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ELE brings leaders together across companies and industries to work through the messy stuff: decisions, risk, handoffs, execution drag, and what it takes to move from idea to action.

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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.

West Bend Insurance

Journyz

<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;">
The Innovation Sprint brings current workforce challenges into live peer exploration.
This segment surfaces what is emerging from the work: where leaders are finding traction, where execution is getting stuck, and what questions still need sharper answers.
People leaders will hear practical signals they can carry into the afternoon exchange—not polished theory after the fact.

<blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid #990000; margin: 20px 0; padding: 10px 20px; background-color: #f8f9fa; font-style: italic; color: #555; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">What happens next? This post captures our live framework. In a few days, we will update this page with the real-time breakthroughs, questions, and insights shared by our executive peers during the conference dialogue. Stay tuned!</blockquote>
</div>

Live Insights | What the Innovation Sprint Is Revealing

future of work

Future of Work

Digital &amp; AI

Change Management

talent development

agility

missy.gonzales

peer-learning

leadership strategy

artificial intelligence

Workforce Transformation

AI Adoption

deepa.kartha

innovation sprint

wise2026

operational friction

decision ambiguity

organizational listening

workflow adaptation

risk inflation

capability development

decision confidence

problem discovery

executive education

behavioral observation

insights-wise-2026

Gainwell Technologies

HumanSide

<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;">
AI is the "easy button." That framing is exactly the problem.
Most organizations have already given their people AI tools. The question nobody's answering is whether those people are using them well, and whether they'd know the difference.
This keynote makes the case that the gap isn't tools, it's judgment. And the same systems that incentivize poor AI use are the ones that can be redesigned to incentivize good use, if L&amp;D is willing to own the moment.
You'll walk away with a sharper view of where your organization actually stands, what the highest-compounding investment in safer AI looks like, and a concrete next step worth taking Monday.


<blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid #990000; margin: 20px 0; padding: 10px 20px; background-color: #f8f9fa; font-style: italic; color: #555; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">What happens next? This post captures our live framework. In a few days, we will update this page with the real-time breakthroughs, questions, and insights shared by our executive peers during the conference dialogue. Stay tuned!</blockquote>
</div>

The Easy Button Problem| The catch-22 at the heart of AI adoption.

learning design

Performance Improvement

AI strategy

behavioral change

jenny.massoni

dustin.brewer

strategic choices

easy button problem

trained judgment

workforce capability

AI investment

compliance vs capability

structural failure

ownership

authorship

risk mitigation

performance frameworks

tech integration

ROI metrics

ELE Group, LLC

<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;">
<blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid #990000; margin: 20px 0; padding: 10px 20px; background-color: #f8f9fa; font-style: italic; color: #555; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">"I want to go to where the puck's going to be, not where it is today." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/marty-murrillo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marty Murrillo</a>, Precisely</blockquote>
A Monday question. A Friday Charrette. A Lab in two days.
Most senior talent leaders don't get help fast. They get a stack of articles, a framework, and a six-month engagement quote.
The ELE Ecosystem moves differently. Here's what just happened.

<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding-bottom: 5px;">Day 1 — The signal</h3>
Monday, May 4. A senior talent leader's role ends at a major financial services firm. Her first move isn't a Google search or a Coursera certificate. She posts one question in ELE's Idea Exchange: how do I upskill myself in AI?
She had options. She picked peers.

<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding-bottom: 5px;">Days 2–3 — The community listens</h3>
The responses come fast. But the comments under her question expose something bigger: she's not alone. Learning professionals across the ELE community are quietly wrestling with the same three questions:

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">Where is my value actually shifting?</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">How do I redefine my role for real business impact?</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 10px;">How do I build AI experience employers actually want?</li>
</ul>
One question became a curated business problem.

<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding-bottom: 5px;">Day 5 — The Design Charrette</h3>
Friday, May 8. Twenty-plus senior talent leaders converged for a lively interactive discussion built on the Signals-to-Action Planning Worksheet. <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/audra-pinter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audra Pinter</a> (Discover/Capital One, transitioning into a new role) opened by sharing her own arc — and the room got to work.
What came out wasn't a topic recap. It was decisions.

<blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid #990000; margin: 15px 0; padding: 5px 20px; font-style: italic; color: #555; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">"They're trying to do these little spot AI projects, but they're not fixing the workflows." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/marty-murrillo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marty Murrillo</a>, Precisely</blockquote>
Stop chasing the tool. Chase the workflow.

<blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid #990000; margin: 15px 0; padding: 5px 20px; font-style: italic; color: #555; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">"You don't actually own it anymore, because it's out of your control." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/peter-hogaboam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Peter Hogaboam</a>, CNA Insurance</blockquote>
Peter drew the AI / outsourcing parallel. Smart resistance isn't a brake. It's a leadership skill.

<blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid #990000; margin: 15px 0; padding: 5px 20px; font-style: italic; color: #555; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">"We have to avoid becoming just the AI training department for everyone." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/kathryn-sobey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katie Stone</a>, Global Talent Leaders</blockquote>
L&amp;D's value isn't being the help desk for prompts. It's building the conditions that make adoption stick.
Three leaders. Three angles. One shared business problem coming into sharp focus.
<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding-bottom: 5px;">Day 10 — The AI Practical Lab</h3>
Thursday, May 14. The Action Planning Worksheet from Friday's Charrette becomes the input — not a recap slide, the working brief. The room moves from "what should we try" to "what did we ship." Playbooks. Early evidence loops. Implementation moves.
That's the ELE Ecosystem. Listen → Curate → Co-design → Implement. Loop.


<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 40px 0;" />

<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-top: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Who was in the room</h3>
Audra Pinter (Discover/Capital One) anchored the real-world signal; Patti Ouzounian (ELE) walked the room through the Signals-to-Action Planning Worksheet; co-facilitator DeB Lenchard (L&amp;D Consultant). Strong voices from Adrienne Guerrero (Positive Delta), Peter Hogaboam (CNA Insurance), Katie Stone (Global Talent Leaders), Marty Murrillo (Precisely), Mike Hoyt and David Scherer (Chicagoland Talent Leaders) — plus additional contributing members from the ELE community.


<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 40px 0;" />

<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-bottom: 15px;">What to try next — the ELE move, not the AI tactic</h3>
<ol style="padding-left: 25px; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 15px;">Post the question, not the certificate. When something shifts in your work, drop it in the Idea Exchange before you Google it. Early evidence: peer-level expertise back in 24–48 hours, not generic articles.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 15px;">Bring your business problem to the next Charrette. If a Charrette built around someone else's question pulled this much value, imagine what happens when it's built around yours.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 15px;">Show up for the Practical Lab on May 14. It's running on May 8's APW as direct input. Bring a colleague. This is implementation, not theory.</li>
</ol>
<div style="background-color: #f1f4f9; padding: 20px; border-radius: 8px; margin-top: 40px; font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">
If any of these insights resonate—and you've got a top-of-mind talent business problem you'd like the ELE community to work on—send it our way.
Members can submit their challenge here: <a style="color: #0056b3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.ele.llc/faqs/share-top-of-mind-talent-challenges">Submit My Challenge Now</a>
Looking to turn these ideas into action? Access the <a style="color: #0056b3; text-decoration: underline;" href="https://community.ele.llc/t/pre-chat-post-chat-ai-disruption-career-opportunity/5862" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Idea Exchange Post-chat</a> for an updated Action Planning Worksheet.

