Get set for a whirlwind experience at the Global Conference. You will be meeting the entire Class of 2014 for the first time and discovering what an incredibly diverse group of individuals they are. I was truly amazed at the wealth of experience and cultures that were gathered last year, I’m sure you will be too! Take every opportunity to get to know these people and build your connections; this will be your cohort for the next 2 years.

In addition to meeting ECLPs, you will be receiving excellent training to build core global skills and hearing inspiring presentations from leaders across GE’s businesses. The back-to-back program can fly by and towards the end of the week, what was discussed on Day 1 can seem like a bit of a blur. Try to take notes where you can and remember a few key points at the end of each day that can be applied to your job.

Marc:

It will be busy, exciting, fun and energizing. Get to know the people in your business and outside of your business as you never know who you’ll be working with in the future. Take advantage of this excellent opportunity to meet senior leadership. This is a wonderful time to learn about GE.

Praj:

I have three tips for the Global Conference:

It’s ok to step out of your comfort zone. You may feel shy, be unsure what to say, and tend to hang back, so step out of your comfort zone because unless you do that you will only experience 25% of what you could get out of the Conference.
Be completely open to learning. You will get an opportunity to hear about different GE businesses, how GE works globally, how marketing works as a function within GE (Gold Standard Marketing) – so make sure to take it all in and learn as much as you can.
Build a very, very strong network. This is the time to build a far-reaching global network that you can rely on and call on throughout your career at GE.

RT:

Networking: I think that networking with people at the conference (ECLPs, program supporters, and senior leaders) is one of the most valuable things to do. You can leverage this network throughout your ECLP life for your rotation, mentoring, job search, etc. Each person at Conference has a great background in terms of business expertise and personal life, so interactions with them will widen your perspective.

Participation: During conference, make sure to enjoy each of the programs, ask questions to senior leaders (including Jeff Immelt), and add comments in each session. This will give you more chances to get to know people, as they will recognize you through your participation.

]]>Featured ECLPhttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/5/18/featured-eclp.htmlECLP Blog2012-05-18T12:00:22ZDay in the Life Featured ECLPMeet this week’s Featured ECLP!

Who? Mia Laflin, Class of 2012

School? University of Chicago Booth School of Business (2010), Indiana University (2003)

Where? GE Healthcare, Healthcare Systems in Wauwatosa, WI

What? I am responsible for managing the development of a new software solution that will be integrated into our cardiovascular ultrasound scanners and workstations. This includes working with the engineering teams at our make centers in Haifa, Israel and Horten, Norway to ensure the product features meet customer needs. The rotation has provided me the opportunity to conduct voice of customer interviews with cardiologists and sonographers all over the U.S. as well as scope and manage market research projects to help me develop the necessary insights to conduct segmentation & targeting, value proposition development, and channel execution.

Photo Caption - Attached is a picture of me(center) hiking Masada with my team in Haifa, Israel.

]]>Global Giveback: Volunteering at the Pilgrimage to Lourdeshttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/5/17/global-giveback-volunteering-at-the-pilgrimage-to-lourdes.htmlECLP Blog2012-05-17T12:23:09ZCharity Christele From the FrontierAs part of Global Giveback week, we wanted to share the volunteer experience of Christele Jorud, a GE Capital ECLP in France, who participated in a 4-day volunteer event around the Pilgrimage to Lourdes. This is just another great example of how ECLPs can give back to their community!

The Order of Malta is catholic sovereign recognized by the Pope. Annually each May, the Order of Malta organizes a pilgrimage to Lourdes with nearly 5,000 people from all over the world joining together with 2,000 people suffering from a variety of illnesses. The ages vary roughly from 15 to 95. The “malades” (which means sick people in French), come to Lourdes to re-gain energy and re-kindle their faith with God, and the 5,000 pilgrims work shifts to take care of them.

