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Yum! Brands recognized for leadership development programs

November 12, 2014

Yum! Brands, parent company of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, has been named as one of Aon Hewitt's top companies for leaders in North America. The recognition is in response to Yum's leadership development programs.

Aon Hewitt has been naming the top companies for leaders since 2001, based on an analysis of talent management and leadership practices. According to a news release, this year's winners were selected and ranked by an expert panel of independent judges based on a number of criteria, including 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.

"This recognition demonstrates our focus on building people capability at all levels and investing in training and development programs to grow our next generation of leaders around the globe. We are providing the tools, systems, processes and support needed to equip our leaders to run great restaurants worldwide," Yum's Chief People Officer Anne Byerlein said in the release.

Some examples of Yum's training programs around the world include:

• Yum! University:Yum! University is a worldwide learning and development platform that offers courses and workshops – both online and classroom – designed to teach the skills and behaviors that "build the capability of above-restaurant leaders."
• Achieving Breakthrough Results: ABR provides associates with more than 50 tools and concepts aimed at high performance.
• Taking People With You: CEO, David Novak, developed and has personally trained his Taking People With You leadership program to thousands of managers and franchisees for the past 17 years. The training – along with Novak’s book based on the program – offers a guide to key aspects of leadership such as setting big goals, getting others on board and achieving break-through results. The training is available in 11 different languages.
• Sales Overnight, Brand Over Time: Taco Bell’s CEO (who takes over as CEO of Yum! in January), Greg Creed, and Pizza Hut CEO and Yum! Brands Chief Innovation Officer, Scott Bergren, teach associates the Sales Overnight, Brand Over Time program. The training is interactive and focuses on developing a "better understanding of how each brand’s identity comes to life in everything they do."
• Tuition Reimbursement and Scholarships:The company provides salaried associates in the US with tuition reimbursement opportunities.