</div>
</div>

Design Charrette | AI Disruption = Career Opportunity

dirk.tussing

deborah.lenchard

adrienne.guerrero

marty.murrillo

kathryn.stone

peter.hogaboam

patricia.ouzounian

audra.pinter

david.scherer

mike.hoyt

2Q2026

Design Charrette

confidence capability clarity

AI Disruption

Senior Talent Leaders

AI fluency

AI Career Opportunity

L&amp;D Role Redefinition

Workflow Redesign

Smart Resistance

AI Practical Lab Series

Outcomes-Based L&amp;D

AI Job Market Signals

Signals to Action Planning

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"I went from a blank to having a pretty good rough draft that I can go then and edit, and makes my time much more productive." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/dirk-tussing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dirk Tussing</a>
</blockquote>
Here's the business problem that kicked this off: small and mid-sized companies know leadership development isn't working. Classroom training isn't building AI-ready leaders. And the people who do understand AI can't always translate it into what a 500-person manufacturing company actually needs to do differently on Monday morning.
That was the challenge Mike Grubich brought to ELE's April 10th <a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights/design-charrette-stop-talking-start-building-ai-leaders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Design Charrette — </a><a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights/design-charrette-stop-talking-start-building-ai-leaders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stop Talking, Start Building Leaders</a>. The charrette generated raw peer insight and a partially filled action planning worksheet. April 16th was about turning that raw material into something a leadership team could actually use.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
This one was open to anyone — members, guests, and curious colleagues alike. No slides, no formal structure. Just Dirk walking through the live workflow with a small group willing to watch AI do the heavy lifting in real time.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
The workflow: Charrette → Action Plan → Playbook
ELE's new sprint model is a three-step sequence. The Design Charrette starts with a real business problem and generates peer-tested insight. That becomes the input for an AI Action Planning hour — where AI tools help complete Aaron Olson's Action Planning Worksheet (from Strategy and Change), a structured tool designed for exactly this kind of high-disruption, hard-to-focus moment. The completed worksheet then feeds an AI Practical Lab, where the community co-creates customized implementation playbooks.
As <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/patricia-ouzounian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patti Ouzounian</a> put it during the discussion:

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"You're taking what was done in the charrette and all of the transcript items and pieces to come up with a new and improved, updated action planning worksheet — so it can stand as the premise for the AI practice sessions, and then ultimately the playbook."
</blockquote>
That's the architecture. And the April 16th hour was proof it works.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
AI doesn't replace the thinking — it accelerates it
Dirk walked the group through the live workflow: drop in the Zoom transcript, the group chat, and the partially filled worksheet; run a CRIT prompt (Context, Role, Interview, Task); let the AI interview you with three targeted questions to sharpen the focus; then watch it fill out the worksheet with situation framing, insights, choices, risks, opportunities, and measurable actions.
The output wasn't perfect. It wasn't supposed to be. The point was to go from blank page to credible rough draft — fast — and then scrub it before sharing.

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"Senior leaders need to stop treating AI leadership as a content rollout and start treating it as an execution choice."
</blockquote>
That line came out of the AI-assisted worksheet completion, drawing directly from Mike's business challenge. It's the kind of reframe that takes a room an hour to land on. The AI surfaced it in minutes — because the charrette had already done the real work of naming the problem.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
The part that surprised the room
<a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/david-scherer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Scherer</a> raised something worth flagging:

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"I love these features — I really appreciate how we can leverage ELE in so many different ways outside of the organization."
</blockquote>
That's not just a compliment about the platform. It's pointing at something real: when you contribute to an ELE Design Charrette, you're building a documented, shareable artifact of your thinking. One you can actually point to. For senior leaders navigating career transitions or gig work, that matters.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
What to try next

<ol 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-decimal flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3">
 	<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Run your own CRIT prompt on a current challenge. You don't need ELE's full workflow to start. Take a business problem you're stuck on, give an AI tool the Context, assign it a Role, ask it to Interview you (max 3 questions), then name the Task. Notice how different the output is from a generic prompt.</li>
 	<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Use the worksheet as a pre-read filter. Before your next leadership team conversation about AI adoption, run the Action Planning Worksheet on the situation yourself — even partially filled. It forces you to separate symptoms from signals before you walk in the room.</li>
 	<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Identify whose "business why" is missing. In most organizations, AI adoption stalls because senior executives haven't articulated why it matters for this business, this team, this year. Name one executive in your organization who should own that framing — and who isn't yet.</li>
</ol>
Early evidence signal: Within two weeks, can you get one senior leader to articulate AI adoption as a business execution decision — not a training initiative?


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
If any of these insights resonate — and you've got a top-of-mind talent business problem you'd like the ELE community to work on — send it our way.
Members can submit their business challenge here: <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.ele.llc/faqs/share-top-of-mind-business-challenges">Submit My Business Challenge Now</a>
Looking to turn these ideas into action? Access the <a href="https://community.ele.llc/t/pre-chat-post-chat-leadership-development-drives-ai-transformation/5860/2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Idea Exchange Post-chat</a> for an updated Action Planning Worksheet.

