Accelerating senior leaders' development and driving growth strategy : Merck's Executive Development Program integrates residential learning modules with high‐return action learning projects

Purpose – To describe an executive development initiative contributing directly to the achievement of business goals, enhancement of leadership skills and succession planning strength. Design/methodology/approach – Brings together revenue‐enhancing action learning projects, virtual learning, a global immersion component, and interactive sessions where participants, executive sponsors and leading experts engage in a dialogue on strategic priorities and leadership challenges. Findings – Merck, the second‐largest healthcare company in the world, has been partnering with Wharton on a learning initiative to strengthen the strategic capabilities and leadership behaviors of its senior leaders since 2009. The company, which merged with Schering‐Plough in 2009, operates in more than 140 countries, with worldwide sales of around $48bn in 2011. The merger aimed to create a new kind of healthcare company – one that is improving health and well‐being by providing innovative medicines, vaccines and other consumer and animal health products. With greater global reach, the combined company could offer more diverse products through a broader range of businesses with a stronger development pipeline. These strategic shifts, along with a rapidly changing healthcare environment, demanded new skills from the company's leadership and increased the need for a strong talent pool with a similar background of strategic knowledge, language and experiences. The success of the learning initiative is credited in part to the development of strategic capabilities and leadership behaviors needed to drive business decisions in leadership roles. Further to its success, action learning projects resulted in strategic ROI and furthered Merck's growth strategy. Finally the learning initiative helped advance over 60 percent of participants into new leadership positions. Practical implications – Demonstrates the value of a highly customized approach to building the leadership skills of senior executives and their ownership of strategy. Social implications – Notes the importance of appreciating multiple perspectives on industry development, explaining how locating one part of the program in Mumbai, India exposed participants to local business practices and increased their appreciation of the realities of doing business in an emerging market. Originality/value – Explains how a worldwide healthcare company addressed strategic and leadership development issues through partnership with a leading provider of executive education.