On November 3rd, 2016 Sanpower Group launched the first unit of its inaugural “Flying Eagle Program” at its company headquarters in Nanjing. The Eagle Program is a series of talent development and training programs created by Sanpower’s Management Academy. This series has been designed as a global leadership platform which is committed to talent selection, leadership training, achieving business results and creating a space for leaders to share and discuss their ideas.

After more than six months of preparation, the Eagle Program’s highest level course was unveiled for the first time. Divided into three units, A, B, and C, the core focus of the course is leadership development, by seeking to enhance participants’ high-performance business intelligence, and also improve their ability to lead rapid innovation and change within their organizations.

At the launch ceremony of the “Flying Eagle Program”, Yuan Yafei, Chairman of Sanpower Group, expressed his expectations for the participants using one of his famous aphorisms, “Suffering decides the strength of one’s character. Ambition decides the scope of one’s plans. Strategy decides the scale of one’s achievements”.

During the two and a half days of outdoor study sessions, the trainees participated in a number of activities. Through the Mindfulness in Leadership Workshop, participants enhanced their personal cultivation by focusing on the five themes of “Finding Meaning, Adjusting perspectives, Building Relationships, Managing Energy and Participating Actively. On the last day, they participated in a Sanpower Think-Tank sharing session.

Throughout the training program, trainees were given ample opportunities in the group discussion format to share their thoughts on cultural differences and cross-cultural management. During one exercise, the Chinese and foreign trainees stood in a circle, hand in hand, listening to each other's feelings and deeply focusing on the energy flowing between them. In their laughter, the positive energy transmitting through each one of them could be felt.

From left: Mark Drummond, Haim Cohen, Huang Qili, David Walmsley, Gao Jing

At sunrise, all of the students came out Nanjing’s Zijin Mountain, and learned the Sanpower-style of the Tai chi. The four non-Chinese participants were unfamiliar with the martial art, but through one hour of practice, they, along with Chinese trainees, all got a much better sense of Sanpower’s unique corporate culture. Later in the evening, all of trainees were treated to a visit to the Sanpower Plaza located in Nanjing’s most-central shopping district, Xinjiekou. There they witnessed the building’s light show and got to experience many of the products and services of the Plaza’s Hamleys and Brookstone stores, enhancing their understanding of the business both internally and externally.

As a leadership development project, the Eagle Program provides an important platform for cross-cultural communication and collaborative opportunities across Sanpower’s broad number of businesses. It plays a significant role in promoting such future synergies and contributes unique value to company’s organizational development. Both internal employees and external partners receive the opportunity to get to know each other's business in-depth, learn from each other's strengths, and establish a global mindset.

As one of the Eagle Program’s main purpose is to promote cross-cultural communication, four overseas executives were also invited to join the inaugural program. Although it was their first time joining such a program hosted by Sanpower, they clearly appreciated the special efforts Sanpower made on their behalf. Through such activates, Sanpower aims to assist its foreign staff to overcome difficulties of differences in language, culture, and geography, and ultimately achieve the vision of passing a full unified Sanpower positive energy.

As the 4-day Unit A portion of the inaugural Flying Eagle Program (Unit A) has come to a success finish, Unit B will be launched early next year, giving these 29 executives a chance to reunite again.