What Our Clients Say About Us
Executive Education — The Toyota Way
The following excerpt is from a speech, "Re-inventing Toyota," given by Toyota President, Fujio Cho, in Traverse City, Michigan on August 3, 2004.
"...We are developing some new methods that will help all our key regions be more self-reliant. One is called the Executive Development Program. It invites high-performing general managers and vice presidents from Toyota operations around the world to attend a bi-country, two-part workshop. The first week takes place in Japan. ... The group shares business challenges from their regions and works together to better gain a global perspective of Toyota."
"The second week is in Philadelphia at the renowned Wharton School. During this session, top business professors and participants actively discuss the best management practices of our time. This learning from outside sources helps our executives avoid being too narrow in their thinking and sets up life-long company contacts."
— Fujio Cho, President of Toyota Motor Corporation
CHUBB Executive Leadership Development Program
“On account of Wharton, we are doing so many things differently, and better, that it is difficult to pick one thing. We have learned to get more serious about goal setting, performance review, and accountability. We set our strategy, monitor and measure our activities, and make modifications as needed, when needed. The best thing — it works. We are getting better results for our company and for Chubb.”
— Albert R. (Skip) Counselmanm, CPCU RCM&D, Inc.
“On the final day, we had a session on mergers and acquisitions, at a time when we were struggling with our motivations for proceeding to the next steps on a potential acquisition, on the heels of three successful earlier transactions. Through the discussions we had and after reviewing the cold, hard statistics that were presented, I returned to the office with a much more critical eye, and we quickly resolved not to proceed. With the benefit of hindsight, it was a wise move.”
— Greg Belton, Hunter, Keilty, Muntz and Beatty
The Wharton/Merrill Lynch Investment Banking Institute
"We were involved in a constructive dialogue with Wharton's custom design team from the very beginning. Wharton never just responded with, 'Oh we've got such-and-such program for you.' It was an incredibly collaborative process. They were involved in real problem solving with us."
— Director of CICG Training and Development, Merrill Lynch
Shell International
"Wharton has a real spirit of inquiry and willingness to work with us to understand our needs. They are responsive to feedback about bits that work and bits that don't, and in understanding why."
— Simon J. Fitzpatrick, Programme Director, Leadership Development, Shell Learning
Wyeth Value Series
"Wharton partnered well with us; we like the collaborative process here."
— George Ericsson, Associate Director of Marketing Development, Wyeth
Additional Testimonials
"I've sent 80 of my managers to Wharton's custom programs. Their time is limited, and the classes are designed to be relevant to the issues they face. The faculty are excellent at distilling the important topics and really driving home their impact. These managers come back to work with real excitement at trying new approaches and having gained a broader business perspective."
— Frank Brandenburg, Senior Vice President, Litton Industries ECMG
"This course allowed me to change perspectives and get immersed in a new learning experience. This training is valuable to high-performance teams."
— Executive, Telecommunications Company
"I first called Wharton for a Sales Force Training course for my sales team. After discussing our needs with the academic director from their Sales Force Training program, we all agreed what I really needed was a leadership and planning course for my sales managers. I was impressed by the depth of the program design experience at Wharton."
—Vice President, Sales Force Development, Pharmaceuticals Company
