When MasterCard became a public corporation in May 2006, the momentous occasion signified the start of a new way of doing things for the company’s 4,600 employees around the world. Company executives...

When MasterCard became a public corporation in May 2006, the momentous occasion signified the start of a new way of doing things for the company’s 4,600 employees around the world. Company executives wanted to ensure that every employee understood what such a change meant and how MasterCard would be different after the initial public offering (IPO). To do that, they decided to hold the “largest single learning event in the company’s history.”

This learning event, dubbed the Road Map to the Future, was to be a series of intensive, 4.5-hour seminars conducted in 110 workshops in 36 cities over a three week time frame. Rebecca Ray, the company’s senior vice president for global learning, was put in charge of the event. She recognized that pulling it off effectively and efficiently would require some serious and detailed planning. Dozens of company human resource (HR) specialists and hundreds of local managers around the world would be serving as trainers and facilitators. They would be the ones face-to-face with employees, teaching them about what being a publicly traded company meant and what changes they could expect. Preparing these individuals for such an important task would require significant planning. The goal of the training was to ensure that every employee understood the business strategy and how MasterCard would be different after the IPO. The training program was to be anchored by three “learning maps” or topics. The first, called “Universe of Opportunity,” would describe the company’s competitive landscape and industry challenges and opportunities. The second, titled “How We Make Money,” was to focus on MasterCard’s financial models and how it fit into the industry. The final one, titled “New Climate, New Culture, New Company,” would be very detailed about the company’s strategy as a public company and what it would take to successfully pursue that strategy.

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