Surviving and Thriving in the 4th Industrial Era of the Financial Service Industry

The financial service industry globally has been one of the most impacted industries by the technological, demographic and socio-economic disruptions. Moreover, the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) conditions in the world has created a greater challenge to most companies including Bank Mandiri. As one of the biggest state-owned banks in Indonesia, Bank Mandiri is mindful of the importance and vital role of their leaders to
survive and thrive in the fourth industrial era. Along with other strategic initiatives, Bank Mandiri developed and implemented an extensive and integrated leadership development program to build leadership capacity in facing this disruptive era. Hundreds of its high potential employees have participated in the Middle Management Development Program (MDP) which
started in 2014. This paper provides insight on the effectiveness and potential value of an integrated leadership development approach in building its leadership capacity by exploring how MDP graduates applied the tools and knowledge from MDP in their careers and how the business leaders as the “users” of MDP graduates values them. A survey was conducted with MDP graduates and their previous year performance evaluation and talent classification were analysed. The findings indicate that 79% of MDP graduates believe they were successful in applying MDP knowledge and 95% of MDP graduates’ performance appraisal from their supervisors are classified as exceeding expectations. Based on Bank Mandiri’s experience and lessons learned, the effectiveness of an integrated leadership approach requires strategic and extensive content for learning, an innovative learning journey, and strong commitment from top management.