My manager cares about me as an individual
In 1995, Tom Watson, Vice Chairman of Omnicom Group Inc., with Harvard Business School professor Len Schlesinger, created a global leadership development program, Omnicom University Senior Management Program (SMP). Today, the program is regarded as one of the pre-eminent executive education experiences and one of the major sources of “cultural glue” for the Omnicom network. RAPP sends the Leadership team to SMP. SMP is a two-year commitment which includes action learning and peer problem-solving dialogues. Students attend a six-day Undergraduate Program, followed by a four-day Graduate Program a year later. Students are required to identify and implement a Personal Strategic Change Initiative between the Undergraduate and Graduate programs that will have significant impact within their organisation. The Senior Management team also attend the Advanced Management Program, AMP. AMP introduces future leaders and “rising stars” throughout Omnicom to the core principles of managing a professional service firm and the Service Profit Chain, the core management framework we use at SMP. In addition to affording participants a world-class development experience, AMP provides a new form of recognition and retention for key managers, an opportunity for these managers to forge relationships with other talented individuals within Omnicom, and an additional source of support for returning “apostle” SMP graduates as they endeavour to affect change within their organisations. As with SMP, these three-day sessions use the case study method to stimulate discussions of issues and trends that challenge our industry.