Dashboard

Forms

Listening Meetup

Page banners

Plan landings

Main navigation

Gallery

Upload

Media library

Memberships

All tickets

Create ticket

Prepaid tickets

Users

ELE is a peer-powered community where people leaders don't just reframe challenges — they leave with decisions, next moves, and 30/60/90-day commitments to move real work forward.&nbsp;For 22 years, leaders from Fortune 1000 companies have brought their hardest problems here — and left sharper than they arrived.

UPCOMING CALENDAR

LATEST IDEA EXCHANGE

RECENT INSIGHTS

WHO WE ARE

Schedule a Meetup

Vote to Shape

This is where people leaders get sharper — and their teams get smarter.ELE is a peer-powered network of people leaders who accelerate business results through shared intelligence and real-work collaboration. Learn more below about why ELE has been the trusted choice for leaders building high-performing teams for over 20 years.

About ELE

Schedule a Local Meetup

Bring a real talent challenge. Name what's at stake, what you've tried, and why it matters now.

Community-Powered Calendar

Signal what matters most. Your vote shapes what your peers tackle next.

Companies In Our Network

Contact ELE

Find the peer conversation that moves your work forward.The right exchange builds better leaders, closes capability gaps, and cuts through what internal meetings can't.

Figure out if ELE is for you. Straight answers on what ELE is, who it’s built for, and how contributing members actually work together. Still have a question? Contact us.

Get answers about how Executive Learning Exchange (ELE) works — peer-powered leadership development that fixes real work issues, reverses burnout, and accelerates business value. No programs. No vendors. In the flow of work.

Where people leaders share what's working, ask what's hard, and learn from peers navigating the same talent challenges right now. Search before you post. When referencing a resource, paste the key insight directly into your response with a link to the source.

Real conversations from people leaders tackling today's toughest talent challenges -- captured live, ready to apply with your teams when it fits your schedule, and connected to what's happening right now.

Insights on Talent Challenges | Captured Peer Conversations | ELE

Welcome

Pick your path — each plan reflects a different commitment to accelerating business value.

ELE Plans — Find your place.

Want ELE to come to you? Propose a local gathering — the community decides what gets scheduled.

Executive Learning Exchange (ELE)

Conversations That Stick. Contributions That Land in Print.
ELE's Milwaukee Meetup
AUG 10 | Drop in anytime 4:00–6:00 PM CT | Location: Indeed Brewery Co. — Milwaukee (Walker's Point)


<h5>A Working Exchange, Not a Meetup</h5>
Come when you can, leave when you need. Bring one Pearl of Wisdom. Leave with your name on the book.

This is the Milwaukee kickoff for ELE's 4th book project: <a href="https://community.ele.llc/t/in-search-of-organizational-excellence-4th-book-project-start-here/6140" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In Search of Organizational Excellence: Redesigning Work Around AI Expertise, Human Judgment &amp; People Development</a> — our community-powered homage to Tom Peters' 1982 classic, rebuilt for the moment we're in.
Hosted by Dirk Tussing, Vilson Simon, and Michelle Gonzales. Real peer exchange. Real essay commitments captured live.


[caption id="attachment_45887" align="aligncenter" width="231"]<a href="https://community.ele.llc/t/in-search-of-organizational-excellence-4th-book-project-start-here/6140" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class=" wp-image-45887" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IN-SEARCH-OF-ORGANIZATIONAL-EXCELLENCE-v2-ELEs-Next-Community-Powered-Book.jpg.jpg" alt="Book cover: In Search of Organizational Excellence — Redesigning Work Around AI Expertise, Human Judgment &amp; People Development. Fourth in the Executive Learning Exchange Series, prepared by Dirk Tussing." width="231" height="309" /></a> A community-powered homage to Tom Peters's In Search of Excellence (1982) — same question, new era.[/caption]
<h5 class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal" dir="ltr">What to Bring:</h5>
One Pearl of Wisdom — one thing you've done in the last 24 months around redesigning work for AI that actually moved the business. One sentence is enough.

