"BCG is willing to invest in its people and provide continuous learning and development to nurture leadership."

About Don

Don Haney is a Global Learning and Development (L&D) Learning Journey Senior Manager based in our Atlanta Nexus office. Don is a former Project Leader and Americas Training Director who left BCG for about 6 years before returning to join the global learning and development team in 2016. In his spare time, Don enjoys traveling and visiting with friends.

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Return to BCG

I left BCG and returned, which is not an ucommon story here. My first career with BCG was in consulting. I helped to build the Houston, Texas office with my background in energy and chemical engineering. I did that for a few years before moving to a Learning and Development role serving North and South America. It involved running regional programs that nurtured people and helped them get ready to move up to management, from project leaders to principals and partners.

Building on that experience, I left to work in the oil industry working on mergers and acquisitions and corporate strategy. But I found myself gravitating back to HR and ended up helping to run an HR function, doing organizational consulting and people development. When the company I was working for was acquired, I re-connected with my network at BCG to check in and see if there were any opportunities. Through a BCG alumni program, I returned as a contractor on the Learning and Development team and, 18 months later, I joined full-time.

One Team, Multiple Experiences

Working on the L&D team has given me a chance to expand my experience in many different areas. I started out developing content, designing sessions and managing projects focused on new learning experiences. Earlier this year I moved into a more administrative role, keeping track of our projects and resources and managing what’s coming down the pipeline. More recently, we launched a new approach to learning for our entry-level colleagues. I’m now the owner of BCG’s consulting learning journey. I try to connect everything that happens in their first two years – before they join BCG, during their orientation, and when they’re learning basic skills – with ongoing learning and live programs. That’s the beauty about a company that grows this fast. There are always new opportunities opening up. BCG is willing to invest in its people and provide continuous learning and development to nurture leadership. There’s definitely a trend across most industries, but I believe BCG is a world leader in this space. We treat it as a vital part of the organization. It is not an afterthought. We innovate, we test new tools and push the envelope to stay on the leading edge of Learning and Development.

Fast Track to Leadership

BCG has given me a lot of opportunities and skills that I would not have learned elsewhere. One of the biggest ways that BCG contributed to my personal development is in leading and working with others. Those who start on the consulting track will become managers within a couple of years. I had to quickly pick up skills, such as giving feedback and managing people, which helped to accelerate my career. Everything I’ve learned I have applied to different roles, both inside and outside of BCG, and I’m still constantly learning.

One of the best things about working in L&D is that we get to interact with a really broad range of people, from subject matter experts to colleagues who are applying the knowledge they gained to a new problem or with a new client. People at BCG are very smart and motivated, and the L&D team is made up of like-minded individuals who are really passionate about learning and helping others.

Meaningful Work

When people ask what we do at BCG, I always use the metaphor that we are a doctor for businesses. Businesses get sick, and when they do, they need someone to help them get healthy again. I see BCG serving that role. We look at symptoms, ascertain the causes and help business regain their vitality. I’ve always found it a fun way to look at business and the world.

Personally, I find it meaningful that we are making businesses more successful, creating jobs and helping people get more reliable goods and services. We’re helping to make the world a better place. When I expand that thought to what I do, I find meaning in setting people up for success with the right skills and knowledge, so they can make the world better. To see my impact and to be able to take a tiny sliver of credit for some of the wonderful things happening at BCG is exciting.

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