When MetLife Inc. decided to develop customized executive education for its managers, it wanted a leadership program that could use real company projects as a measure of how well participants were performing in the classroom. Joie Townsend, MetLife's vice president of learning and development said that the company wanted a program that could prepare their middle managers to move to the junior officer level. They also wanted the elements of an MBA program customized so all the elements applied to everyday business at MetLife.

The company chose Babson College for their program, and hired professors who were willing to tailor their courses to MetLife's specific business model. Babson worked with company executives in 2001 to create a two-week course that blends faculty instruction, corporate executive presentation, and company project work. Groups of 22 to 40 MetLife managers spend 12 days at Babson in two six-day blocks of classes split by a six-week break in between during which they work on their projects. The finished projects are presented to juries of company executives who decide whether to move forward on the initiatives.

Classes follow a pattern, starting with a faculty member introducing a concept, and then explaining how that specific concept operates within MetLife, with a corporate executive discussing the topic and answering questions at the end of the segment.

The program appears to be successful. Since its inception, 208 MetLife managers have participated and tackled more than 40 projects. Of these, 82% have been implemented in the company and another 10% are waiting to be implemented. Less than 10% have been dropped. Townsend sees these statistics as a strong indication that the company is getting a clear return on its investment.