Goodyear wins award for leadership development

AKRON (Nov. 12, 2014) — Goodyear has earned a 2014 Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders award for strength of leadership practices and culture, examples of leader development on a global scale, alignment of business and leadership strategy, company reputation, business and financial performance.

Goodyear ranked 24th out of a list of 25 North American companies receiving the award.

“Goodyear is honored to be ranked among the best companies for attracting and developing leaders,” said Richard J. Kramer, Goodyear chairman and CEO. “Having ‘top talent and teams' is a priority for the company and part of our mission and strategy. The best leaders develop other great leaders and create a culture of collaboration to drive business success and grow our business. This award is further evidence that our strategy is working.”

The Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders study is a longitudinal analysis of talent management and leadership practices of organizations around the world. With more than 1,500 data points and more than 300 executive interviews, the 2014 study researches leadership in the market, examining the

link between leadership practices and financial results. The study explores how organizations assess, select, develop and reward leaders and examines the execution of leadership practices, as well as the strategy that guides it, according to the firm.

The organization said Goodyear is recognized for having complete alignment between its business strategy and global talent strategy and for developing a systematic and process-oriented approach to leadership development through a series of innovative practices.

“We have designed and implemented a world-class global talent management and leadership development process that has resulted in our having a deep bench of great leaders and top talent at all levels of the organization,” said Joseph B. Ruocco, Goodyear's senior vice president of global human resources. “These great leaders have guided the company to the best business results in our 115-year history and will continue to help drive growth in the future.”

According to Aon Hewitt's website, the firm “conducted extensive research through data analysis, secondary research and feedback from our senior consultants, clients and partners to refresh the study content in 2014.

“While approximately 40 percent of the survey remains unchanged, ensuring our ability to analyze long-term trends, we've added items that carefully examine leadership and talent challenges both today and in the future.”