NEW YORK CITY – June 10, 2014 — Best Practice Institute will honor David Deacon, MasterCard’s chief talent officer, at a three-day meeting on Global Talent Transformation starting Tuesday in New York City.
BPI’s 2014 Best Organization Practitioner Award will be presented to Deacon by Lou Carter, founder and CEO of Best Practice Institute. BPI is a leadership development organization serving many of the world’s top corporations, including a majority of the Fortune 500.
BPI’s Senior Executive Board is an ultra-exclusive network of talent executives of some of the world’s largest companies. The BPI SEB meets twice yearly for three-day summits on leadership and talent management issues. The upcoming meeting will be hosted at the headquarters of BlackRock, Inc.
“David’s work with ‘talent shepherding’ is extraordinary,” Carter said. “A huge transformation has been taking place at MasterCard ever since its IPO in 2006. David was exactly the change agent MasterCard needed to keep the transformation moving forward. He is a true thought leader in the field of talent management.”
The New MasterCard
MasterCard has more than 8,000 employees in the 210 countries where it does business. Deacon joined MasterCard in March 2012. As the company continues to innovate and evolve its offerings in both the traditional card and emerging digital and mobile payments worlds changes are necessary to keep up with these developments.
“Change is inevitable,” said Deacon. “But, change brings the opportunity to grow and lead. Addressing this opportunity head-on will help us continue to deliver consumers and businesses a way to pay whenever and however they want.”
The change effort at MasterCard is being accomplished by developing three groups of leaders: senior executives, high-potentials and mid-level managers.
Executive Leadership Program
Chief Human Resources Officer Ron Garrow created the Executive Leadership Program (ELP) in 2010. It was a four-day event of assessment, coaching, teaching and dialogue. Deacon took over the ELP in 2012 and has developed a three-day version that 200 leaders are working through in 2014.
Jeff Wilson, an executive vice president in the company’s Latin America and Caribbean operations, described the ELP as “nothing short of life-changing.” Wilson has been at MasterCard 19 years and had fallen into what he called “a corporate rut.” The ELP he attended offered “everything I personally needed to take my career to the next level,” Wilson said.
Accelerated Development Program
In late 2013, Deacon launched the Accelerated Development Program (ADP) for high-potential leaders for approximately 150 emerging leaders around the world.
Deacon designed a custom-tailored approach to leadership development, as opposed relying solely on classroom instruction and group exercises, or what he calls the “sheep dip approach,” referring to the process ranchers use to immerse sheep in insecticides and fungicides.
At the heart of the ADP are “talent shepherds,” senior- and mid-level talent executives who are assigned as one-on-one mentors to the high-potential leaders.
SmartMoves and SmartSteps
With a significant number of mid-level managers not being reached by the ELP or ADP, Deacon developed SmartMoves and SmartSteps, two programs designed to add to a manager’s “portfolio of experiences.” SmartMoves promotes lateral moves as a strategic way to advance one’s career. The recently launched SmartSteps is an online marketplace for “one-day experiences” to provide employees with a taste of activities in different business units.
The BPI Awards
BPI’s annual awards honor executives, practitioners and innovators who have made a significant contribution to leadership and management. Nominations are accepted from BPI’s 42,000 subscribers. Final nominees are selected by the Senior Executive Board and the winners chosen by Carter.
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Louis Carter, founder and CEO of Best Practice Institute, has led BPI to become one of the world’s top associations for leadership and human resource development, with more than 42,000 subscribers. Carter is creator of Skillrater.com, the cloud-based anytime feedback tool on a social collaboration platform, and the BPI Online Learning Portal at www.bestpracticeinstitute.org. Carter has written eleven books on best practices and organizational leadership, including the Best Practice series and the Change Champion’s Field Guide.
Best Practice Institute is a leadership and management association focusing on best and innovative business practices. BPI has more than 42,000 subscribers, from managers to senior and C-level executives. It has corporate and individual members in about two dozen countries on five continents, including executives and employees of more than half of the Fortune 500.
CONTACT
Louis Carter, founder and CEO
Best Practice Institute
West Palm Beach, FL
phone: 800-718-4274
email: lou@bestpracticeinstitute.org
website: www.bestpracticeinstitute.org
