ACCELERATE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WITH OPTIMAL DESIGN SIX KEY PRINCIPLES
20207_CL_DesignPrinciples_Paper_Feb272017
20207_CL_DesignPrinciples_Paper_Feb272017
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<strong>ACCELERATE</strong><br />
<strong>LEADERSHIP</strong><br />
<strong>DEVELOPMENT</strong><br />
<strong>WITH</strong> <strong>OPTIMAL</strong><br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong>: <strong>SIX</strong> <strong>KEY</strong><br />
<strong>PRINCIPLES</strong><br />
{ perspectives } LEARNING <strong>DESIGN</strong>
© 2016 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.
<strong>ACCELERATE</strong> <strong>LEADERSHIP</strong><br />
<strong>DEVELOPMENT</strong> <strong>WITH</strong> <strong>OPTIMAL</strong><br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong>: <strong>SIX</strong> <strong>KEY</strong> <strong>PRINCIPLES</strong><br />
Much has been written about the challenge of leading in today’s<br />
complex, uncertain environment. Leaders today need to be highly<br />
agile and adaptable—and that demands an orientation toward<br />
continuous learning. Harvard Business Publishing has identified six<br />
design principles that create best-in-class learning experiences. These<br />
principles will help leaders learn skills and instill in them a learning<br />
mind-set they will carry forward in their roles.<br />
BY JEFF DESMET, LOUISE AXON, AND JOHN ALSBURY<br />
Today’s changing, ambiguous, and interconnected business<br />
environment puts immense pressure on leaders. They face<br />
risks at every turn. From global currency volatility and<br />
environmental concerns to surprising election results and<br />
new regulations, these challenges demand that leaders be<br />
highly agile and adaptable.<br />
Learning is central to developing this agility. Yet we heard<br />
in our most recent State of Leadership Development survey<br />
that while leadership development programs are found at<br />
most companies, their quality, relevance, and outcomes<br />
fall short. Top organizations regard leadership development<br />
as a strategic priority and strive to accelerate the<br />
development of their leaders, but what are the best ways<br />
to help leaders learn and grow?<br />
So much has been published in the area of learning theory<br />
and design, it’s hard to sort out which approaches work<br />
best, and how they should be applied to be most effective<br />
in today’s workplace. Yet from our research and experience,<br />
we know that the most effective leadership development<br />
emphasizes mind-set in addition to building knowledge<br />
and skills. Organizations must deliver learning that helps<br />
leaders transform their attitudes, their motivations, and<br />
their view of themselves and their roles. And this mindset<br />
must grow and adapt based on the business context<br />
around them and the evolving new demands of their roles.<br />
Optimizing learning design will accelerate the development<br />
process and help make what’s learned take hold, creating<br />
lasting changes in behavior and mind-set.<br />
A core capability underlying leaders’ agility is their ability to<br />
learn, but only 7 percent of the organizations we surveyed<br />
rate their leadership development programs as best in class.<br />
HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING CORPORATE LEARNING { 1 }
6 Design Principles for<br />
Leadership Development<br />
To help organizations consistently<br />
achieve these outcomes, Harvard<br />
Business Publishing has identified<br />
six critical learning design principles<br />
we employ when designing for<br />
leadership development.<br />
We’ve studied preeminent faculty and researchers in adult<br />
learning and leadership development, and have drawn<br />
from both time-tested and emerging experts. Grounded in<br />
proven research and our extensive experience working with<br />
leading client organizations globally, these principles are<br />
the foundation for every offering and solution we deliver.<br />
The principles offer a set of flexible characteristics for<br />
designing learning experiences that give leaders the best<br />
chance to construct their own understandings about their<br />
role as a leader. They also ensure that leaders will have<br />
the opportunity to learn, reflect on, and apply their new<br />
knowledge and skills. Considering the right combination<br />
of these principles will lead designers to create richer,<br />
more meaningful, and more effective development for<br />
their leaders.<br />
