Monthly Archives: November 2022

How does a small business build a leadership development program that rivals a Fortune 500 program?  Texas-based Boon-Chapman accomplished exactly that feat. Boon-Chapman has been an innovator in the insurance administration industry since 1961. At about 425 employees and 120 leaders, they’re a small company. In 2020, they researched, created, and launched their people development program. And they did so from scratch. They call it Boon-Chapman University (BCU). 

The struggle to overcome the “knowing-doing gap” is a familiar story with a predictable ending:  You create and deliver a top-notch “Effective Feedback” program for your new managers. They leave training inspired, equipped with new insights, and motivated to practice. But as the weeks go by, nothing changes. Your managers don’t give effective feedback. A gap opens up between what your managers know and what they apply. New habits never form. 

What would happen if leadership development teams hired their best leaders? In marketing, this “hire your best customer” tactic has started to catch on as a highly effective way to bake their customer’s expertise, experience, and viewpoint into their content. The customer perspective makes their marketing content more engaging and valuable to their target audience.

U.S. Army Course Chief of Basic Leadership 1st Sgt. Mike McGonigal can trace his career path back to a pivotal conversation with his father some 19 years ago: “When I was a young buck in the Army, I said something crazy to my dad. I told him I wanted to be just like him. And he responded, ‘I absolutely want you to be nothing like me.’ He said, ‘I worked this hard with you so that you could always be better than me.’”