Co-create Live with ELE | From Charrette to Action Plan: Watching AI Do the Heavy Lifting

Leadership

onboarding

leadership development

HR and learning trends

clarity

ai practical lab

networking

organizational learning

knowledge sharing

ELE Office Hour

idea exchange

fresh ideas

new members

re-engagement

Q&amp;A

confidence

capability

ELE 2026

action planning

business problem

CRIT prompting

senior leaders

execution strategy

Alter Domus

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"Senior leaders are not crafting the why. So people aren't really being expected to use it to drive performance." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/nicole-defalco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nicole DeFalco</a>, Upsurge Advisors
</blockquote>
The business problem hiding inside your AI rollout
Most organizations have launched AI tools. Fewer have launched leaders who know how to use them.
That's the gap this live interactive discussion set out to close. The business problem, as Anton Maletich (Alter Domus) put it plainly from the Internal Client chair: his organization had hundreds of agents built by a fraction of its workforce, productivity targets declared but unmeasured, and no shared standard for what AI-enabled work actually looks like. The tools were live. The strategy wasn't.
Who was in the room: Senior HR, L&amp;D, and business leaders including <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/nicole-defalco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nicole DeFalco</a> (Upsurge Advisors) as facilitator, <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/anton-maletich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anton Maletich</a> (Alter Domus) as Internal Client, <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/marty-murrillo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marty Murrillo</a> (Precisely) as AI Strategist, and <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/christopher-lind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christopher Lind</a> (Christopher Lind Co.) as Real-World Skeptic, alongside a cross-section of ELE members spanning healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and consulting.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
It's not an adoption problem. It's a leadership framing problem.
Anton grounded the room in what the Internal Client actually experiences: a tool mandate from the top, fragmented usage below, and no shared definition of success. Agents were being built in silos — some redundant, some ungoverned — and no one was asking whether they addressed productivity that actually mattered.

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"The agent marketplace is now the nightmare that the LMS has been. We've just replaced the LMS with an agent marketplace." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/nicole-defalco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nicole DeFalco</a>
</blockquote>
The tools proliferated. The strategy didn't.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
AI output isn't neutral — and neither is your judgment
This is where the Real-World Skeptic earned his moment. Christopher Lind named the tension the room needed to hear: AI output that looks polished on the surface is often structurally empty underneath — no performance-tied behaviors, no measurable outcomes, no accountability built in.

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"It looks good on the surface to a seasoned expert, it actually is usually slop." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/christopher-lind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christopher Lind</a>
</blockquote>
He also introduced the "Grandeur Effect" — AI doesn't just affirm ideas, it presents them as grand, unique, and never-before-seen. The risk isn't bad output. It's confident-looking output that leaders ship without reading closely.

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"It can make you look better than you are, and you don't really know." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/dirk-tussing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dirk Tussing</a>, ELE
</blockquote>

<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
The CRIT Model: From assistant to thought partner
Marty Murrillo — in the AI Strategist role — offered the reframe: the problem isn't that leaders are bad at prompting. It's that they've never been asked to treat AI as a thought partner rather than an answer machine. The CRIT Model changes that architecture.
We live-tested Marty's demonstration of the CRIT Model (Context, Role, Interview, Task). The breakthrough? The Interview step. By forcing the AI to ask us questions before generating an answer, we surface blind spots and pressure-test assumptions.
<img class="wp-image-44940 aligncenter" 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. (Credit: Google Gemini Banana)
The insight wasn't about the tool itself — it was about leadership capability. If a leader can't answer the AI's interview questions, that gap is the actual business problem to solve.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
A moment that mattered
When AI pushed back on a vague prompt — asking the group to name a specific business outcome, not just "improve productivity" — the room landed on something honest: most organizations don't actually know what AI-driven performance looks like in their context.
Dirk Tussing put it plainly: "If we just ask for general stuff, we're gonna get general stuff back."
The CRIT interview step didn't just improve the AI output. It exposed the strategic ambiguity that was already there.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
What to try next
Start with one decision, not one tool. Have senior leaders identify a single business decision — something that already happens this quarter — where AI will be used to inform or accelerate it. Name the outcome. Define what "better" looks like before anyone touches a prompt.
Run the CRIT interview on yourself. Before building any AI-enabled leadership development, use the CRIT model's Interview step with a real organizational challenge. If the senior leaders in the room can't answer the clarifying questions, that's your curriculum.
Baseline before you build. Christopher Lind's challenge to the group: if you want to improve productivity, what's your baseline today? Without it, any change is just a gut feeling. Ask your internal client to name the data they have — and flag what's missing.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
If any of these insights resonate — and you've got a top-of-mind talent business problem you'd like the ELE community to work on — send it our way. Members can submit their business challenge here: <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.ele.llc/faqs/share-top-of-mind-business-challenges">Submit My Business Challenge Now</a>

