Insight Experience is proud to share that The Accelerator, the executive development program built in partnership with The Trade Desk (TTD), has been recognized with a Brandon Hall Group™ Gold HCM Excellence Award® for Best Executive Development Program. The HCM Excellence Awards® recognize organizations whose programs deliver measurable business results and advance excellence in Human Capital Management.
Why The Accelerator
As TTD's senior leaders were asked to lead at a new level of scale and complexity, the company saw an opportunity to move beyond classroom instruction and give leaders real practice: sharpening strategic communication, building cross-functional relationships, and translating enterprise strategy into direction their own teams could act on. TTD partnered with Insight Experience to build a program around that practice.
Leadership Development Leaders Can Feel
The Accelerator is a two-day, in-office immersive experience grounded in TTD's Leadership Principles. At its center is a custom-built business simulation where cross-functional teams lead a fictional programmatic renewable energy marketplace whose dynamics mirror the real strategic challenges TTD leaders face every day. Teams work through multiple scenarios across two rounds, and the choices they make in Round 1 shape what they face in Round 2, so the connection between leadership decisions and business outcomes is felt.
Executive coaching, live role plays with peer observation, and structured debriefs tie every experience back to TTD's Leadership Principles, giving leaders real behavioral data on how they decide, communicate, and lead under pressure.
The Results
Since its October 2024 pilot, The Accelerator has reached more than 160 senior leaders across cohorts spanning three continents. Participants rated peer learning opportunities 4.77 out of 5.0 and overall program value 4.70 out of 5.0. Ninety days out, 100% of participants said the program changed how they think about leadership, and 82% reported lasting behavior change.
Recognizing the Team
This recognition reflects the work of TTD's Global Learning and Development team; Insight Experience's facilitation, design, and delivery team; and the TTD subject matter experts who shaped the program's design. Congratulations to everyone at The Trade Desk and Insight Experience who helped bring The Accelerator to life.
Curious how a custom business simulation could do the same for your leaders? Get in touch.
