a matrixed organization.

Solution

We worked with the CEO and his team of EVPs to develop a series of two-day offsite programs that were rolled out to the top 250+ executives in the company over twelve months. The company culture was competitive, results-oriented, and decidedly biased against the academic. Our program, totally customized around the company and its circumstances, combined discussions, breakout exercises, team-based competitions, and executive presentations to create a program that fit the culture. Highlights included:

A simulation of the CEO's annual planning process in which small teams used a proprietary computer model to translate operating initiatives into financial performance and presented those plans to a Wall Street audience
A competitive quiz that highlighted important strategic developments in the industry (e.g., the commoditization of hardware, the migration to software and services) and fueled a discussion of the company's strategic alternatives
A breakout exercise focused on account economics in which small teams used analytical templates to assign sales and support resources to accounts of varying potential and strategic importance

Situation

Our client — a category killer retailer with operations across the U.S. and Europe — grew from zero to over $10 billion in sales, 1,000 stores and 50,000 Associates in less than 15 years. High growth demanded a steady supply of entrepreneurial management talent, and as the business moved into a more stable phase of growth the CIO asked us to help build the general management skills of the senior team.

Solution

We developed a customized four-day program targeting four key development objectives: leadership, strategy, communication, and financial management. The program was delivered in two two-day blocks and reached over 125 people in groups of 25 each. We collaborated with executives to develop over twenty integrated modules, including the following:

A scrap book chronicling the company's rapid growth (provided as pre-reading) provided a platform to fuel a discussion of past challenges, key success factors, and managerial requirements for continued growth and profitability
A survey addressing a range of people management issues, circulated to nearly 1,000 Associates, was used to identify improvement opportunities and focus a discussion of specific initiatives for improving company performance
An exercise in which small teams, equipped only with financial data on ten unidentified retailers, competed to identify those retailers by abstracting business models from metrics like ROA, inventory turns, and profit margins

Situation

One of the world’s leading investment banks, with over $10 billion of revenues, was growing in the US, Europe, and Asia. As it promoted top performers into leadership roles, however, it learned that it was asking some of its most expensive talent to succeed in stretch assignments for which they hadn’t been adequately prepared. The Chairman of the Asia Pacific Region wanted a way to collapse the time horizon necessary for these new leaders to achieve optimal results, to raise their overall effectiveness, and to focus their attention on the demands and complexity inherent in their new roles.

Solution

Wilson|Alan created a two-and-a-half-day program for Managing Directors going into significant stretch assignments. Participants in the program covered topics such as situation assessment, success factors and derailers, building a leadership team, working with one’s boss, innovation, and communicating the strategic vision. To maximize hands-on learning, we used numerous vehicles to bring the content to the class. Members of the investment bank’s leadership spoke about their transition successes and shortcomings. Videotape interviews of experienced leaders from around the world underscored the range of challenges and the importance of creating networks among peers, bosses, and team members. Best practices across industries were shared in classroom presentations. An integrated simulation exercise reinforced the themes that participants had been discussing. And one-on-one coaching allowed individuals to apply the tools and frameworks covered to plan for their own transition success.

In creating this leadership experience, we partnered with another firm that specializes in talent management, providing a seamlessly integrated program. By leveraging Wilson|Alan’s expertise in executive development programs, strategy communication, and innovation acceleration, and our partner’s strength in behavioral sciences, coaching, and talent management, we satisfied the client’s need for customized content and individualized development planning.

The program's global delivery ultimately will span three continents. In the eyes of the executives who have taken part to date, the program provided content that was both leverageable and overdue, demonstrating systematic approaches to management and leadership that stand to benefit them in their new roles.

Situation

The Chairman and CEO of a leading global media company – with operations spanning television, movies, music, publishing, and sports across six continents – sat atop a corporation that had been assembled through a series of mega-mergers and acquisitions over a span of two decades. The operating divisions had individually powerful brands, but the famous lack of strategic or operating integration across the company had become a drag on the company’s performance and valuation relative to its potential. As the digital media revolution swept over the business, it threatened to devastate individual businesses (e.g., recorded music and advertising-supported broadcast television), while simultaneously creating new opportunities that cut across businesses (e.g., feature film distribution across media).

Solution

The CEO asked us to create a series of programs to be attended by all 750 executives. The first program focused on the company’s strategic direction and values. Each two-day session was attended by roughly 25 participants, drawn from across the company’s operating divisions and geographies. We used a diverse mix of case studies, exercises, computer simulations, and executive presentations to deliver consistent messages and work on current problems related to globalization, distribution, business mix, and product selection. The program served as a platform for the CEO and the President to deliver their messages and solicit input from their executives.

Based on the success of the first program, the CEO asked us to develop a second program focused on the digital media revolution. The second program once again served as a platform for the senior leaders, this time including the CFO. However, to ensure that the program would not be perceived as a “sequel” (in fact, the senior team wanted to ensure that the level of intensity and urgency increased relative to the first program), we designed a very different forum the second time around. In the second forum, we devoted significant time to giving participants personal, hands-on experience with new digital media technologies and used small working teams to generate solutions for the line businesses on critical issues (e.g., music file sharing). Over the space of two fast-paced days, participants worked with a wide range of both new technologies and new business design options, bringing together perspectives from across the business and ensuring a consistently higher level of insight on key business challenges.