Maersk

Enabling Leaders to Drive Customer Value and Performance

Century-old A.P. Moller-Maersk, one of Denmark's premier companies, is an integrated transport and logistics company and a global leader in container shipping and ports, with operations in 130 countries and 76,000 employees.

During the global financial crisis, Maersk recognized that its top executives needed a new toolkit to navigate a rapidly changing and hyper-competitive business environment. Specifically, the company wanted its senior leaders to develop new capabilities for delivering value to customers, improving the company's performance, and gaining a competitive edge.

Based on Maersk's distinct challenges and goals, we collaborated with the company's leadership to design a custom program for the company's CEO, executive team, and select board members, followed by three related programs for the business units' leadership teams. To reinforce that learning experience, we also designed and delivered a five-day program for Maersk's top 140 executives.

Executives emerged from the programs with a renewed focus on profit drivers and a more sophisticated skill set for designing effective strategies in turbulent times. The training also transformed how the company's leaders approached their responsibilities, strengthened relationships across business units, and enabled teams to solve their toughest challenges.

IMPACT

• Transformed Maersk's approach to leadership.
• Renewed an understanding of and focus on profit drivers.
• Facilitated the design of more effective strategies to gain competitive advantage in turbulent markets.
• Built relationships and networks across business units.
• Created an opportunity for the CEO to hold executives accountable for stretch performance goals through "commitment statements" developed immediately after the program.