可口可乐的领导力秘方：让明星高管离岗6周

    除了课堂教学外，课程内容还包括角色扮演，旨在提高领导者倾听的技能。在项目最后，他们将接受一个顶点项目，所有人需要根据6周内所学习的知识，在返回正常工作岗位之后将项目完成。

    但对于许多人来说，该项目最宝贵之处在于，走出熟悉的领域，观察其他市场的情况。可口可乐商标部门北美市场高级副总裁安迪•麦克米林参加了去年的基奥项目，他表示，在发展中国家的那段时间，让他产生了“不同的思维方式”。

    例如，他根据在印度的所见所闻，为团队带来了新的包装创意。在墨西哥，他学会了如何调整管理方式。麦克米林说道：“墨西哥是公司执行力最好的市场之一，”因为那里的高管会“非常诚实地”告诉他们需要做些什么才能持续改进。现在，他也鼓励自己的团队展开更多的公开辩论。

    对于整个可口可乐公司来说，该项目肯定还会带来其他回报——虽然有些好处需要在一段时间之后才会显现。

    智睿咨询高级副总裁巴里•斯特恩说道：“公司在告诉人们，他们不止是系统中的一个数字。对于这一点的重要性，无论怎样强调都不为过。”

    虽然可口可乐公司并未披露基奥学院的预算，但这肯定是一笔巨大的投入。而获得上司推荐入选项目的员工，将不会忽视公司的付出。可口可乐香港市场业务开发副总裁阿密特•迪布雷瓦尔表示：“我能看到公司在我身上的投资。这意味着，他们认为我具备再上一个台阶的潜质——这让我真正有了一份责任感。”

    本文作者Rick Wartzman是克莱蒙特研究大学德鲁克研究院的执行董事，曾出版五本著作，他目前正撰写的一本新书，其主题是二战后美国雇主和劳工之间的社会契约变迁史。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    In addition to some classroom lectures, the curriculum also includes a bit of role-playing as a way for the leaders to sharpen their listening skills. And at the conclusion of the program, they commit to a capstone project, to be completed when they return to their regular assignments, based on what they’ve absorbed throughout the six weeks.

    But for many, the most valuable aspect of the program is getting out in the field and observing what’s happening in markets other than their own. Andy McMillin, a senior vice president for Coca-Cola trademarks in North America, who was in last year’s Keough contingent, says that the time spent in developing countries spurred him to adopt a “different mindset.”

    For instance, he brought back to his team some new packaging ideas that he saw in India. In Mexico, meanwhile, he learned to adjust his management style. “Mexico is one of our best-executing markets,” McMillin says, because the executives there are “brutally honest” about what they need to do to constantly improve. He now encourages more open debate within his own team.

    For Coca-Cola, there are surely other rewards—though they may take a while to materialize.

    “The company is telling these people that they’re more than a number in the system,” says Barry Stern, a senior vice president at DDI. “I can’t overstate the importance of that.”

    Indeed, while Coke won’t disclose its budget for the Keough Academy, it’s clearly considerable. And that isn’t lost on those who are nominated by higher-ups and selected for the program. “I just look at the amount of investment the company has put in me,” says Amit Tibrewal, Coca-Cola’s vice president for business development in Hong Kong, who is in this year’s Keough cohort. “That means they think I have what it takes to get to the next level—and with that comes a real sense of responsibility.”

    Rick Wartzman is the executive director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University. The author or editor of five books, he is currently writing a narrative history of how the social contract between employer and employee in America has changed since the end of World War II.