✨ AI Practical Lab: Framing the Why — Leadership Development for AI at Scale

Strategy

christopher.lind

anton.maletich

matt.donovan

audrey..hackley

rachel.kaberon

AI transformation

susan.c.guest

nicole.defalco

angelica.janina.stilling

manager enablement

talent strategy 2026

CRIT Model

christie.wereski

leadership development for AI

AI framing the why

AI at scale

prompt engineering for leaders

AI execution gap

senior leader alignment

frontline manager coaching

Zurich North America

<blockquote>"Our 'why' is going to be about driving business value." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/teri-hart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teri Hart</a>, Zurich North America.</blockquote>
Most AI adoption strategies start with the tools. The organizations actually moving the needle started with a different question.
That gap — between access and actual adoption — is the business problem senior talent leaders are sitting with right now. And the research is unambiguous about why it's happening: employees aren't resisting AI. They're quietly doing the math on their own relevance.
On March 13th, <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/teri-hart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teri Hart</a> and <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/jason-gallo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jason Gallo</a> from Zurich North America brought their real-world AI capability model into the room — and reframed what "scaling AI" actually means for HR and talent leaders.
Managers are the leverage point. Most organizations haven't treated them that way.

During the lively discussion, peers were sharing what's actually working — not only best practices from a deck. <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/nick-allen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nick Allen</a> (CNA Insurance) brought one of the most replicable moves in the room. His organization started spending 5–10 minutes in team meetings calling out individual AI wins — peer-showcased, locally celebrated, not handed down from corporate or IT:
<blockquote>"Leadership is intentionally calling out different people… showcasing what they've just recently discovered… and that's turning the dial." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/nick-allen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nick Allen</a>, CNA Insurance</blockquote>
<img class="aligncenter" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AI-Driven-Leaders-are-Becoming-a-Composer-and-a-Conductor-A.jpg" alt="" />

The shift from corporate mandate to something people are having fun doing together happened, in his words, in about two to three months. That's a replicable move — and it costs nothing to start.
<blockquote>"AI adoption isn't going to be about just pushing the tools… it's actually about old-fashioned change management and leading people through identity shifts." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/teri-hart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teri Hart</a>, Zurich North America.</blockquote>
Most organizations have rolled out the tools. A small group of power users is running with them. Everyone else hasn't touched the button.

<hr />

Identity is the stall point — not the skill gap

Research surfaced in the discussion found roughly half of employees perceive AI as a threat to their professional identity — their relevance, their value, how they create worth in their work. That's not a reskilling problem. It's a change management problem.

Marty Murrillo put it in the chat as Teri was still mid-thought: "That Identity shift is huge." It landed fast because everyone in the room was feeling the same pressure their employees are navigating.
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</iframe></div>
As Teri highlights, this shift from content delivery to business impact is already underway. For L&amp;D leaders, that's not an abstract statement. It's a line in the sand. The leaders anchoring their work to business outcomes — not program delivery or skill catalogs — are the ones building relevance right now.

<hr />

The confidence gap runs in one direction

Teri opened with a data point that stopped the room: 76% of executives believe their employees are enthusiastic about AI adoption. Ask the individual contributors? It's 31%.

The more senior you are, the more confident you are that things are going well. That disconnect doesn't close with more content or more tools. It closes when leaders consistently model the why — and make it visible at the team level, not just the enterprise level.
<blockquote>"It's technically available, but in many companies, it's optional. It's behaviorally optional." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/teri-hart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teri Hart</a></blockquote>
That phrase — behaviorally optional — named something the room had been circling. Deployment isn't adoption. And the people who aren't engaging aren't confused about the technology. They're uncertain about what it means for them.