During 4 days of the pilgrimage, the members of the Order and pilgrims are dressed in distinctive uniforms and were assigned to small teams of 50 persons. Each team is then subdivided into pairs to assist different “malades” each day from early morning into the late evening. The schedule is full, but rewarding. There are doctors and nurses on hand as well to assist the teams in case of emergency. For the “malades” this 4 day trip is a big event as they get out of their hospital rooms for a breath of fresh air and revitalization!

It was my first time taking the pilgrimage. I was assigned to a team in St Frei Hospital. We were 40 volunteers including medical staff assigned to the rooms of 6 men and 12 women. The people we attended to in our section were suffering from either Alzheimer’s or were handicapped. We were at their side for 4 consecutive days, working in shifts so that they were never alone. The shifts were so concentrated that little time was left to eat. A morning would consist of getting everyone dressed, taking them to breakfast, picking them up after breakfast, putting on outdoor clothes, going to mass in the Cathedral, listening to a 2 hour mass, taking everyone to lunch, changing for dinner and finally going to dinner. I also did the night shift - spending a sleepless night looking after their needs before getting a few hours of sleep in the morning. It all seems tiresome – but the numerous grateful smiles I received made it all worth it!

For me, it was an incredible opportunity to give back and help to the community. A smile helps everyone feel treasured and for a moment all pain is forgotten. The people I met will always stay close in my heart.

How do you keep in touch with the program and ECLP colleagues since graduating?

I’ve been fortunate enough to make some really good friends in my years in ECLP. While on program we always had conference to “force” us to check in every six months. The easiest way I’ve found to stay connected with the program and people in it is to serve on ECLP committees, whether that be for recruiting, the ECLP Blog, or (most recently) the ECLP Alumni committee. Add to that the ECLP’s in my business and my general geographic location. At times I do miss some of the friends I’ve made in other businesses and geographies, but there really is any number of excuses to pull people into projects… kind of like we did with Raj and Mohammed for this blog series! ]]>Featured ECLPhttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/5/11/featured-eclp.htmlECLP Blog2012-05-11T13:00:14ZDay in the Life Featured ECLPMeet this week’s Featured ECLP!

Who? Bryan Ottley, Class of 2013

School? MBA from University of Connecticut School of Business

BS in Finance from University of Utah

Where? GE Capital Franchise Finance located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

What? Sales Force Effectiveness Analyst providing comprehensive analytical support to the marketing and sales team, including segmentation, prospect targeting, pipeline analytics, and won/lost deal analytics. GE Franchise Finance is market leader in restaurant and hotel financing. The business has developed a best-in-class process to collect data and deliver analytics that is being adopted by many of the other GECA platforms.

]]>Everything You Need To Know About Joining ECLP - Part 1http://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/5/9/everything-you-need-to-know-about-joining-eclp-part-1.htmlECLP Blog2012-05-09T13:00:55ZBecky Only at GE Recruiting Summer AssociateDuring June and July, approximately 175 people will be joining ECLP as either a Summer Associate or full-time ECLP. As both of these groups prepare to join the Program, I asked ECLP experts from around the world to share some tips and advice about the first few months on program.

This will be our second 5x5 series, which means we asked 5 people the same 5 questions, and over the next few weeks you’ll see their answers to each question. Before diving into the Question 1, here’s who graciously offered their best advice to the incoming Class of 2014 and Summer Associates:

Alicia Zuiker is the HR Leader for global Sales, Marketing and Communications for GE Capital, the financial services unit of GE. In this role, Alicia is working to expand GE Capital’s global sales force coverage, to equip the sales force with tools and technology to drive productivity and to strengthen the Commercial function. She also has leadership responsibility for GE Capital’s experienced and entry-level Commercial leadership programs. Alicia has previously been the HR Leader for GE Money Latin America and the Diversity Leader for Retail Finance. She is a graduate of the Human Resources Leadership Program and holds a Masters in HR Management from Purdue University.

