Cultivating Leadership to Drive Business Results

August 12, 2015 by Marie Andel

Like many companies, we favor the concept of promoting from within for leadership positions. However, when we took a closer look at the makeup of our leadership team a few years ago, we realized we were underperforming in that area. Executive SummaryMarie Andel, chief administrative officer at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer, shares how the insurer develops talent to support succession planning and diversity goals and provides tips for starting a leadership development program.

Executive Summary

Marie Andel, chief administrative officer at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer, shares how the insurer develops talent to support succession planning and diversity goals and provides tips for starting a leadership development program.

Our bench strength was not what it needed to be, which meant we were looking almost exclusively outside of the organization to fill leadership positions. We hadn’t invested adequately in professional development and leadership training, and we were feeling the painful consequences.

We have and always will hire the best person for the job—and we wanted to find the best person among our own employees more often. It was time to stop talking about the challenge and put our money, time and efforts where our mouths were.