Innovative Leadership: Capgemini’s Approach to Emerging Leaders

Isael Paz-Zimbeck

Friday, August 1st, 2025

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What does good leadership look like from day one? For Capgemini, answering that question means more than teaching management theory. It means redefining what early-career leadership development can feel like—and deliver—at scale.

The global consulting and technology services firm has long recognized that new managers need support. This has proven especially true in a learning climate marked by digital fatigue,  and what some have casually described as “death by pathway.”

At a time when the Capgemini business is scaling rapidly and client demands are growing more complex, the organization understands the importance of supporting its first time managers, to set them up for success right from the get-go.

Yet, traditional leadership programs are hard to scale, difficult to maintain, and often disconnected from the pace and priorities of the business. Learning delivery teams spend too much time managing training logistics, emails, and manual processes. And Learning teams want something more coherent, modern, and impactful.

To meet these challenges, Capgemini has launched an Emerging Leaders program—a guided, cohort-based experience built on Degreed Academies. The result? A 26% jump in skills proficiency, a big drop in attrition, and a 4.6 out of 5 learner satisfaction rating—proof that Capgemini first-time managers aren’t just trained, they are equipped to lead. 

Leadership Development That Starts Strong and Scales Fast

Co-created with business leaders and learning partners, Emerging Leaders follows a complete learning cycle. It’s more than a content playlist. It’s a full development journey designed to embed growth into everyday work, supported by nudges, mentors, reflections, and social accountability.

To build the journey, learning teams worked closely with HR and business leaders to define success, select content, and ensure the program reflected the company’s Leadership Vision—a set of guiding leadership principles that the company believes every employee should develop.

The result is an experience designed to match the expectations of a digitally fluent, ambitious audience. Employees progress through a six-week cycle, combining curated digital content, real-world projects, mentoring, reflection, and guided practice—all within a single Degreed-powered environment.

How Degreed Academies Makes It Possible

Degreed Academies gives Capgemini the infrastructure to deliver a holistic, guided leadership journey within a single, unified experience. From onboarding and nudges to live events and reflections, everything is centralized—no more spreadsheets, scattered tools, or siloed communications. And, with Microsoft Teams integration and built-in calendar functionality, participants stay on track while balancing their day-to-day responsibilities.

Capgemini uses Degreed Academies to structure monthly cohorts in a fully guided, week-by-week experience—layering content, leadership simulations, mentoring prompts, and reflection points in a clearly defined journey. Employees always know what to do next and why it matters. Automated nudges and personalized messaging help maintain momentum and accountability, without overloading delivery teams. By streamlining what were previously resource-heavy, manual tasks like scheduling, communications, and tracking, Degreed gives L&D professionals more time to focus on content quality, learner engagement, and business alignment.

Because everything runs through Degreed, Capgemini can access real-time insights on progress, engagement, and outcomes. This allows learning leaders to tweak delivery based on cohort behavior, and to identify bottlenecks early. With Degreed Academies, Capgemini isn’t just delivering training—it’s running a scalable, data-backed leadership product.

Features like live events, embedded reflections, and automated reminders help create a sense of connection and momentum.

Completion rates have peaked at 81%, with learner satisfaction scores averaging 4.6 out of 5.

More Than Engagement. Measurable Growth.

In 2024 alone, nearly 4,000 employees across 39 countries completed the program. Capgemini is on track to scale cohorts of 2,000 people per month in 2025. Attrition of managers who completed the program dropped to 6.5%, versus a much higher company average among the same target population.

And employee feedback has been resoundingly positive. Participants consistently call out the program’s relevance, structure, and challenge.

“The Emerging Leaders program was unforgettable among the other trainings I’ve taken,” said one employee.

“One of the most practical, useful, and challenging programs I’ve participated in,” said another.

Employees show a 26% average increase in skills proficiency from pre-program assessments to post-program outcomes. And more than 90% of those surveyed said they’d apply what they learned in their current roles.

A Model for Strategic Leadership Growth

Capgemini hasn’t just improved leadership development—the company has reimagined how it should operate. Instead of a fragmented or manual model, Emerging Leaders is now a repeatable, data-driven experience that’s aligned with the long-term Capgemini leadership strategy.

For enterprise learning teams facing similar challenges, the takeaway is clear: When leadership development meets thoughtful design and scalable technology, impact multiplies.

With momentum building and demand accelerating, Capgemini continues to refine and expand the program—proving that with the right model, early leadership development can be both high-impact and high-scale.

Learn more.

Build a scalable leadership program like this one. Let’s talk about how Degreed Academies can support workforce development at scale at your organization.