Bryan Leong is an ECLP in GE Capital in Australia. His first rotation was as a Marketing Manager in the Fleet & Equipment Finance business, where he completed market analysis for a new product initiative and managed the execution of Fleet marketing communications. His second rotation is as a Program and Strategy Leader for GE Money, where he is overseeing the launch of a new channel for personal loans in Australia. Bryan has his MBA from Melbourne Business School, and previously worked as a Design Project Manager at General Motors.

Marc Nicolas is an ECLP in GE Transportation. His first rotation was as a Project Manager for three pilot Differential Value Proposition programs. GE Transportation is a lead business at GE in deploying this new approach. His second rotation is with the Global Locomotive Operations, where is evaluating the market requirements, opportunities, product options and competitive assessment for a new light weight locomotive. Marc was previously a Civil Engineer at HNTB Corporation and has his MBA from Yale.

Prajakta Kanaglekar is GE India’s Leadership Program Manager. She owns the overall responsibility and management of leadership programs in India which include ECLP, CLP, ITLP, OMLP, FMP, CLDP and HRLP. She has been with GE for 6.5 years working in various roles including HR Manager for GE Global Research and HR Manager for GE Energy and Water engineering teams. She is a graduate of the Human Resources Leadership Program, and holds a Masters in both Training & Development and German Literature.

Ryoichi Tokuda (“RT”) is an ECLP in GE Healthcare in Japan. His rotations included being a Project Leader of Sales Force Effectiveness in HCIT Japan, Global Competitive Analysis Manager in Ultrasound Central Marketing, and finally, a Product Marketing Manager in Global Performance and Value CT (Computed Tomography). Prior to GE, RT worked in Sales & Marketing at Oracle Corporation, was the CEO of a healthcare venture called La Belle Vie, and was the Director of Business Development at Capital Partners Securities.

Now, onto their first bit of advice:

Over the next few months, the incoming class of ECLPs and Summer Associates will be preparing to join the program. Do you have any advice on how they can prepare for and/or get excited about starting in July?

Alicia:

The ECLP Onboarding committee has done a nice job of scheduling monthly calls with the incoming class of ECLPs and summer associates. This is a great opportunity for them to learn about our business, ECLP rotations and projects, and perhaps most importantly to get to know one another and start building their network. I would encourage them to join these calls when they can and be an active participant.

Bryan:

First, I would like to congratulate everyone who will be starting in July. You are about to embark on a 2-year journey that will place you in one of GE’s diverse businesses, give you opportunities to meet some of our most senior leaders and take you around the world for training. It all starts with the ECLP Academy and Conference in Connecticut.

Leading up to July there are a few things you can do to prepare. I would recommend staying up-to-date with Program Management emails and reviewing the conference agenda so you know if any specific pre-work is required. For more information on what to expect, read some of the stories from previous conferences in the official ECLP blog (www.eclpblog.com) and if possible, link up with other ECLPs in your region to swap contact details.

Marc:

Familiarize yourself with the business and take some time to relax! Prepare by researching the topic of your project. Ask your assignment leader if there is recommended preparation or reading material to give yourself a head start.

Praj:

In regards to preparing for the program, I recommend finding more information about GE, the business they are joining, and GE India. They should also connect with their assigned buddy, who will be someone they can rely on and learn from, especially in the early days. This will help in quick assimilation.

Being a part of the India P&L is in itself exciting! It’s a unique structure for GE. Only 2 countries (India and Germany) are P&Ls, so it is a great time to be a part of and grow with GE India. Commercial excellence will play a pivotal role in GE India’s growth and the ECLP program has an important part to play in strengthening our commercial pipeline.

The opportunity to be a part of the ECLP Global Conference within the first month of joining is fantastic as well. You get to meet and network with your ECLP colleagues and learn from Senior Leaders around the globe.

RT:

Get connected with your colleagues. My advice at this stage is to get to know the incoming class of ECLPs and Summer Associates beforehand by using email, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. As your first step, you can also contact your pole manager (hiring manager in your region) and business program manager (hiring manager in your business).

