Insights with Steve Mercer

1. How did you get into the executive development field? What recommendations would you have for someone who is early in their career in executive development?

I got into the field by accident. I was a marketing manager who attended an in-house marketing course and gave it a bad evaluation. My reward was to be assigned to "fix" the course. After working on marketing education programs, I branched out into finance education and then executive education, working on global business driven action learning programs. I found that I really enjoyed the work, and made a career change from Marketing Manager to Executive Education Manager. As for recommendations, my key one is "understand the business, understand finance, and be able to communicate in the language of business". As an executive education professional, you will be interacting with high level leadership in your company. They want to be confident that you are a business person who understands their issues, and will relate your executive education initiatives to the business opportunities and problems facing the company.

2. Over your career, what changes and trends have you noticed in terms of how executives and senior managements are developed?
There is an increasing recognition that on-the-job experiences are crucial to management development, that "OJT" needs to be consciously planned, and that there needs to be a link between job assignments and formal educational programs. There has been a significant shift towards bringing more real business problems into the formal classroom setting, integrating them with the desired learning objectives, and using "learning by doing" to solidify the accomplishment of formal learning objectives. In addition, many companies now realize the value of bringing their own high level execs in as discussion facilitators. This creates a unique opportunity for "you learn and I learn", as well as building credibility and improved communication of strategic objectives.

3. What is the single most important resource (book, article, simulation, action learning activity etc.) in the executive development that you have used?
There are really two important items:

Free play, competitive, highly realistic, total immersion business simulations coupled with observation, after action reviews, and immediate feedback/coaching. In these simulations, people "default" to their normal on-the-job behavior, and can get immediate feedback to work on improving in developmental areas strengthening positive characteristics.

Business Driven Action Learning, which brings live problems into the class room and provides significant opportunities for participants to gain an outside-in perspective through dialogues with customers, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders.

4. You have worked with a number of different business schools over your career- in your view which are offering the most innovative types of programs today?
I don't like to make recommendations, since things change in this area relatively frequently. Instead, I would suggest that you look for business schools that are willing to spend some time with you in understanding your specific issues, instead of telling you to come to an open market "one size fits all" program. Although, surprisingly, most companies face the same major issues, it improves credibility with your executive audiences if the faculty can speak from your perspective and use relevant examples and analogies.

5. Let's imagine that you have been asked to present to a board of directors the plan for developing their organization's top management, and one of the board members challenges you by claiming that management development at this level is a waste of everyone's time. How would you respond?
Practice makes permanent. At the top management level, there is, frankly, a lot of risk aversion because whether people will admit it or not, they are "running for office", and a single failure can be career threatening. High level managers need a practice field which will not derail their career, and that means formal development experiences which allow for risk free experimentation. Further, at high levels there is an increasing need for exposure to outside thinking and global trends, since there is much more interaction with external stakeholders, and a much higher impact of what I call "second and third order consequences" of decisions.

6. Can you name a few really dynamic speakers you have brought in to augment a program on executive development?
Again, this is an area where I don't like to make "by name" suggestions without knowing the context. As in selecting a business school to work with, I feel it is critical to select faculty who are willing to spend some time learning your specific business context and issues. Too often, companies turn to high priced so-called "gurus" as "box office draws" to bring a false sense of credibility to their programs, and two weeks later no one can remember what the point was. In many cases they would be better served using internal executives in a real give-and-take.

7. You have been known to utilize innovative approaches to management development- drawing on things like simulations and live theatre. Why are these approaches so effective, and do you expect more of the industry will utilize such services?
I firmly believe that experience is the best teacher. The more you can internalize the learning - to feel it viscerally - the more likely you are to retain it. Talk is cheap, action is everything, so "living it" is infinitely better than "talking about it". Free play, interactive simulations and live improvisational role play offer the closest experiences to reality in which to practice and internalize key concepts, experiment with new ideas and approaches, and make real progress in developing new capabilities. I expect more companies to accept and utilize these approaches in the future.

8. What do you think about conducting ROI for executive development programs? Can this be done? Should it be done?
This is always the $64,000 Question and as a person originally trained as an engineer, who used controlled experiments, it can never be answered to the satisfaction of the purist. However there are ways to measure impact. The question I always ask first is "What constitutes Goodness?" Before you can measure ROI, you need to know what factors you want to impact, and what indicates a favorable movement. For example, some companies compare "dollars per employee spent on training" versus peer companies. To me, this is a useless metric, since spending more does not mean you are necessarily doing better. Measuring improved personal productivity or improved performance per training dollar is a much more meaningful approach. This can be done if the parameters are agreed on with management in advance.

9. What key ingredient is most often overlooked by executive development professionals as they are planning programs?
The use of their own key executives as facilitators and discussion leaders. I am not talking about execs making pitches - I am suggesting real discussion and interaction. At GE, we built our entire top level Executive Development Course around two weeks of half day interactions with the members of the Corporate Executive Council. It turned out to be one of the most powerful developmental experiences we offered - not only for the participants, but also for the CEC members who learned as much as they taught.

10. How will executive development be different in the future?
The best companies will recognize that 99% of development occurs on the job, and that the most effective approach to executive development will combine job assignments, succession planning, and formal educational programs. Individuals will have targeted developmental programs which integrate these three elements. Formal education experiences for executives will be more experiential, include more real problem solving of contemporary business issues, and will include elements of "Learning accountability" to assure application upon return to work.


Steve Mercer

Bio in brief:
President, SRM Consulting

Vice President, Learning and Leadership Development, Boeing Company

Manager, Executive Education, General Electric Company, Crotonville