This October Blanchard is celebrating the 45th anniversary of our creation as a company in 1979. What a privilege it has been these past four-and-a-half decades to serve so many extraordinary clients, and to empower so many people to sharpen their skills and lead with love!
Blanchard’s Beginnings
Like many of the best things in life, the origin of our company came about through serendipity. In the late 1970s I was on sabbatical from my professorship at the University of Massacusetts, working on the revised edition of Management of Orgaizational Behavior, the textbook I had written with Paul Hersey. During that time I was invited to speak about leadership at a Young Presidents Organization (YPO) event in Hawaii.
My sessions at the event were so popular that at the end of the conference, several of the YPO members came forward and asked me what I was planning to do next. I told them that I would be heading back to Amerst, Massachusetts, to teach.
“You’re crazy!” they said. “When you’re hot, you’re hot. You should start your own company.”
My wife, Margie, and several of our professor friends back at the University of Massachusetts had dreamed of taking what we were teaching and starting a business, but our talk had always been just that: a dream.
“Margie and I can’t even balance our own checkbook,” I said to the YPO members. “How are we going to start a company?”
“We’ll help you,” they said.
And that’s exactly what happened. Five of the YPO presidents became our advisory group and helped us start the company.
In the beginning Margie and I had just a half-dozen associates. During those early days, the eight of us traveled from city to city to conduct all our training face-to-face. There were no cell phones; there was no Zoom. Training occurred classroom by classroom. It required a lot of travel, but we were fueled by our enthusiasm to teach leaders to empower and motivate their people.
The Changing Landscape of Leadership Development
Today Blanchard has more than 200 employees, with offices around the world in more than 40 countries. While we still do classroom training and in-person workshops, our delivery methods now include online and virtual courses, assessments, coaching, and learning reinforcement tools.
Technology has changed the landscape of leadership development. I’m a big fan of the way it has expanded our ability to make a difference in the lives of others. Today we can provide our clients with the training that works best for them, whether it’s face-to-face peer interaction or online self-paced learning.
Back in the old days, I was traveling so often to do training that I’d fall asleep in the airport. I confess I used to nap stretched across the airport gate, to make sure I didn’t miss my flight! One of the things I appreciate most about technology is that it allows me to deliver talks around the world without having to get on an airplane. I also love being able to see the faces of our 200+ associates on Zoom during our all-employee meetings.
The methodology of leadership development has evolved, too. We have found that rather than teaching a single course, the most comprehensive way to build people’s knowledge is to provide them with learning journeys—a series of experiences and activities that develop their skills over weeks or even months. This allows people to digest the information as they practice new skills. Because they are learning over time, participants retain what they’ve learned and apply their new tools in the real world.
We’ve confirmed that what really turbocharges learning is when people go through learning journeys with their peers. Learning together, team members can solve real problems. Cohorts share a common language for tackling issues. Putting team members through a learning journey is one of the best ways to break up work silos, increase engagement, and build productive relationships.
Looking Toward the Future
I sometimes joke with audiences that the only one who really likes change is a baby with a dirty diaper. But change is a necessity, because we live in a rapidly changing world. That’s why our company has always been proactive about looking toward the future.
In the 1980s my wife, Margie—who was president of the company at that time—established Blanchard’s Office of the Future to stay on the leading edge of leadership development. Today we call it the Blanchard Innovation Lab. This is where our best minds conduct research and development to meet the evolving needs of the workforce.
Now more than ever, our planet needs great leaders. I’m excited about the potential of our industry to have a tremendous positive impact on the world. I can’t see the future, but I’m confident that Blanchard will be at the forefront of that effort as we head toward our 50th anniversary.