Get connected with your alumni and current ECLPs. Also, you can reach out to ECLP alumni or current ECLPs in the same region or the business. If you have more visibility into ECLP life, you can prepare for starting in July.

]]>ECLPs Give Back To The Communityhttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/5/7/eclps-give-back-to-the-community.htmlECLP Blog2012-05-07T12:00:55ZCharity DorothyECLP officially kicked-off this year’s Global Give Back campaign! This initiative encourages ECLPs to give back to their communities through monetary and in-kind donations and by volunteering their time to causes they believe in.

In 2011, Give Back’s inaugural year, the program was a huge success – 94 participants from nine regions, across seven GE businesses, contributed 885 hours of their time to give back to their communities through donations and volunteering. In 2012, our goal is 100% participation from all ECLPs.

Starting May 1st and running through June 29th, we will track each ECLP’s donations and will award donations to charities on behalf of the individual ECLP and GE business with the highest participation.

Here are some events already underway for the month of May…spend some time getting to know your colleagues and making a difference in your community!

“GE Global Community Days the Mayor’s Challenge”

Hosted by: GE Aviation

Date: May 11, 2012

Description: This event will consist of 260 - 300 GE Aviation employees working together with 10 other Cincinnati Corporations (Home Depot, Duke, Toyota, Humana, 5th/3rd, PNC and others) to beautify the city of Cincinnati for the World Choir Games in July. The work will consist of tree planting, refurbishing traffic islands downtown, mulching trees, litter clean-up, brush removal and flower planting.

Region: Cincinnati, OH/USA

Contact: Danielle Lesch

“Caring for Kids”

Hosted by: ECLP Exposure & Networking Committee in conjunction with APAF, HF, and AAF

Date: May 24, 2012

Description: We will be working with Junior Achievement and Jefferson Magnet Elementary School in order to provide impactful support on 3 key themes (Education, Physical Fitness & HealthAhead). The volunteer event will be followed by a networking event at a local establishment.

Region: CT/USA

Contact: Neha Sagar

If you want to know more about the Global Giveback Initiative or would like to coordinate a group volunteer activity in your area, please contact Dorothy Eubanks.

]]>Bloomberg Businessweek Interview with Chris Thomashttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/5/2/bloomberg-businessweek-interview-with-chris-thomas.htmlECLP Blog2012-05-02T12:00:41ZECLP Blog Only at GE

Bloomberg Businessweek just released a great interview with Chris Thomas, Global Recruiting Director for ECLP. Chris not only speaks about recruitment, but also gives background information about the program. Be sure to check it out.

]]>Social Media: Secret Sauce for B2B Marketing Leaders?http://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/4/30/social-media-secret-sauce-for-b2b-marketing-leaders.htmlECLP Blog2012-04-30T12:00:31ZFrom the Frontier Paul UnstuckSocial media is everywhere. I doubt a day passes by that you don’t log in to Facebook or LinkedIn, hear a colleague speak about a social network or see one being discussed on television. As social networks have started to penetrate the business sector, I’ve often wondered how marketing professionals might use social data to help them understand their customers. As the younger generation (who grew up with social media) takes on more important corporate jobs, the importance of social media can’t be underestimated.

It’s been reported that as much as sixty to seventy percent of the buyer’s purchasing process can be completed before they ever speak to a salesperson. In many cases, the buyer has already researched the solution that will work for their problem, they have a price they want to pay, and they might only have a few questions once they contact the sales staff. If this proves true, the role of marketing is key because much of this product information is coming from social media channels.

That said, I believe marketing leaders, especially in a B2B context, need to understand that this buyer wants a great sales experience while performing research using social media channels. If they don’t find what they need or have a bad experience, they may be turned away before ever speaking with someone in sales, and the company may never know they were being considered for the sale. Marketing leaders that want to help drive the bottom line need to understand that social media can and will help influence this buyers’ decision.