<hr />

What to try next

Ask three frontline managers to explain the AI "why" in their own words — unprompted. If the answers vary significantly, you don't have a skill problem. You have a messaging alignment problem. That's the faster fix.

Put one AI win on the next team meeting agenda — peer-led, 5 minutes, no deck. Early evidence signal: does someone volunteer a story the following week without being asked?

<hr />

If any of these insights reflect the business challenges you're navigating right now — bring them into the room. ELE builds its event experiences around the real problems members are wrestling with. <a href="https://www.ele.llc/faqs/share-top-of-mind-talent-challenges">Submit My Business Challenge Now</a>

&nbsp;

Design Charrette: From AI Adoption to Shared Practice at Scale

tracey.wik

nick.allen

teri.hart

linh.lawler

psychological safety

jason.gallo

shonda.cromwell-rashad

tamora.martin

yolanda.mangram

michael.hruska

capability building

cindy.pinkstaffmiller

alaska.fu

1Q2026

megan.schuette

human-centered ai

Confidence in AI

behavioral adoption gap

identity shift

AI capability building

business value storytelling

talent leader strategy

L&amp;D relevance

shared practice at scale

<blockquote>"AI is cosmically stupid if it doesn't have context." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/christopher-lind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christopher Lind</a></blockquote>
That line set the tone for everything that followed on March 12.

<a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/anton-maletich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anton Maletich</a> brought a real problem to the room: Alter Domus is scaling fast, hiring junior officers straight out of university, and by week four those employees can't explain what the company does — let alone speak credibly with clients. Not a motivation gap. A mental model gap. The business needed a repeatable way to close it.

So the room built one. Live.

The live discussion brought together a sharp mix of senior talent and L&amp;D leaders — from Alter Domus, Precisely, and Learning Sharks anchoring the conversation, to practitioners from Lurie Children's, PepsiCo, Discover, Zurich North America, Aon, CNA Insurance, insightsoftware, SunSource, FranklinCovey, Reynolds Consumer Products, and Waukesha County Technical College in the mix. The kind of room where the chat is as good as the main conversation — and it was.

<hr />

The brief matters more than the tool.

Marty walked through The CRIT Model live — Context, Role, Interview, Task — and built a 30-day onboarding framework for Alter Domus in real time, no proprietary data shared. The output was specific because the input was specific. The move most people admitted skipping: asking the AI to ask you clarifying questions before it responds.
<blockquote>"Full disclosure: The CRIT Model was new to me in that room too. Marty pulled it from Geoff Woods' <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/bookshelf/the-ai-driven-leader" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The AI-Driven Leader</a> — and watching him run it live was one of those lightbulb moments where you think, why haven't I been doing this the whole time? Context, Role, Interview, Task. Four steps. Completely changes what comes back." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/dirk-tussing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dirk Tussing</a>.</blockquote>
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="822"]<img title="The CRIT Model infographic" 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="822" height="448" /> The CRIT Model for AI-driven leadership, from Geoff Woods. (Credit: Google Gemini Banana)[/caption]

When the AI pressed Anton on where his junior officers actually break down, he got precise: it's not the legal structure — it's how accounting flows through it. That answer changed everything the AI produced. The diagnosis landed correctly. The room noticed.

<hr />

You own the output.

Speed is real. So is the risk of using it uncritically. Christopher drew a hard line: if you can't answer detailed follow-up questions about what the AI produced, you haven't done the work.
<blockquote>"If you just use the results without analysis or reflection, you're not using it correctly." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/david-scherer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Scherer</a></blockquote>
And AI won't tell you when you're wrong — it's built to keep you engaged, not challenge you. You have to ask for the pushback explicitly.

<hr />

Design the workflow, don't improvise it.

The practical split that landed: use outside-firewall tools for structure and frameworks, then move inside your approved environment to add sensitive detail.
<blockquote>"I'm looking for this tool outside your firewall to give structure. I can take that and put it inside the firewall and flesh out the detail." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/marty-murrillo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marty Murrillo</a>, Precisely</blockquote>
Christopher added: build custom GPTs, Gems, or Claude Projects for work your team repeats — stakeholder interviews, onboarding design, needs assessments. Pre-load the context once. Anyone picks it up without starting cold.