Read on to see how —in partnership with us —our<br />
clients are applying these principles in the leadership<br />
development solutions they are designing and delivering<br />
at their organizations.<br />
“Innovative thinking and creativity, much like swimming and<br />
biking, is a skill best learned through practice, reflection, and<br />
repeated application.”<br />
DAVID GARVIN<br />
{ 2 } <strong>ACCELERATE</strong> <strong>LEADERSHIP</strong> <strong>DEVELOPMENT</strong> <strong>WITH</strong> <strong>OPTIMAL</strong> <strong>DESIGN</strong>
1. Learning in Context<br />
In a recent survey, we found only 19 percent of business<br />
line managers believe leadership development programs<br />
are relevant to the issues they face. Corporate leadership<br />
development is most effective when learned in the<br />
context of the organization’s strategy, culture, and values,<br />
and when it’s highly relevant to the learner’s real work.<br />
Learning in context also means that skills are explored in<br />
relation to how the skill will be used, and in conjunction<br />
with other related leadership skills. This kind of<br />
understanding requires that development brings the<br />
goals, systems, and values of the organization into the<br />
development experience.<br />
David Perkins calls this teaching “the whole game”—<br />
a metaphor he uses that highlights how skills, such as<br />
leadership skills, are interdependent. “You don’t learn to<br />
play baseball by a year of batting practice,” he observes.<br />
SAMPLE PRACTICES<br />
Learning in Context<br />
Align with, and make explicit links to, the<br />
organization’s strategy, priorities, and values.<br />
Embed real work in learning experiences, and<br />
embed learning in real work experiences.<br />
Bring real-world relevance by featuring your<br />
organization’s experts, stories, and cases.<br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong> IN ACTION<br />
CUSTOMIZATION BRINGS CONTEXT AT CAPITAL GROUP<br />
Capital Group is one of the world’s leading investment<br />
management firms, with 7,800 associates worldwide. The<br />
company needed a stronger leadership pipeline to drive<br />
innovation and growth, and set out to deliver a solution<br />
customized to fit its culture, particularly the relationshipbuilding<br />
aspects that are so vital to the company.<br />
“Capital Leadership Foundations” is a customized and<br />
globally scalable leadership development experience for<br />
its 700 frontline managers. Based on Harvard Business<br />
Publishing’s New Leader Program, Capital Group handpicked<br />
lessons, modules, and tools, and aligned the content<br />
to Capital’s business, culture, and leadership expectations.<br />
Facilitators lead discussions that emphasize what<br />
the lessons mean in the context of Capital’s business, while<br />
on-the-job assignments reinforce application and learning<br />
transfer. Senior leaders contribute in virtual sessions<br />
and serve as cohort sponsors, helping draw connections<br />
to the business for participants.<br />
This approach increases relevance and business impact,<br />
with 81 percent of frontline participants and supervisors<br />
reporting a positive impact on business goals.<br />
HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING CORPORATE LEARNING { 3 }
2. Learning by Doing and Reflecting<br />
Research has long shown that leadership is learned<br />
through experience. This has led to a strong focus on<br />
learning by doing, which we agree is critical. Yet research<br />
also shows that experience alone can be a painful and<br />
costly way to learn. And many of us don’t process the<br />
lessons of experience. For effective learning, “reflecting”<br />
is just as important. You can’t both “take in” something<br />
and process it at the same time—you need to take time<br />
for both in order to make meaning from experiences.<br />
A recent study by faculty, including Francisco Gino and<br />
Gary Pisano of Harvard Business School, showed that the<br />
groups whose experience was deliberately coupled with<br />
reflection consistently outperformed the other groups.<br />
“When we stop, reflect, and think about learning, we feel<br />
a greater sense of self-efficacy. We’re more motivated, and<br />
we perform better afterward,” says Gino.<br />
When we design learning solutions, we intentionally<br />
move learners through a cycle—learn-practice-reflect—<br />
over and over again. The goal is to instill a simple learning<br />
methodology that makes reflecting and capturing the<br />