Accenture recently researched B2B social media and below are a few critical points from the full study:

Only 8% of B2B companies would describe their social media usage as extensive. This is in contrast to the 65% of respondents who indicated that social media is extremely or very important (see Figure 3).

50% of marketers surveyed felt they needed new tools and technologies to manage their social media efforts and 40% indicated that their team was not properly trained to take advantage of social media. This is compounded by the 20% who were not confident that they had enough information to make the right decisions to move forward.

“…companies that are successful in their use of social media have been selective in their use of social media. While they examine every opportunity for social media to make a difference in their businesses—from marketing, sales and service to internal sales, offering innovation, Research and Development and Human Resources—they do not necessarily act on every opportunity. They tackle those opportunities that advance larger business objectives and make the most sense at a given time.”

The thing I’ve noticed is that many B2B companies that describe themselves as “heavy” users of social media are those who use the platforms to address customer issues in a public forum. Because B2B CMOs can’t use cute gimmicks like “free shipping if you use our Facebook code,” they need to establish a solid content strategy and train their staff on how to use the available tools.

But enabling the marketing staff is not enough. Marketing leaders can play a critical role in deploying new technology in other divisions to truly learn about and from their customers. By initiating new tools like what the Accenture report calls “Social Customer Relationship Management,” the Sales teams will better understand and know how to target their customer base. I agree with the report that Social CRM is one of the main future benefits of a B2B company creating and establishing a social media presence.

One company that is paving the way for Social CRM is LinkedIn. Their recent acquisition of Connected, which was announced several months ago, has the potential to provide LinkedIn with some very powerful tools. Connected provides a way for people to manage all their contacts online from Gmail, Google, Outlook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others. People can sort and tag their contacts and enter notes about the contact after a meeting or a call.

As you can imagine, LinkedIn can take this newly acquired business and plug it into your homepage where you currently sort and organize your professional contacts. LinkedIn can become a fascinating new way to manage relationships (even if you’re not necessarily a sales guy). It’s yet to be determined how far LinkedIn will take this service, but it’s a tool that a CMO might be able to roll out quickly in their business to bring the staff up to speed in the digital age.

The below is a great visual representation of how social media has changed the ad game:

How Social Media Changed the Ad Game

Blog by: Paul Henderson

Current: Capital ECLP Class of 2013

Rotation 1: GE Capital Real Estate Global Investment Management, Investor Relations

Rotation 2: GE Capital Fleet Service, Sales

Past: Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management

School: BYU BA Advertising & Marketing, Tepper MBA Marketing, Strategy & Entrepreneurship

]]>Part IV: 5 ECLP Alumni, 5 Questionshttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/4/26/part-iv-5-eclp-alumni-5-questions.htmlECLP Blog2012-04-26T13:00:29ZAlumni Paul HendersonECLP alumni are an important part of the current program. They blazed the trail that ECLPs are currently navigating. It’s important to stay in touch with the alumni for many reasons but maybe most importantly is the advice they can give current and prospective ECLPs. This is part of a five part series called 5 with 5, where five alumni will answer five questions. Watch for the last part in the coming weeks. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Thinking about your expectations of GE when you started program, what has changed and what has remained the same?

Heidi Swymer (ECLP ’10)
One of my favorite quotes is “The only thing certain is everything changes”. I joined ECLP because I didn’t want to get bored at a traditional desk job. The option of sales and marketing opportunities coupled with a company the size of GE was sure to keep me on my toes…and it has. If your curiosity allows for it, there is so much to learn about job functions, industry expertise, and the broader GE.

Mohammed Mijindadi (ECLP ’10)
When I started the program, I had a lot of expectations with regards to where I felt the experience and friendships on program would take me. In reality, my expectations have been far exceeded. I always had the long term goal of returning back to Africa to help grow the GE footprint but I never expected it to happen as fast as it did (I hadn’t even graduated from program when the opportunity came up). Everyone talks about the vast network you create on program and I have to say apart from some small countries I have visited, there always seems to be an ECLP program member and/or alumni not too far away. This is great for learning how to navigate certain situations and serves as a great network for some outside of work activities. One thing that has remained the same is that my expectations always seem to be surpassed (I guess it’s time to ‘raise the bar on my expectations’).

