Lynne K

When I think of Eric, the words “intelligent,” “curious,” “daring,” and “resilient” come immediately to my mind. I hired Eric to serve as a Training Manager within TDN, the Training and Development Network for Nielsen’s US Field organization. At that time, the training function within Nielsen had been underfunded, non-strategic, inconsistent and unstructured; the basics of an effective training organization – knowledge management, curriculum development, assessment integrity, and trainer competency – required reimagination, reengineering and rebuilding. TDN needed leaders who possessed the talent, judgement, and grit to motivate and direct the actions of frontline learning professionals and collaborate together to build an effective, high performing learning organization. In Eric, I found those qualities in abundance. On the people front, Eric is a talented talent multiplier, mentor, and coach; he is a master at being 100% candid and 100% caring. Not only did he quickly build a high performing team from the ground up, his team’s engagement level, rated by the Gallup Engagement Survey method, rated in the highest category across Nielsen globally. In terms of reengineering the TDN system, Eric demonstrated a magnificent knack for creating processes that were scalable, sustainable and could be launched quickly. Eric recognizes when a system is under-developed and easily builds it up; he also recognizes when processes are over-engineered and easily clears out the clutter. TDN was wildly successful in achieving its mission of “developing capability in individuals, teams, and the organization;” much of the success can be traced directly to Eric and his talents.