lessons of experience a habit.<br />
SAMPLE PRACTICES<br />
Learning by Doing<br />
and Reflecting<br />
Make experiential activities core to the learning<br />
experience.<br />
Build significant space for reflection (individually<br />
and collectively).<br />
Put the learner in a problem-solving mode by<br />
offering choices and decision points through<br />
experiences such as simulations.<br />
Teach participants how to learn consistently from<br />
experience through multiple cycles of practice<br />
and reflection—enabling them to continue this<br />
practice back at work.<br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong> IN ACTION<br />
REFLECTION HEIGHTENS LEARNING FOR MANAGERS AT AUTODESK<br />
Autodesk leads the market for state-of-the-art 3-D design,<br />
engineering, and entertainment software. Continued<br />
growth is vital to Autodesk, and much of the company’s<br />
expansion has come through acquisitions in the past decade.<br />
To meet the challenges of developing a unified learning<br />
environment that could scale to meet demand, Autodesk’s<br />
HR learning team and Harvard Business Publishing developed<br />
a successful blended learning approach. The goal<br />
was to augment existing face-to-face initiatives and offer<br />
opportunities for reflection as employees applied what<br />
they learned. The team was working with a group whose<br />
goal for the year was improving managerial effectiveness.<br />
Both managers and their direct reports practiced skills<br />
in this area, such as delivering feedback and managing<br />
performance. As part of the learning, direct reports conducted<br />
debriefs with their managers, providing feedback<br />
on management styles and suggestions for improving<br />
communications. This is one of many reflection opportunities.<br />
From discussing concepts further in live sessions to<br />
taking in a video or completing part of an online program,<br />
learners are given many chances to reflect on what they<br />
are taking in and then apply that to their everyday jobs.<br />
{ 4 } <strong>ACCELERATE</strong> <strong>LEADERSHIP</strong> <strong>DEVELOPMENT</strong> <strong>WITH</strong> <strong>OPTIMAL</strong> <strong>DESIGN</strong>
3. Learning over Time<br />
Leadership development is not an event. It requires a<br />
continuous process that unfolds over time through a wide<br />
variety of experiences, relationships, observations, and<br />
reflections. These processes cannot be experienced via a<br />
series of formal learning events alone. They require a series<br />
of moments that “force a person to take stock, reevaluate,<br />
revise, resee, and rejudge.”<br />
Distributing learning over time has another important<br />
advantage—it enables long-term retention. Harry Bahrick<br />
and Lynda Hall note that “the spacing effect is one of the<br />
best-documented phenomena in the history of learning<br />
and memory research. Adding subsequent spaced repetitions,<br />
we can extend learning and lessen forgetting that so<br />
often happens after a single learning event.”<br />
In typical Harvard Business Publishing programs, learners<br />
not only engage with the key concepts at multiple<br />
intervals over time, but also the method of instruction<br />
varies to increase engagement and retention. For example,<br />
learners might read an article about a concept and discuss<br />
its importance one week; hear from an expert about the<br />
concept the next week; work with their peers on a case<br />
study the following week; and finally work to apply the<br />
concept in a subsequent week.<br />
SAMPLE PRACTICES<br />
Learning over Time<br />
Provide repeated opportunities to explore<br />
concepts via a wide variety of experiences over<br />
spaced intervals of time.<br />
Frame the learning experience as a development<br />
journey that requires a sustained process to<br />
achieve a deeper level of learning, personal<br />
change, and growth.<br />
Include application planning and goal setting,<br />
together with periodic follow-ups after a formal<br />
learning event, to reinforce concepts and prompt<br />
learning transfer.<br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong> IN ACTION<br />
LEARNING OVER TIME DRIVES IMPACT AT EMIRATES NBD<br />
When two large banks merged to form Emirates NBD,<br />
it defined a vision: to be globally recognized as the most<br />
valued financial services provider based in the Middle<br />
East. To accomplish this, Emirates NBD partnered with<br />
Harvard Business Publishing to design a blended, virtual<br />