Kris Kaneta (ECLP ’09)
One thing has remained the same… things change. Business is a dynamic place and our customers aren’t static in terms of their needs and perceptions. I was once told in a review that “Kris needs to get comfortable being uncomfortable”. That was four years ago. And I continue to take that advice to heart. In ECLP and in GE more broadly, there’s plenty of ambiguity to go around, and it’s up to you to drive insights and action from that ambiguity. I definitely wasn’t ready for that although I think I’ve learned to manage it more effectively (at least I hope so). Beyond that, the one big thing that’s changed is my view on working for an organization like GE. I came to GE because it was a great company, with a great brand, known for great leaders. That was something I wanted to be associated with. While that still holds, there’s a pivotal moment when you realize you’re working for a company that’s truly impacting the world – from enabling better health for more people to influencing the landscape of greener technologies to being the financial backbone for businesses all over the world. These are not insignificant challenges and they are challenges that energize me on a daily basis.

Raj Kapur (ECLP ’08)
My expectations of ECLP and GE were pretty lofty. I had read many of the GE books and expected to join a company that would give me a variety of leadership experiences and teach me how to adapt to constant change. Then, I joined and reality set in. One GE leader once told me “if we’re supposed to be the world’s most admired company, many of you ECLPs probably wonder what a mess the world’s second most admired company is” – that’s probably an over-statement, but I think it highlights what I love most about GE. I’ve never heard of a culture with such a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo… always wanting to get better. When I joined, six sigma was in full effect in the commercial function (newer ECLPs may not know this, but every one of us had to go through Black Belt training and certification) and now that seems to be ancient history. Similarly, I don’t think a single GE business can say it hasn’t significantly changed over the past five years. For a company that has been around as long as we have, that’s pretty remarkable. Overall, I think GE has met my expectations – but I don’t believe I anticipated how fast the rate of change would be. I can’t imagine what the company will look like five years from now!

Sam Kale (ECLP ’10)
Like many people, I had some pretty high expectations of ECLP and my career at GE when I first joined the program. One of the things I learned pretty quickly, however, was that there were a lot of things to learn. And so my current thinking about my career path is built around the idea of experiences and skills rather than destinations or titles.

]]>Death of the (traditional) Salesmanhttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/4/19/death-of-the-traditional-salesman.htmlECLP Blog2012-04-19T12:54:00ZLewie Smith Work / LifeConrad Zils (ECLP ’09) is the Global Commercial CoE (Center of Excellence) Leader for GE Healthcare. A big part of his responsibility is Sales Force Effectiveness, or how to most effectively and efficiently deploy your sales team to maximize profits of the business. Incidentally, last month he led a full day seminar at the Global ECLP Conference on the topic in Buenos Aires. The ECLP Blog staff has asked Conrad to comment on a recent article in the Economist discussing the growing importance of metrics in building successful sales organizations:

First off, I’m a huge believer in blending the “art of selling” with the managerial science of sales force effectiveness. I’ve seen a lot of improvements across GE in the last 5 years, but we all need to get better…fast! I’m in the Healthcare business and given our tightening regulatory environment, our salespeople can no longer rely on tickets to a ballgame or golf outings to secure time with decision makers. They need access to customer info, install base data, and competitive intelligence before they even pick up the phone. We need new data and analytical capabilities to help prioritize the opportunities they pursue, better understand the customer situation, and introduce solutions with quantified benefits. Truly understanding your customer’s needs and value drivers, being able to develop a business solution with quantified benefits, and customizing your value propositions (i.e. the value prop to the CFO is different than for the COO, etc.) are going to be critical to our success in the future.

