Special Recognition
The concepts at the heart of this book originated at DuPont. Six years ago, a handful of DuPont managers hit upon some intriguing ideas about how to make training and development significantly more effective and efficient. In keeping with its history of innovation, DuPont then offered itself as a proving ground where those promising notions could be tested, developed, and refined. Words strain to express our gratitude to DuPont for taking that chance, and for inviting The Forum Corporation to be its collaborator in the endeavor.
The story of the experimental Learning Alliance DuPont fashioned with Forum has since been recounted many times in many different publications. To avoid repeating an oft-told tale, these pages focus on the subsequent development of the approach we call Running Training Like a Business.
Let the record show, however, that DuPont is where the approach sprang to life. DuPont’s leaders chartered a new training organization dedicated to the belief that T&D could and should be more firmly linked to business needs. They then made this new training organization DuPont’s global provider of T&D. In turn, people throughout that great corporation tempered the new concepts with their wisdom, and DuPont’s groundbreaking Learning Alliance still thrives today.
So, to all our friends and customers at DuPont, we offer this hearty acknowledgment. You changed T&D—forever and for the better.