leadership development program focused on building<br />
leadership capacity. The bank’s four-month, cohort-based<br />
blended program followed a four-week process of learnpractice-apply-reflect<br />
for each of the three modules,<br />
including action learning projects.<br />
These projects applied tools and techniques introduced<br />
in the program to work on solving a real corporate issue.<br />
Projects included new strategies for penetrating markets<br />
and segments, growing regional market share, and formulating<br />
new value propositions. Participants and supervisors<br />
reported improvement across all 11 behaviors measured,<br />
and within a year, 39 percent of the first Managerial<br />
Leadership Program cohort was promoted or given more<br />
complex roles. The bottom-line impact of the actionlearning<br />
projects equaled over $1,000,000 in cost savings<br />
in staff hours and potential outsourcing.<br />
HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING CORPORATE LEARNING { 5 }
4. Learning with Others<br />
Learning is a social activity, and it requires space and time<br />
with others to exchange ideas and make meaning from<br />
individual and collective experiences. “Who contributes<br />
to the learning?” is one of the most important questions<br />
we can ask as designers of learning solutions. Learners<br />
construct knowledge through interactions with those<br />
who know more than they do or those who have different<br />
experience and perspectives—whether a peer, coach,<br />
boss, expert, or facilitator.<br />
In today’s workplace, context changes fast—so fast that<br />
it’s difficult for organizations to codify lessons, practices,<br />
and techniques that are most relevant at the moment. We<br />
need others to help us learn and perform. Learning solutions<br />
that facilitate the timely and informal exchanges of<br />
content and context can greatly accelerate the adoption<br />
and creation of the right practices at the right time.<br />
Small-group learning can also significantly influence our<br />
learning. In small groups, interactions help managers draw<br />
meaningful lessons from their experiences, challenging<br />
them to broaden or refine their views, and providing<br />
opportunities to collaborate on real problems and workplace<br />
application.<br />
SAMPLE PRACTICES<br />
Learning with Others<br />
Leverage peer-to-peer learning experiences.<br />
Enable the involvement of the learner’s manager<br />
to provide support and reinforce the learning.<br />
Embed social learning within online learning<br />
experiences that leverage the wisdom of the<br />
crowd.<br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong> IN ACTION<br />
SOCIAL LEARNING BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS AT BIOGEN<br />
In the past decade, Biogen has experienced unprecedented<br />
business and organizational growth. Biogen has worked<br />
to address the challenges that accompany such growth<br />
through a new central learning organization, a focus<br />
on manager development, and an emphasis on helping<br />
employees build their networks through collaborative<br />
peer-led learning experiences.<br />
This emphasis is apparent in the peer learning aspects<br />
of its people manager curriculum. For example, in a<br />
unique nine-week program for those in critical middle<br />
management roles, participants experience both selfpaced<br />
elearning and group learning. Each manager is<br />
paired with five other managers from around the globe.<br />
These peer learning groups are designed to include<br />
individuals from distinct business functions, and to<br />
provide an opportunity to apply their learning to realworld<br />
management challenges in a confidential and<br />
constructive forum. They also provide a means to learn<br />
from different perspectives and experiences. These peerled<br />
groups help managers establish strong and valuable<br />
networks across the organization—something they can<br />
tap into now and in the future. Peer-led learning truly<br />
has an impact on learners: 94 percent of participants say<br />
they are more confident when doing their jobs and many<br />
participants continue to keep in touch with their peer<br />
groups long after the program ends.<br />
{ 6 } <strong>ACCELERATE</strong> <strong>LEADERSHIP</strong> <strong>DEVELOPMENT</strong> <strong>WITH</strong> <strong>OPTIMAL</strong> <strong>DESIGN</strong>
5. Learning by Teaching<br />
Whose job is it to develop leaders anyway? Many executives<br />
believe that ownership for leadership development<br />
