WMU Launches Emerging Leadership Development Program
What started with challenges shared by industry leaders has blossomed into a new level of education for future leaders of the CPG and grocery retail industry: Western Michigan University’s Emerging Leadership Development Program.
“[WMU’s Emerging Leadership Development Program] is not just about helping individuals move from their line-type positions of sales or buyer to manage people and processes in a bigger way, although that’s part of it,” says Bob Samples, head of the program and Marketing Instructor at WMU’s Haworth School of Business. “The goal is to provide emerging leaders with new skills needed to take companies in the directions they’d like to go.”
Launching this spring is WMU’s Emerging Leadership Development Program, an intensive, four-day skills and development course for those new to leadership roles and those identified as high potential team members. Key elements include interacting with internal and external partners, joint business planning, and understanding emerging elements that will be the building blocks for the future.
The course, which takes place at the Haworth School of Business at WMU, Kalamazoo, Mich., consists of four tracks: EQ, using Lumina Spark, helps participants improve self-understanding and working with others. Accountability takes a three-pronged approach to managing strategic risk, pro-forma project analysis, and joint business plan results. The results track utilizes leadership case studies in partnership with persuasive presentations. And the leadership track, which includes social media skills and sustainable business strategies, empowers participants to shape the future through effective relationships, integrity and accountability.
The Emerging Leadership Development Program is taught by WMU faculty and industry experts. The first course takes place April 10-13, 2017. More information and registration details can be found here.
Western Michigan University has a long commitment to the retail and CPG industry. The university’s Food Marketing Program will host its 52nd annual conference March 21-22, 2017, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Read more here.