Daryoush Larizadeh is the President of Leviton Manufacturing Company, one of the largest privately held global providers of electrical wiring devices, data center connectivity solutions and lighting energy management systems. With more than 25 years of management experience, he has led Leviton's transformation from a U.S.-based manufacturer of electrical products to a global provider of solutions that help customers create sustainable environments. Headquartered in New York, U.S., with more than 7,000 employees (primarily in North America), Leviton is responsible for more than $2 billion in revenue.
Daryoush is also a graduate of MIT Sloan (’93) and someone who sees great value in executive education at his alma mater. Not only has he attended several short courses in recent years, his leaders now attended the courses of their choosing as part of an Enterprise Account with MIT Sloan Executive Education.
“Initially I attended several programs with my leadership team and found that very productive. As president, this was a chance for us all to learn, together. Then, I began to send leaders informally to attend courses. I wanted to find a way to bring more MIT learning and frameworks to Leviton, and the school suggested an Enterprise Account.”
Organizations sending more than 20 employees a year to MIT Sloan Executive Education can benefit from an Enterprise Account, which offers a percentage discount beginning at 18% and is based on the firm’s total annual commitment. Once an Enterprise Account has been established, employees can enroll themselves, and their tuition is debited from the Enterprise Account balance. Organizations also benefit from dedicated account management and support.
"Everyone has been very positive about their MIT experience, and they do well to integrate their learnings into the work that we do"
Daryoush gives his leadership autonomy when selecting which and how many courses they want to attend throughout the year. “I empower them to make good decisions; they can enroll in as many programs they feel support their learning and their work. I’m not scrutinizing their choices. And, we have set aside corporate budget for professional development. However, I do ask that they present their learnings and how they plan to apply those learnings to the management team when they return.”
Leviton team members have taken courses focused on a wide variety of topics, from negotiation to innovation to product development. And each year since 2016 Leviton has sent 10-15 leaders to learn the Design Structure Matrix from Steve Eppinger in his program Systematic Innovation of Products, Processes, and Services.
“Leaders send an email out to the group to recommend programs they’ve enjoyed. Everyone has been very positive about their MIT experience, and they do well to integrate their learnings into the work that we do.”
Daryoush has also engaged MIT faculty who now work with the company on a consulting basis, teaching their frameworks to a larger group of employees and helping with major initiatives.
“MIT thought leaders helped us launch a very important product … we’re building a case study on this and plan to present the project at MIT later this year.”
Overall, Daryoush feels his management team benefits greatly from the cutting-edge takeaways and engaging with the faculty and global peers. As president of a global firm with more than 25 years of management experience, Daryoush is most impressed by the original material. “The faculty are outstanding, and their material is very prepared, high caliber, and unique to MIT. Nothing is rehashed. I attend courses deliberately seeking new approaches and business strategies—MIT has been extremely helpful in this regard.”
For more information and to discuss how an Enterprise Account might benefit your corporate executive education needs, please email us at EnterpriseClients@mit.edu.