resides solely with HR. Our experience shows that leaders<br />
should also take on responsibility for leadership development<br />
and building a learning culture.<br />
According to Noel Tichy, “winning companies—those<br />
that consistently outperform competitors and reward<br />
stakeholders—have moved beyond learning organizations<br />
to become teaching organizations. These organizations are<br />
more agile, come up with better strategies, and implement<br />
them more effectively.”<br />
Leaders understand the organizational context and priorities—while<br />
simultaneously understanding the specific<br />
strengths and performance needs of their teams and direct<br />
reports. They also know how ideas and practices apply—or<br />
don’t apply. Leaders can serve as the most important catalyst<br />
for an emerging leader’s development. And this leaderled<br />
development goes beyond coaching direct reports.<br />
Leaders can guide and mentor individuals throughout<br />
the organization and serve as a role models.<br />
In addition, the act of teaching or coaching requires leaders<br />
to demonstrate expertise. And the process of developing<br />
others reinforces their previous learning, while<br />
providing ongoing opportunities to develop new insights.<br />
Organizations can also scale their development faster by<br />
enlisting their leaders in this way.<br />
SAMPLE PRACTICES<br />
Learning by Teaching<br />
Provide opportunities to learn by teaching others.<br />
Involve senior leaders in the program to speak to<br />
importance and business relevance.<br />
Promote teaching and role-modeling<br />
opportunities via cascading learning throughout<br />
an organization.<br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong> IN ACTION<br />
LEARNING FOR BUSY RETAIL MANAGERS AT WALMART CANADA<br />
Walmart Canada runs a 10-week-long development<br />
program to help store managers be more effective in<br />
their roles. The program covers emotional intelligence,<br />
strategic thinking, decision-making, feedback, difficult<br />
interactions, and developing employees. It provides<br />
an opportunity for both new-to-role and experienced<br />
managers to come together to explore ideas, level-set<br />
practices, and share experience and outcomes. The<br />
program blends foundational sessions delivered live<br />
virtually, targeted inter-session assignments comprising<br />
Harvard ManageMentor® content, worksheets, customized<br />
case studies, and reflection questions. Before transitioning<br />
between topics, store managers attend facilitated smallgroup<br />
virtual debrief sessions where learners share both<br />
successes and barriers they encounter through practice.<br />
Notably, the program includes a leader-as-teacher<br />
component. Store managers are expected to leverage<br />
program materials and worksheets to develop their<br />
direct reports and expand the capabilities of their teams<br />
through their weekly operations meetings. Throughout<br />
the program, store managers apply their learning by<br />
opening a dialogue with their peers and by providing<br />
on-the-spot coaching, feedback, or best practices. This<br />
reinforces learning and helps participants build a trusted<br />
network of support. Market partners, accountable for store<br />
manager development and performance, are provided with<br />
coaches’ communication—a view to the weekly learning<br />
topics and discussion questions to encourage exploration<br />
and promote reinforcement of ideas and application. This<br />
aids the continued adoption and provides the coach with<br />
continued performance management insights.<br />
HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING CORPORATE LEARNING { 7 }
6. Learning through Engagement<br />
No one can force someone else to learn and develop as a<br />
leader—the leader must opt in. To develop and improve,<br />
leaders must be fully engaged. We must foster their intrinsic<br />
motivation—stimulating a need to know, change, and<br />
improve within them.<br />
Mind and brain research shows us that learning critically<br />
involves both cognitive and emotional aspects. Dr. Mary<br />
Helen Immordino-Yang, a cognitive neuroscientist at<br />
USC’s Brain and Creativity Institute, explains, “One thing<br />
that biology has been showing us now for many years is<br />
that emotions, learning, and memory are intimately tied<br />
together.” So, we need to engage hearts as well as minds<br />
in our learning design.<br />
Motivation, creating a need to improve within the leader,<br />
