In a recent conversation, an Executive VP of a global pharmaceutical company bemoaned the poor rate of return from one of her biggest investments, talent development. In the past two years she had sent three of her direct reports to an advanced executive development programme at a prestigious business school south-west of Paris, each placement costing £35,000 and requiring four weeks absence from work.
Now, as someone who is a graduate of one of the school and has helped designed and present one of their programmes, it is naturally that I leap to the defence of the Faculty. And I do. Not because I believe they are faultless, but because I believe establishing the conditions and expectations for a high rate of return are the responsibility of the sponsoring line manager.
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