Post by Lewie Smith

]]>Part III: 5 ECLP Alumni, 5 Questionshttp://eclpblog.com/blog/2012/4/17/part-iii-5-eclp-alumni-5-questions.htmlECLP Blog2012-04-17T12:00:08ZAlumni PaulECLP alumni are an important part of the current program. They blazed the trail that ECLPs are currently navigating. It’s important to stay in touch with the alumni for many reasons but maybe most importantly is the advice they can give current and prospective ECLPs. This is part of a five part series called 5 with 5, where five alumni will answer five questions. We hope you enjoyed part one and part two of this series and stay tuned for the remaining two installments in the coming weeks.

How have you managed/navigated your career while off program? What’s different?

Heidi Swymer (ECLP ’10)
I took full advantage of the structure offered by the program. I had a laser-like focus on completing my assignments and then moved on to a new rotation without much effort on my part. Now that responsibility is on me. While working to demonstrate success with my current job, I also have to have my ears open for other opportunities, determine if I think that opportunity aligns with my career interests, and then actually act on that opportunity. This is exactly what happened with my most recent promotion from Campaigns Manager to Strategic Initiatives Leader for the Office Imaging division.

Mohammed Mijindadi (ECLP ’10)
The ECLP program was a ‘safe haven’ to try new things on assignment, almost penalty free as you never stuck around long enough to see the impact of some of your decisions. With navigating careers, the rules are a bit different and it is always nice to have a clear goal regarding where you would like to get to in the medium and long-term, while taking on roles and assignments that prepare you to get to where you would like to be. A few things that have helped with career navigation for me include getting mentors, taking additional development classes, and continuous networking across all the businesses. All these in addition to constantly performing above expectations allows you to develop your personal brand and enables senior leaders to become strong sponsors for you as your navigate your career. I also believe being very vocal early on regarding where you would like to see your career progress to and the kinds of roles you could potentially be interested in helps a great deal regardless of how large GE may seem. When various people are telling the same story about you, things happen along the script of the story. It’s smart if you started by telling the story yourself (yes, I’m getting philosophical here)!

Kris Kaneta (ECLP ’09)
ECLP is a great opportunity to build a network. But there’s a difference between a network and advocates. I have been fortunate enough to have made some great advocates since coming to GE. And the thing about great advocates is that they do your advocating for you. Yes, you need to deliver and you need to take pride in your work, but by focusing on doing what’s right for the business, you’ll quickly build advocates and those advocates can become mentors and huge supporters in your career development. The challenge for ECLPs is the duration in which you have to develop those relationships. If you go back to what I said about establishing expertise, I think that problem in many ways resolves itself. If anything, being off program can be somewhat more challenging because you’re forced to more proactively build those relationships without all the guidance and connectivity of being in ECLP.

Raj Kapur (ECLP ’08)
I’ve tried to navigate my post-ECLP career by continually looking for new challenges and projects that will add value to my teams/businesses. As one GE leader said to me: “if you can’t measure success, stop doing it.” GE is such a large and complex company, that there are many areas to add value. I have never really thought about what the next job might be, I just focus on the current challenge and learn as much as possible so that I can contribute to the success of the team.

ECLP was great because I gained a variety of experiences (in function and assignment), and was exposed to many different leadership styles in two short years. The biggest difference between ECLP and “real” jobs, is the duration… it really is a marathon vs. a sprint. You are forced to persevere through business cycles, and most importantly you have to live with your initiatives! For example, in my first year as a marketing manager at Lighting, I was able to come up with several ideas to reduce cost. You know what happened in my second year? I had to come up with even better ideas to improve on my own results!

Sam Kale (ECLP ’10)
I’ve been fortunate enough to have some really great mentors, both on program and off. In addition to my on-program assignment leaders, I’ve had the opportunity to work for some great business leaders who themselves work for some great business leaders. As I think about my career, I’ve tried to think about the experiences certain roles give me, the learning opportunities that come with those experiences (both classroom and on-the-job training), as well as the things I can learn from leadership in the organization.

Posted by Paul

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