is paramount for successful leadership development, and<br />
a constant challenge given the number of competing<br />
demands and distractions in the daily life of a busy leader.<br />
Motivation can be defined as what pushes or pulls individuals<br />
to start, sustain, and complete activities. There are<br />
many theories about motivation dating back to the early<br />
1900s that can help inform the design of effective learning<br />
solutions. For example, Self-Determination Theory<br />
highlights how experiences of autonomy, competency,<br />
and relatedness can significantly enhance intrinsic motivation.<br />
Games and gamification are growing in popularity<br />
because these learning design approaches can be very<br />
effective at tapping intrinsic motivation by enhancing<br />
feelings of autonomy, belonging, and competence while<br />
simultaneously enhancing extrinsic motivation toward<br />
some reward.<br />
SAMPLE PRACTICES<br />
Learning through<br />
Engagement<br />
Promote emotional connections to content via<br />
storytelling.<br />
Enhance intrinsic motivation by giving people<br />
choices in their learning.<br />
Personalize learning experiences by tailoring to<br />
needs, pace, interests, time, location, and learning<br />
preferences.<br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong> IN ACTION<br />
THOUGHTFUL <strong>DESIGN</strong> DRIVES ENGAGEMENT AT VI<br />
Vi, a luxury senior-living community established in 1987<br />
as Classic Residence by Hyatt, is dedicated to helping<br />
older adults live more active and fulfilling lives. Central<br />
to this is an engaged and talented workforce. Vi’s yearlong<br />
Management Development Program (MDP) for frontline<br />
employees and emerging managers draws upon a variety of<br />
learning opportunities, including classes, online learning<br />
plans, webinars, projects, reading assignments, mentoring,<br />
and job rotations. Action learning assignments and<br />
“teach backs” reinforce learning.<br />
Varied delivery methods offer options and choices for<br />
employees to keep learning engaging. For example, live<br />
learning sessions focused on specific competencies give<br />
learners the chance to share and hear stories and realworld<br />
examples that bring the concepts to life and make<br />
them memorable.<br />
Employees see the direct connection between their learning<br />
and progression in the organization. In fact, 20-35<br />
percent of Vi’s MDP participants move into a higher-level<br />
position within one year of completion. Vi’s attrition rate is<br />
substantially lower than its competitors, and its employee<br />
satisfaction rates are much higher than average.<br />
{ 8 } <strong>ACCELERATE</strong> <strong>LEADERSHIP</strong> <strong>DEVELOPMENT</strong> <strong>WITH</strong> <strong>OPTIMAL</strong> <strong>DESIGN</strong>
Strike the Right Balance to Advance Desired Business Outcomes<br />
Considering all of the principles within a design helps ensure the best<br />
outcomes, but some may be more important than others, depending on<br />
your objectives. We’ve found that the desired business outcomes can call<br />
for special emphasis on particular principles in the design.<br />
ORGANIZATIONAL<br />
CHALLENGE<br />
<strong>DESIGN</strong><br />
EMPHASIS<br />
IN CONTEXT<br />
BY DOING &<br />
REFLECTING<br />
OVER TIME<br />
FROM OTHERS<br />
BY TEACHING<br />
THROUGH<br />
ENGAGEMENT<br />
Trying to shift a culture,<br />
such as a hierarchical<br />
organization working to<br />
drive decision making<br />
down through the<br />
organization<br />
Stress learning from<br />
others and encourage<br />
broad commentary and<br />
participation through<br />
technology and small-group<br />
discussions.<br />
Pipeline is suffering<br />
because leaders are<br />
too overscheduled<br />
with limited time for<br />
development<br />
Deliver learning over time,<br />
in shorter sessions, to spread<br />
out the learning and build<br />
more gradually.<br />
Kicking off a major<br />
transformation and<br />
need to be sure the<br />
entire organization is<br />
clear on the direction<br />
and engaged in the<br />
process<br />
Create a cascade through<br />
all levels of the organization<br />
by making learning by<br />
teaching a key element of<br />
the design.<br />
Have made significant<br />
investments in<br />
leadership development<br />
with limited lasting<br />
impact<br />
Emphasize learning by doing<br />
and reflecting along with<br />
learning in context to tie<br />
learning more closely to the<br />
