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Amway taps Thunderbird to develop top executives

Amway, an $8 billion, direct selling company with more than 13,000 employees in more than 80 countries and territories, is tapping Thunderbird’s global expertise to develop its top executives through a new and innovative custom leadership program.

The pilot Amway LeAP (Leadership Acceleration Process) program, which concluded last month, was so successful that company leadership has decided to make LeAP an ongoing flagship program for the development of its high-potential leaders. This ultimately could include as many as 200 executives.

The program’s focus included development related to global mindset, innovation, strategy and leadership in a customized and applied learning format that includes a five-month global virtual project in which participant teams develop real-world solutions to Amway’s business challenges and opportunities.

These team projects were so innovative, Amway’s senior leadership is moving forward in the execution of each of the projects, according to Professor Richard Ettenson, the academic director of the program. He said 30 members of Amway’s senior leadership gathered from around the world at the company’s global headquarters for the presentation of each team’s business proposals and recommendations.

“The quality and business logic of the innovations generated by each of the three global teams was extraordinary,” Ettenson said. “Amway’s commitment to the development of executive leadership is most impressive, and this program will revolutionize how they develop and bring new products into the marketplace.”

The program was an extensive and complicated undertaking, according to Ettenson, but was successful in large part because of the considerable support on the part of Amway’s senior leadership who understands that investing in their people is the key to the company’s ongoing and long-term success. 

 “After a week of classroom learning at Thunderbird, we didn’t just turn them loose to work on their business challenges,” said Kee Meng Yeo, Director of Amway Global Talent Development. “We partnered with Thunderbird and had virtual monthly meetings with each team to check on their progress, offer advice, and address issues or needs.”
 
Amway Chief Financial Officer Russ Evans was on hand for the presentations.

“Having been part of presentations from similarly designed senior leadership development programs at Boeing and General Electric, these are by far the most practical and implementable recommendations and not simply management and business concepts,” said Evans.  “It is clear the recommendations were well-researched and based on sound business logic.”