<h5 data-pm-slice="1 1 ">What to Expect:
</h5>
<ul>
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Cluster into one of four pillars — AI Adoption at Scale, Supervising AI New Hires, Reimagining Workflows, or Reskilling &amp; Redeployment. Sit where your Pearl of Wisdom fits.</li>
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Sharpen your candidate essay with peers — 90-second share, group presses on business impact</li>
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Cross-pillar exchange — hear what other people leaders are working through and how they'd frame yours</li>
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Author commitments captured live — walk out with a working title and a slot in the book</li>
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Preview the co-authoring path — seasoned contributors paired with emerging voices.</li>
</ul>
Format: Informal, drop-in, interactive. The book will be 28 essays — seven in each of four pillars. Milwaukee is where the first cluster gets locked in.
Space is limited to keep the working exchange meaningful.

ELE's Milwaukee Meetup | 4th Book Project Kickoff

single-event

wisconsin

Team Leaders

Your Teams

Meet-ups

dirk.tussing

meetup

talent development

missy.gonzales

in-person event

Engagement &amp; Culture

Digital

networking

3Q2026

vilson.simon

ITA Group

<div style="font-family: 'Calibri', 'Candara', 'Segoe UI', 'Optima', Arial, sans-serif; color: #333; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 800px; margin: auto; font-size: 1.1rem;">
AUG 5 | Drop in anytime 3:30–6:00 PM CT | Dirk’s koi pond | Chicago



<hr />

&nbsp;
71% of employees are using AI. 29% of workflows are.
If you're the talent leader being asked to close that gap — and you're not sure whether to start with everyone in the company or start with the workflow owners connecting the work — this is the conversation to have first.
8–10 Chicagoland people leaders. Dirk's backyard. Koi pond with peers comparing notes on the AI adoption question everyone is quietly wrestling with.
Drop in when you can, leave when you need.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45541" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ele-chicago-executive-cohort-meetup-koi-pond-2026.jpg" alt="ELE Executive Cohort members gathered for a casual Chicago meetup at Dirk’s koi pond." width="1895" height="1039" />

</div>
<h5 data-section-id="fatve3" data-start="421" data-end="451">What you'll leave with</h5>
Shared signals from peers who are working on the same problem.
Not answers — patterns. 3–5 things other L&amp;D and talent leaders are seeing on workflow-owner adoption that you can bring back to your team on Monday.
The kind of signals that only surface when people wrestling with the same thing compare notes off the record.

<h5 data-start="502" data-end="577">Who this is for</h5>
Directors and VPs in HR, L&amp;D, and talent leadership who are:

<ul class="[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3 print:block print:space-y-1" dir="ltr" data-sourcepos="29:1-31:53;1307-1494">
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2" data-sourcepos="29:1-29:52;1307-1358">Being asked to make an AI adoption call this fall</li>
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2" data-sourcepos="30:1-30:83;1359-1441">Weighing where to place the bet — workflow owners vs. enterprise-wide enablement</li>
 	<li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2" data-sourcepos="31:1-31:53;1442-1494">Ready to compare notes with peers, not consultants</li>
</ul>
<h5 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold" dir="ltr" data-sourcepos="33:1-33:20;1496-1515">Why the koi pond</h5>
The honest version of this conversation doesn't happen at the office.
Bring what's actually on your mind. Bring a bottle if you want. ELE will provide beer, wine, and snacks.

<h5 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold" dir="ltr" data-sourcepos="39:1-39:30;1694-1723">How this connects to Oct 1</h5>
Aug 5 is the pre-conversation.
Oct 1 at CNA Chicago — Leadership Development in the AI Flow of Work — is where ~200 talent leaders take signals from meetups like this and stress-test them against the frameworks that will shape the next decade of talent work.
Leadership development is the mechanism through which workflow owners learn to redesign work, lead adoption, and turn AI investment into business value.
Aug 5 gets you the room. Oct 1 gets you the stage.
<a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="/calendar/fall-conference-2026">Fall Conference details →</a>

<h5 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold" dir="ltr" data-sourcepos="51:1-51:58;2276-2333">Plug in deeper — Book #4 is being co-created right now</h5>
In Search of Organizational Excellence — ELE's 4th book project — is being built inside the community.
<img class=" wp-image-45887" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IN-SEARCH-OF-ORGANIZATIONAL-EXCELLENCE-v2-ELEs-Next-Community-Powered-Book.jpg.jpg" alt="Book cover: In Search of Organizational Excellence — Redesigning Work Around AI Expertise, Human Judgment &amp; People Development. Fourth in the Executive Learning Exchange Series, prepared by Dirk Tussing." width="210" height="281" />
The Karen Kocher thesis anchoring it is exactly what we'll be exploring on Aug 5:

