Here is a success story...please leave your own (story) behind so that we all may learn and develop from your experience.
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BANKERS AND MARINES TRAIN, IMPROVE and CELEBRATE VICTORY 07 August 2007 Coopersburg PA On 11 and 12 July, about an hour northwest of New York City at the Crystal Springs Resort in Vernon NJ, 60 newly hired Analysts and Associates from international bank, BNP Paribas, kicked off their 5-week “Analysts and Associates Training Program” or “AATP 2007”. Barbara Kroin, the bank’s Director of Learning and Development, is responsible for the conduct of the program. When asked about the history of the program, Kroin offered, “The AATP is in its third year with the class of 2007. It gets better every year.” Focused on teaching the participants about the bank’s products and culture, the program also demonstrates the importance of building relationships and working as a team. “We want to make sure these future leaders are prepared and tested in an environment where it is safe to learn, safe to take informed risks,” replied Kroin when asked about her employee development philosophy. “We take them out of their comfort zones and put them into situations where they will be required to analyze the current state, make decisions, solve problems and share best practices. That way they learn together while they build lasting relationships,” added Kroin. In order to pull the participants out of their comfort zones, Kroin and her staff called on the Marines from Business Battlefield Inc to kick off the orientation week of AATP 2007. To answer the call, Business Battlefield designed and conducted 2 days of challenging experiential training activities. These activities tested the participants and identified and accentuated leadership and teamwork opportunities through team decision-making exercises, open-forum discussions and energetic competitions. Physically, the participants were challenged in a field environment (Wawayanda State Park, NJ) where they were required to accomplish multiple tasks while continually cross-functionalizing and cross-communicating. At the end of their field training, each AATP participant had navigated over 4 miles of tough terrain while reacting to situations that would keep them ever-guessing and always engaged. To tie it all together, the Business Battlefield Marines demonstrated and incorporated the power of DEBRIEFING to short-cut and accelerate learning for all participants involved and to highlight the real-world application of these exercise lessons learned. When asked about the experience, AATP team leader Christian Brobst responded, ”I can't think of a more exciting, or a more fun way to introduce a group of developing professionals to the importance of teamwork, communication, and inter-reliance among the members of an organization.” And team leader Emmett Burke offered, ”The opportunity to 'go through the trenches' provided all with a better appreciation of the need to draw on peers’ strengths and competencies while gaining a better understanding of our own skill sets.” A “Victory Night” celebration capped off the two days of training. This celebration consisted of a banquet dinner that heralded the accomplishments of the AATP class up to that point. Skits, toasts, songs and stories made this an evening that the Analysts and Associates Training Program 2007 participants will never forget.
The BNP Paribas analysts and associates from the AATP 2007 class completed their 5 weeks of training and graduated on Friday August 10, 2007. Please contact Barbara Kroin, BNP Paribas Director of Learning and Development at (212) 841 3064 for questions. Alternatively, contact Matt Daniel of Business Battlefield at (610) 704 1232.

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BizBatt just recently (last weekend) ran a Field Leadership Lab (FLL) with a local radio station's sales team. Awesome exercise. These people were great sports, good communicators, good leaders, equally good followers and adventurous carnivores. This FLL put them into situations where they were required to deviate from their plan and their expected path...keep the home office advised and in the loop, educate colleague teams that are going through like situations and dynamically change roles during the exercise. The sales staff of WODE (Nassau Broadcasting) spent approximately 3 hours in the wilderness of Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains learning and developing skills together. After it all, we debriefed and talked about SCARLET and GOLD and the answers to these four questions as they pertain to business life:

1 WHAT AM I GOING TO STOP (doing)?
2 WHAT AM I GOING TO DO MORE OF?
3 WHAT AM I GOING TO DO BETTER?
4 WHAT AM I GOING TO START (doing)?

Then we cracked some beers and relaxed at Chez Lincoln..

What a day!

Boom sends.

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Here's a real-life LEADERSHIP FAILURE story, if that is appropriate. The NEW YORK KNICKS (specifically Jim Dolan, Steve Mills, Frank Murphy and the ever-racist, all-ego Isiah Thomas) and the firing of front office chief: Anucha Browne Sanders and b-ball talent scouting skipper: Jeff Nix. See attached (WhatNotToDo.doc)(WhatNotToDo.doc and GardenofShame.doc) published stories below.

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