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DDI Recognizes Innovative Leadership Initiatives at 2026 Customer Awards

On November 11, 2026, DDI, a well-established leader in the field of leadership development, celebrated the achievements of six organizations at its annual Better Leaders Summit held in Scottsdale, Arizona. This event brought together over 215 HR and talent leaders from 125 different companies, showcasing fresh insights from the latest research and the intersection of leadership and business outcomes.

The Better Leaders Summit

The Better Leaders Summit serves as a platform for sharing innovative strategies, networking, and recognizing remarkable contributions to leadership development. This year's gathering featured new findings from DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2027, and a compelling keynote by Tom Vice, Chairman and CEO of Astrion, focusing on the critical link between AI and effective leadership.

Recognizing Leadership Excellence

The DDI Customer Awards specifically highlight organizations that successfully linked leadership development initiatives to essential business needs, demonstrating measurable impacts. This year’s winners showcased a range of initiatives designed to overcome challenges brought on by acquisitions, rapid growth, and international expansion.

High Impact Award Winners

1. Astrion: This company launched its Alpine Leadership Program with the direct participation of its CEO. It demonstrated shifts in key leadership behaviors, with two graduates achieving promotions to vice president.
2. State Farm: This organization reached 1,044 leaders across multiple business areas within just nine months. Their Inspiring Leadership initiative combined expert-led instruction with AI-enabled reinforcement, achieving an impressive potential improvement rating of 4.76 out of 5 from participants.

Rising Star Award Winners

1. VytlOne: Aiming to prepare emerging leaders amid rapid expansion, VytlOne introduced the AXLR8 program, successfully delivering several executive-sponsored business projects, one projected to save $1.17 million annually.
2. Woodward: Their new leadership programs catered to over 500 individuals globally within seven months, achieving capacity averages of 88% with growing interest evidenced by waitlists.

Innovation in Action Award Winners

1. Lexicon: Created its innovative four-level leadership training framework, Forging Futures, specifically tailored for a dispersed workforce, achieving high satisfaction ratings from participants.
2. Truist: Implemented the Coaching with Care initiative, transforming coaching into a standard management practice, showing immediate skills improvement of 36% in trained managers.

A Vision for Effective Leadership

As Dr. Tacy M. Byham, CEO of DDI, stated, “Every one of this year’s winners started with a hard business problem … They aimed development squarely at that problem and tracked whether it worked.” These organizations not only designed programs to address pressing business challenges but followed through with rigorous measurable evaluations to validate their effectiveness.

Through their collective efforts, these six companies have shown that strategic leadership development can drive significant business results. Organizations looking to enhance their leadership capabilities can learn from these examples, understanding that a focus on measurable outcomes is key to justifying development budgets and fostering effective leadership.

For further insights into DDI’s approach to leadership development and its impact on business results, visit ddi.com/why-ddi. With over 55 years of experience, DDI continues to assist organizations in creating leaders equipped to tackle tomorrow’s challenges head-on.