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-[hsl(var(--border-300)/0.1)] pl-4 text-text-300" data-sourcepos="57:1-57:228;2533-2760">
"Companies want and need expertise — human or AI. Judgment stays uniquely human. The C-suite goal is minimizing coordination tasks. Only 29% of workflows are using AI while 71% of employees are — that gap is the opportunity."
</blockquote>
If Aug 5 lights something up for you, that's where the deeper conversation lives.
<a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://community.ele.llc/t/in-search-of-organizational-excellence-4th-book-project-start-here/6140">Start here → In Search of Organizational Excellence (ELE Book #4 Project Information)</a>


<hr />
Seats are limited — RSVP to help us plan.
Guests are welcome to bring something light. ELE will provide beer, wine, and snacks.

Meetup Experience | ELE Executive Cohort

Talent Executives

Chicago Cohort

chicagoland

newton.moore

chicago

anton.maletich

AI transformation

AI Adoption

talent leaders

david.chodak

chicago-community-hub

real-world-challenges

book-4-ieqa

workflow-owners

fall-conference-2026

Alter Domus

HumanSide

Each AI Practical Lab is built to help leaders work through a real business challenge using peer input, AI-enabled prompts, and ELE’s Action Planning Worksheet. Topics will be selected based on the business problems surfacing across ELE’s ecosystem—including local meetups, member conversations, and Design Charrettes. This is a live working experience designed to help participants move from uncertainty and scattered experimentation toward clearer decisions, stronger judgment, and practical next steps they can apply in the work.t into practice tomorrow.

[caption id="attachment_44940" align="aligncenter" width="835"]<img class=" wp-image-44940" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Gemini_Generated_Image_CRIT-model.jpg" alt="Infographic of the CRIT model for AI leading, breaking down Context, Role, Interview, and Task with icons and descriptions for each step." width="835" height="455" /> The CRIT Model for AI-driven leadership, from Geoff Woods.[/caption]

What we’ll do (live working experience):
<ul>
 	<li data-start="694" data-end="758">Define the real business problem or decision to work through</li>
 	<li data-start="759" data-end="814">Clarify what is shifting and what better looks like</li>
 	<li data-start="815" data-end="884">Use AI and peer input to sharpen thinking, choices, and tradeoffs</li>
 	<li data-start="885" data-end="956">Apply ELE’s Action Planning Worksheet to build practical next steps</li>
 	<li data-start="957" data-end="1020">Leave with clearer decision support and a 30-day path forward</li>
</ul>

<hr data-start="1196" data-end="1199" />
Who you’ll work with:

<ul data-start="1227" data-end="1290">
 	<li data-start="1227" data-end="1246">Internal Client</li>
 	<li data-start="1247" data-end="1267">AI Learning Guru</li>
 	<li data-start="1268" data-end="1290">Real-world Skeptic</li>
</ul>

<hr data-start="1292" data-end="1295" />
What you’ll walk away with:

<ul data-start="1330" data-end="1488">
 	<li data-start="1056" data-end="1118">A practical framework for working through a real challenge</li>
 	<li data-start="1119" data-end="1172">Sharper thinking on choices, tradeoffs, and risks</li>
 	<li data-start="1173" data-end="1227">A 30-day action plan you can apply in your real work</li>
 	<li data-start="182" data-end="269" data-is-last-node="">Below is the Action Planning Worksheet we’ll use live:</li>
</ul>
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-44983" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2026-03MAR-Zurich-Charrette-Action-Planning-Worksheet-Updated-2026APR09.jpg" alt="Action planning worksheet for ELE AI Practical Lab showing sections for Situation, From-To shift, Insight, Choice, Risk, Opportunities, and Actions (Next 30 Days) focused on applying AI to real decisions and workflows." width="922" height="560" />
If AI isn’t changing how decisions get made, it’s not adoption yet.
Join us to move from experimentation → to real work.


<hr data-start="1292" data-end="1295" />

ELE produces this member-only monthly AI Practical Lab on Zoom.
Collaborate online with your peers on our <a title="ELE's Idea Exchange" href="https://www.ele.llc/idea-exchange/">Idea Exchange</a> to keep the conversation going!

Meetup Experience | ELE Executive Cohort

ELE's Milwaukee Meetup | 4th Book Project Kickoff

✨ AI Practical Lab #26 | Experiment. Learn. Lead.