business and accomplish<br />
real work.<br />
HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING CORPORATE LEARNING { 9 }
“Solutions to adaptive challenges reside not in the executive<br />
suite but in the collective intelligence of employees at all<br />
levels, who need to use one another as resources, often across<br />
boundaries, and learn their way to those solutions.”<br />
RONALD HEIFETZ<br />
While it may make sense to emphasize a specific principle<br />
in your design, the biggest value is gained when the principles<br />
are applied collectively. As the client vignettes shown<br />
here illustrate, most solutions incorporate several design<br />
techniques to achieve high engagement and, ultimately,<br />
strong results for the business.<br />
As you ready your leaders for this intense, ever-changing<br />
business climate, consider each of these principles to<br />
make leadership development the best it can be at your<br />
organization.<br />
Want to dig deeper into these principles? Explore these related papers.<br />
ENGAGE YOUR DISENGAGED<br />
LEARNERS THROUGH<br />
EFFECTIVE <strong>DESIGN</strong><br />
SHORT BURSTS, NOT SHORTCUTS:<br />
THE VALUE OF LEARNING<br />
OVER TIME<br />
HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY<br />
LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS<br />
THEY NEED TO BE<br />
{ 10 } <strong>ACCELERATE</strong> <strong>LEADERSHIP</strong> <strong>DEVELOPMENT</strong> <strong>WITH</strong> <strong>OPTIMAL</strong> <strong>DESIGN</strong>
ABOUT THE AUTHORS<br />
JEFF DeSMET is senior manager, online learning, for Harvard Business Publishing<br />
Corporate Learning. He serves as the group’s lead strategist for adult learning theory<br />
and pedagogy for Harvard Business Publishing’s portfolio of leadership development<br />
solutions, tracking the latest research and innovations emerging in the field. He has a<br />
special interest in individual, self-directed learning.<br />
jdesmet@harvardbusiness.org<br />
LOUISE AXON is director of content strategy and development for Harvard<br />
Business Publishing Corporate Learning. She leads the design, development, and<br />
curation of Harvard Business Publishing’s leadership solutions. Louise has 25 years<br />
of experience in executing strategic change and delivering business results through<br />
learning, with particular expertise in developing leaders at all levels.<br />
louise.axon@harvardbusiness.org<br />
JOHN ALSBURY is a senior learning solutions manager for Harvard Business<br />
Publishing Corporate Learning. He works closely with clients to customize learning<br />
products to fit individual requirements. John has created a wide variety of successful<br />
development curriculums and stand-alone instructional pieces in a wide assortment<br />
of media and learning environments. He has worked with leading client organizations<br />
on three continents and in multiple languages.<br />
john.alsbury@harvardbusiness.org<br />
HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING CORPORATE LEARNING { 11 }
ABOUT CORPORATE LEARNING<br />
Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning partners<br />
with clients to create world-class leadership development<br />
solutions for managers at all levels. Our team leverages<br />
the management insight, thought leadership, and<br />
expertise of Harvard Business School faculty and<br />
authors from Harvard Business Review to create tailored<br />
leadership development solutions. With more than 25<br />
years of practical experience, our innovative, technologyenabled<br />
solutions drive meaningful and lasting business<br />
results. Corporate Learning is a market group within<br />
Harvard Business Publishing.<br />
ABOUT HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING<br />
Harvard Business Publishing was founded in 1994 as<br />
a not-for-profit, wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard<br />
University. Its mission is to improve the practice of<br />
management and its impact in a changing world. The<br />
company achieves its mission through its relationships<br />
with customers in three market groups: Higher Education,<br />
Corporate Learning, and Harvard Business Review Group.<br />
Through these platforms, Harvard Business Publishing is<br />
able to influence real-world change by maximizing the<br />
reach and impact of its essential offering—ideas.<br />
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Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.<br />
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