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Pro bono as leadership development:
The experiential learning element of pro
bono service presents employers with an
opportunity to address the leadership gap
currently plaguing many companies by
developing the hard and soft skills of their
future business leaders. In fact, we have
found that over 80% of participants feel
they have strengthened their overall skills by
participating, and over 90% of participants
report stretching relevant leadership skills
through the experience.
2
•
Leverage the resources and support
of HR programming:
Integrating pro
bono service into other high priority internal
programming also increases the resources
and support available to effectively and
successfully manage these offerings,
including staff time and budget as well as
evaluation techniques.
Case Study:
MetLife considers leadership development for
employees a top priority. Especially during a time
when many companies are reporting a leadership
gap stemming from a shortage of skills to excel
in today’s work environment, MetLife understands
that the evolving and competitive field of
leadership development demands dynamic
experiential learning opportunities that develop
leaders by putting them in new contexts and high-
stakes situations. MetLife’s HR and Foundation
teams joined forces to envision how pro bono
could fit into their leadership development efforts.
They worked together with the shared belief that
a pro bono initiative would not only deepen the
company’s investment in its nonprofit partners,
but would also develop the competencies of its
future leaders.
To execute on their vision, MetLife built a pro bono
component into its existing Global Leadership
Development Program (GLDP), a selective 4.5
year program for MBA graduates. To pilot the
program, the GLDP cohort engaged in tightly-
scoped consulting sessions to build the marketing
and business strategies of MetLife’s nonprofit
partners. Employees were grouped and assigned
to pro bono project opportunities based on the
match of their expertise to the unique needs of
the nonprofit. “By including pro bono as a core
element of our Global Leadership Development
Program, we have immediately multiplied
the impact of our investment by building the
capabilities of our future leaders while leveraging
their unique skills to strengthen our community
giving overall,” says Eric Goldberg, Assistant Vice
President, Talent Management, Metlife.
MetLife is confident the skills its emerging leaders
will gain from this unique cross-sector experience
will help prepare them to lead in an ever-evolving
business world. MetLife looks forward to making
pro bono a mainstay in its program for years
to come.
HR
1
LBG Associates (March 2013), Corporate Pro Bono
Readiness. In partnership with Capital One, Common Impact,
Points of Light and Taproot Foundation.
2
Taproot Foundation (August 2014). Bridging the leadership
gap: Developing high-potential talent through pro bono service.
Taproot Foundation is a US-based nonprofit organization
headquartered in San Francisco that is a leader in pro bono
service. Through its programs, advisory services support, and
field-building work, Taproot makes business talent available to
organizations working to improve society. Taproot has worked
with over 60 Fortune 500 companies to create customized pro
bono programs and to move the field of corporate pro bono
forward. Contact us today to learn how Taproot can work with
you to design and implement your own high-impact pro bono
program.
This article is an excerpt from a larger report titled “Key Trends
to Watch: the Next Wave of Growth in Corporate Pro Bono
Service.” This report was made possible through the support
of PwC. To access the entire report, please visit
Local Story
“By including pro bono as a core
element of our Global Leadership
Development Program, we have
immediately multiplied the impact of our
investment by building the capabilities
of our future leaders while leveraging
their unique skills to strengthen our
community giving overall.”
