21 September 2007

In recognition of the company's commitment to developing and retaining great leaders, General Mills was named a "Global Top Company for Leaders" by Fortune magazine - ranking sixth out of 550 companies worldwide.

Sponsored by global human resources services company Hewitt Associates, in partnership with The RBL Group and Fortune, the Global Top Companies for Leaders were selected and ranked based on criteria including leadership practices, company reputation, leadership culture, values and business performance.

"Leadership development has long been a strategic priority at General Mills," says Mike Peel, senior vice president of Human Resources and Corporate Services. "To win in our increasingly more global and more competitive markets, we know that we must have great leaders working in a championship culture, which enables them to achieve great results."

In making the list, General Mills is named alongside General Electric, Procter & Gamble, Nokia McKinsey and IBM, among other notable global companies.

Highest ranking ever
In 2005, General Mills ranked eighth, and in 2003, the company came in at 18th. Hewitt conducts the survey every other year.

The focus for Hewitt when ranking General Mills centered on the company's training for team leaders at plants, succession planning and assessing how leaders outside the company regard the company.

Hewitt also considered the company's system to develop leaders, and the emphasis on encouraging community involvement as a way to develop leaders.

"At General Mills, more than 80 percent of positions above entry level are filled from within the company," says Peel. "This requires very strong university recruiting and leadership development processes, as well as the mentality throughout the company that a central part of each manager's job is people development."

When comparing the Global Top Companies with more than 550 other companies around the world, Hewitt reported that it found one overarching characteristic that set companies in this list apart from the rest: Global Top Companies make leadership a critical part of the company's organizational fabric.

Specifically, the study found that leadership practices at Global Top Companies are an inherent part of the culture, and that developing future leaders is simply a way of operating that must be intertwined with running the business.