This is the first in a series of conversations with top-level executives on the subject of learning. This month's interview is with Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Edward Ludwig of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company).
Among the topics discussed were the formation of BD University four years ago and the type of return-on-investment expected from its programs. Ludwig says the ultimate ROI lies in the success of the company. "I believe that the education we do contributes to making the company grow faster, be more profitable, and have higher customer satisfaction ratings," he says.
Ludwig also says that he'd like to be remembered as a CEO who was actively involved with employee development. "I hope that our ability to learn and teach and grow develops its own flywheel and keeps on going. If it does, we will have done something important for the next generation." An article by Ed Betof follows in which he describes how leaders at BD are also teachers. As chief learning officer for BD, Betof discusses how the key element of building organizational and leadership capability is for all levels--from the factory floor to senior leaders--to develop new skills, abilities, and talents.
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The first in a series of talks with top-level executives on the subject of learning and performance.
Edward J. Ludwig became president of global medical technology firm BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) in 1999, CEO in 2000, and chairman of the board in 2002. He joined the company in 1979, as a senior financial analyst and moved steadily through the company in positions of increasing responsibility in financial management, strategic planning, and operations. In an informal conversation, he shared the following views.
Q BD has a thriving university to support its leadership development and to help you communicate the company's values and direction, but that wasn't the case when you became CEO. Describe the situation you stepped into four years ago.
A. One of the first things I did as CEO was an organizational profile to find out from employees what was getting in the way of BD becoming a great company. We learned that not everyone knew where we were going. And we received a strong message that we had to spend more time developing people. That strengthened my conviction that we had to extend and formalize the development process. Our ability to get where we're going is people dependent, skill dependent, adaptability dependent, engagement dependent.
We didn't want traditional training. We'd been through many cycles of that, bringing in experts from schools like Harvard and Stanford once a year and moving from idea to idea. In the absence of a formal development program at corporate, our businesses around the globe were coming up with their own programs, and some of them were teaching management skills and behaviors that we felt were less than ideal. We wanted to promote the BD Orthodoxy--things BD believes to be true about the way we're running the company and what we expect from our leaders.
To prepare for BD's next 100 years, we have to develop new skills, abilities, and approaches. And we believed that the best way to do that was through a combination of formalized curriculum, on-the-job training, developmental assignments, and leaders serving as teachers for some of the content. All of this led to the formation of BD University four years ago.
Q. Leaders serving as teachers is an important part of the plan. You yourself teach classes several times a year. What makes it worth the investment of your personal time?
A. Teaching gives me the opportunity to talk directly to people about where we are going, about our journey to become a great company. Initially, these sessions made me understand that we needed to increase our communication substantially. I began to travel more, to make videos for employees, to hold conference calls, and to send email about our purpose, our goals, our values, and our directions.
In my teaching role, I answer a lot of questions, and that has helped me clarify my own ideas about where the company should be going. I learn from teaching, and I think it has made me a better communicator of our strategies.
Frankly, I don't think the role of teacher is optional for a CEO in today's complex, multifunctional, multinational, technology organization. It's part of the job. And it's a fun part.
Q. Do you expect or demand an ROI from the programs offered through BD University?
A. We debate that extensively here. We haven't yet figured out a way to do a specific return-on-investment, where you get a dollar invested and a dollar returned. However, we look at nonfinancial metrics. The ultimate question is, Is the company being more successful? I believe that the education we do contributes to making the company grow faster, be more profitable, and have higher customer satisfaction ratings.
Our programs have a strong element of personal accountability. Many require follow-up action with a person's supervisor. I tell people, "If you don't have a development program, you have the right to demand one."
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