Case Studies

CASE STUDY

Novartis
Life Sciences and Healthcare, EMEA

Overview
Novartis, a $42 billion global company based in Switzerland, is a top Five Pharmaceutical, Consumer Products, Vaccines and Diagnostics, and Generics Company. This company was in the midst of fast growth and culture change after acquisition/merger of CIBA Geigy and Sandoz to form Novartis. Retention and development of top senior talent was a major issue. 70% of key talent was hired from outside when this Development began over six years ago.

Approach
Korn/Ferry provided Talent Acquisition/Search for top positions globally across all functions, geographies and business units as well as Onboarding services and Senior Team Effectiveness to key hires/senior teams globally. In addition, Korn/Ferry:

Outcome
External hires of senior talent fell from 70% to 30%
realizing significant cost savings.

Increased quality and retention of external hires

significantly.

Provided Leadership Development and Coaching

program to accelerate high-potential talent development twelve to fifteen times per year.

Trust measures for senior key teams increased

substantially; company credited Korn/Ferry International directly for this improvement.

Implemented Executive to Leader Institute to coach

and develop senior leaders globally.

Company ranked as #1 most admired Pharmaceutical

company in 2006 and 2007 as a result of business results and positive people/culture changes.

Integrated Choices Architect Learning Agility

Assessment to measure potential and to support succession planning initiatives globally.

CASE STUDY

Johnson & Johnson

Healthcare

Overview
Johnson & Johnson, a $62 billion global Parma, Consumer, Medical Products and Surgical Care company based in New Jersey named the Most admired company in the world. Desired enhanced market leadership in Senior Talent recruiting, development and retention, in concert with improved top succession and development processes for executives below the Chairman.

Approach
Korn/Ferry performed global Executive Search services for the senior-most positions internationally, 300+ executives and managers were placed successfully into senior positions over the past 13 years. Custom designed a Chairmans Dialogue Leadership Development Program to increase the intimacy of talent with the Chairman/CEO and enhance/accelerate leadership development and succession. Provide a business-focused dialogue with the Chairman/CEO and groups of executives over 2 days. Customized Leadership Development & Coaching (Executive to Leader Institute) delivered for each executive.

Outcome
Johnson & Johnson recognizes KFI as the go to
organization to locate senior talent globally.

All participants in the Chairmans program ranked their

leadership development experience as exceptional.

Enhanced precision and succession planning

decisions have been reported consistently from executive sponsors and leadership team.

Ongoing development and coaching of the most

senior talent at Johnson & Johnson..

CASE STUDY

URS
Industrial, Global

Overview
URS, a Fortune 500 engineering and professional services firm, had grown from $500 million to $10 billion in ten years. This client sought to create and implement a succession planning process for their CEO and top three candidates. They also needed to establish a leadership development and talent pipeline to keep pace with their growth demands.

Approach
Korn/Ferry provided leadership development and coaching for the top three CEO candidates utilizing the Chief Executive Institute program. The Executive to Leader Institute senior leadership development program was then cascaded first to the top 50 leaders, and subsequently to the next 300 managers/leaders. We also built an assessment and talent infrastructure to support URS long-term talent management needs.

Outcome
As a result, Korn/Ferry:

Helped URS to create multiple options for CEO

succession.

Was recognized by the company as a strategic

advisor/partner to build senior talent to support their overall strategy.

Aided URS to become recognized as a talent

management leader and innovator in its industry.

CASE STUDY

Custom solution created for client:

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Financial Services, North America

Overview
This Fortune 500 financial services company formed from a June 2001 merger of different cultures merging at a difficult time in the market. They merged two boards, two management teams, and experienced layoffs of 700 employees. Thrivent needed to elevate the effectiveness of its executive management team and build a stronger bench of talent at next level of leadership. Key issues facing executive team/culture included a lack of trust and a low level of accountability for decision-making.

Approach
Korn/Ferry delivered senior executive coaching and development in the form of Executive to Leader Institute for all 13 executive team members in addition to a simultaneous senior team effectiveness process of two 3-day sessions over the course of two years. We also provided search and talent acquisition services for the role of CIO, implemented leadership development and coaching programs for high-potential talent, and assessed high potential candidates using both our Decision Styles assessment benchmarked against bestin-class individuals and leaders globally and market calibration wherein candidates were benchmarked against best-in-class comparable candidates known to Korn/Ferry. Finally, we developed a profile for CEO succession and assessed internal candidates against the profile.

Outcome
Thrivent noted an increased effectiveness of its Executive Leadership Team. Trust was measured to improve by 40%. A third party research firm was brought in to measure overall employee engagement. This research firm found four of the top five item increases were specific to the Executive Management Team. The resulting halo effect helped raise workforce engagement to all-time organization high and above financial services industry norm. The Board of Directors gave the CEO the highest possible rating for team leadership development, indicating it was the most exceptional leadership team they have seen.