Good morning.
For years, companies like GE and Procter & Gamble were lauded as training grounds for future CEOs. Then the spotlight shifted to names like Google and Microsoft; the latter has become an academy for AI talent. In an era where talent is scarce and continuous learning is key, the academy company deserves a second look.
What put this on my radar was a conversation last week with Target CEO Brian Cornell and PepsiCo Foods North America CEO Steven Williams, who met about 25 years ago at PepsiCo, which they both describe as a culture of mentorship.
The hallmark of every academy company is a commitment to training leaders. For Deanna Strable, who was just named CEO of Principal Financial Group, that meant a series of stretch assignments. While Strable started as an intern, she told our edit board yesterday that she’s had 14 career switches during her time at Principal, often being nudged into bigger leadership roles. EXL chairman and CEO Rohit Kapoor, meanwhile, gives employees time off to volunteer and learn, whether they’re in Manila or New York. During our fireside chat yesterday at the CECP CEO Investor Forum, Kapoor also talked about aligning his 57,000 employees around a shared purpose.
These may sound like obvious tactics. The challenge is to create a playbook that replicates those practices at scale—a concept I learned when writing a book with former Cisco CEO John Chambers. Now, at JC2 Ventures, he mentors the leaders of his portfolio companies, even taking them to Alaska every year. I met one this week at a Techonomy reception: Uniphore CEO Umesh Sachdev, whose Indian enterprise-tech unicorn was one of Chambers’ first investments. At a Salesforce Ventures dinner last night, I met other founders who talked about the learning environment that comes with having a strategic investor.There are limits. I recall when former UTC CEO George David, a pioneer in reimbursing employee tuition to study anything, gave successor Louis Chenevert a half-dozen history books to read as prep to be CEO. The pile included bench-press-weight titles like Lenin’s Tomb. In turn, Chenevert tapped his then colleague Dave Gitlin for key assignments. Gitlin now runs the heating, refrigeration, and security spinoff Carrier, and is – according to this excellent profile by Shawn Tully – the best industrial CEO in America.
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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