From Toys to Talent

Toymaker Hasbro Inc. built a successful stable of homegrown products through the years, including Mr. Potato Head, G.I. Joe and My Little Pony. In the 1980s and 1990s, the company fueled continued growth through acquisition, picking up Milton Bradley and Playskool in 1984 and Tonka, Parker Brothers and Wizards of the Coast in the 1990s.

But by 2000, the company needed to refocus, shifting from acquisitions to nurturing the cadre of more than 1,000 brands in its portfolio with the goal of total brand immersion, including games, toys, entertainment and housewares. It’s not just toys and games anymore — Hasbro brands are now seen in digital entertainment, movies and TV.

Along with the new strategy came the need for more strategic leaders to make it happen. Hasbro already offered employees development from basic management training to tuition reimbursement but needed a new kind of investment to develop future leaders.

In 2003, the company, in partnership with the executive education program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, created the Hasbro Global Leadership Program to bolster the talent pipeline and provide opportunity for high potentials to expand their leadership roles. More than 200 Hasbro executives have attended the week-long program, starting with vice presidents and above from 2003 to 2006 and broadening to director-level employees in 2009.
Working with faculty at Tuck’s campus in Hanover, N.H., the company continues to run the program annually with the aim to fuel continued growth through dynamic leaders who are moving Hasbro’s employees from a toy-manufacturing paradigm into new roles as global brand caretakers.

Beyond Toys to Transcultural Teams

To set the initial curriculum, Tuck professor Vijay Govindarajan, faculty director for the Hasbro program, worked closely with Hasbro’s leadership to identify skill gaps and plot where the company needed to go and the skills needed to get there.

“There’s no doubt they are incredibly smart professionals equipped with strategic know-how,” said Hasbro President and CEO Brian Goldner about the staff at the Tuck School. “But they also have a practical understanding of what it takes to succeed in business. That’s pivotal to real-world application.”