Skip to content
Get in touch

How Burberry built leadership strength in a time of disruption

A global programme that boosted performance, goal attainment and impact

Photo of a woman stylishly dressed and standing on a city street with a white version of the Burberry logo superimposed in the middle foreground
0%
of managers said their direct report's performance has improved since completing the programme
0%
of participants successfully applied learnings to their job
0%
of participants saw an increase in goal attainment

About Burberry

For more than 160 years, Burberry has empowered explorers and pioneers to discover new frontiers. Nowadays the iconic ‘Burberry Check’ is known around the world as the mark of modernity and quality.

Yet as lockdowns swept across the globe in 2021, even innovative brands like Burberry were forced to accelerate the growth of their ecommerce channels. Close-knit teams were suddenly far apart, posing a unique and profound challenge.

Amid all the uncertainty, Burberry launched its new leadership purpose and values (‘Creatively Driven’, ‘Open and Caring’, ‘Proud of Our Heritage’ and ‘Forward Thinking’), all inspired by its illustrious history and pioneering founder Thomas Burberry. The main goal of the new values was to equip Burberry’s directors with the critical skills to help them thrive in times of change. 

Burberry
Retail
9,000 employees
London, UK
Leadership development

Challenge

Finding the right partner to turn leadership values into lasting change

Burberry developed a new Executive Development Programme which included internally created training and 1:1 coaching, supported by a third-party provider.

However, Burberry found it hard to select the right partner for their ambitious L&D vision. When they approached MindGym in 2021, another leadership coaching provider was in the middle of a three-month trial, but the results were mixed. While coaching delivered improvements in many areas, including employee wellbeing, it wasn’t well connected to the wider learning programme. 

What they needed was a partner that would be laser-focused on business goals and that would promote collaboration and inspire knowledge exchange among their globally dispersed teams. 

"It gets into the depth of the science behind leadership and learning with dynamic facilitators – with practical, impactful actions that participants could do in between."

Catherine Finley
Vice President of Talent and Learning, Burberry

Solution

Blending science, coaching and live learning to develop global leaders

Following a small pilot in April 2022, the programme kicked off in July for 80 Burberry directors in the US, EMEA and APAC. Participants were invited to a series of interactive virtual workshops, networking opportunities and six months of 1:1 virtual coaching, all supported through internal marketing efforts by both MindGym and Burberry. 

MindGym and Burberry also partnered on a crucial additional component of the programme – a three-part live-learning series, grounded in the latest science of behaviour change: 

01 Leading through change

Leaders learned easy-to-implement practices they could use to navigate the tensions underneath their challenges, utilising theories such as ‘cognitive dissonance’, ‘the abundance mindset’ and ‘attentional narrowing’.

02 Making space to lead

Leaders identified tensions that existed and learned to embrace the discomfort, reduce biased thinking and make more objective evaluations.

03 Taking action to drive impact

Leaders learned how to overcome the paralysis that comes from conflict and tension so they could lead their teams to success with the ‘implementation mindset’. 

Beyond just teaching the core competencies of leadership, the programme went a step further by helping leaders unlock the power of ‘attunement’ – the critical meta-skill the world’s most successful leaders use to consistently get the big decisions right in difficult, ever–evolving circumstances. 

Shortly after the live sessions, the programme participants commenced six months of unlimited, individual personalised coaching. Using MindGym’s digital coaching platform – Performa – each leader worked with their selected coach to establish and reach specific, outcome-oriented goals: from improving communication to making more inclusive decisions. 

"We have heard delightful stories from the cohort, who have made great strides in just three or four sessions. They’ve quickly identified their leadership challenge, made and executed a game plan with their coach and are seeing real-time results."

Kristin Bagnetto
Director of Global Learning and Development, Burberry

Results

Higher performance, stronger application, measurable growth

  • 85% of managers said their direct report’s performance has improved since completing the programme.
  • 88% of participants successfully applied the learnings to their job.
  • 39% of participants saw an increase in goal attainment. 

"I have discussed a lot with my one-to-one coach on how to be a more successful leader and have applied what I learnt immediately."

Programme participant

Awards

Global recognition for leadership excellence

Burberry’s Executive Development Programme has been recognised with two prestigious honours: the ATD Excellence in Practice Award in Leadership/Management Development (2025) and the Gold Award in the Brandon Hall Group™ Excellence Awards for Best Advance in Coaching and Mentoring (2023).Shape

How we've helped other organisations reach their leadership and change goals

Photo of three people sat or standing around a computer screen in an office with a white version of the Microsoft logo superimposed in the middle foreground

Microsoft’s transformation from ratings to real dialogue

Software development
Photo of a man in a lab coat and PPE a test tube holder with a white version of the Sanofi logo superimposed in the middle foreground

How Sanofi led transformation through leadership

Pharmaceuticals
Photo of a man in a lab coat examining a bottle with a white version of the Unilever logo superimposed in the middle foreground

Unilever’s four-year journey to set a new standard for management

FMCG