<hr />

What to try next

Use The CRIT Model on one real work product this week. Add the Interview step — ask it to ask you up to three clarifying questions before responding. Early evidence: fewer revision cycles, more specific output.

Split your AI workflow deliberately. Map which parts happen outside the firewall (structure, options, frameworks) and which stay inside (proprietary detail). Make it a decision, not an accident. Early evidence: you can explain your process to InfoSec without hesitating.

Ask it to push back before you finalize. Prompt it directly: "What's wrong with this? What am I missing?" It won't do this unprompted. Early evidence: you'll catch at least one assumption you'd been treating as settled.

<hr />

If any of these insights reflect the business challenges you're navigating right now — bring them into the room. ELE builds its event experiences around the real problems members are wrestling with. <a href="https://www.ele.llc/faqs/share-top-of-mind-talent-challenges">Submit My Business Challenge Now</a>

✨ AI Practical Lab: Context Is the Job

colin.hahn

keri.kersten

nancy.dome

ana.bedard

human AI collaboration

prompt engineering

L&amp;D strategy

AI governance

AI Workflow Design

Context Setting

Onboarding Effectiveness

Product Knowledge Training

Junior Talent Development

Clarity in AI Use

<div class="insight-content-wrapper" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.6; color: #333;">

When <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/aaron-olson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aaron Olson</a> keynoted in person at ELE’s October conference at Zurich North America (Schaumburg campus), he launched his new book <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/bookshelf/strategy-and-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Strategy &amp; Change</a>—and the room lit up because it wasn’t theory. It was usable.

So we invited him back for a live interactive workshop discussion on Feb 27, and he delivered again—this time with the group applying the ideas to real decisions, in real time.

In the simplest terms, Aaron’s message was this: stronger teams get better at avoiding blind spots → making clearer choices → naming risk early—because that’s where real opportunities get unmasked. He also walked through how to prepare yourself with a simple Action Planning Tool.

And the best part? The community didn’t just nod along—we sharpened the framework with the kind of reflections you only get when experienced leaders are willing to be honest about what actually happens inside organizations.

<hr style="margin: 40px 0; border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee;" />

The takeaway that hit hardest: don’t outsource your judgment
As <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/marty-murrillo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marty Murrillo</a> put it - especially with AI in the mix:
<blockquote style="border-left: 5px solid #ccc; margin: 1.5em 10px; padding: 0.5em 20px; font-style: italic;">“You can’t… abdicate your critical thinking to a machine, nor should you ever give your voice to a person or a machine."</blockquote>
That line landed because it names a very real risk pattern: teams move faster, they generate more output… and leaders slowly stop owning judgment.

The point wasn’t “don’t use AI.” The point was: don’t give away your voice. When leaders do that—whether to a tool or to the loudest person in the room—capability erodes quietly.

Why “challenge” is the hidden lever in better decisions.
One reflection that really stuck with the group was how culture shapes decision quality—even before the decision starts. <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/rachel-kaberon1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Kaberon</a> named the blocker we all recognize when we’re being honest:
<blockquote style="border-left: 5px solid #ccc; margin: 1.5em 10px; padding: 0.5em 20px; font-style: italic;">“The word challenge becomes a choice… that interpersonal exchange is part of the choice architecture."</blockquote>
That’s it. That’s the whole game. If challenging assumptions feels socially risky, people avoid it. If people avoid it, blind spots stay protected. And if blind spots stay protected, the “choice” is basically pre-decided—just with nicer language around it. So when we say “we need clarity,” what we often really mean is: we need a better room for real challenge.

Insight isn’t just “more data.” It’s sensing what others miss.
<a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/jean-ryan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jean Ryan</a> added a strategic layer that sharpened the “Insight” part of Aaron’s framework: if you only listen to the loud, obvious signals, you’re already behind.

She described the power of going after weak signals—especially outside your industry—because they challenge your current assumptions before the change becomes unavoidable.

Strong signals are easy to spot. They’re already loud. Weak signals take intention. But that’s where the early advantage lives: noticing shifts in behavior, expectations, education, and adjacent markets before they turn into urgent problems. This is one of those leadership muscles that looks “soft”… until you realize it’s the difference between being prepared and being surprised.

What made this practical: a one-page tool teams can actually use
Here’s where Aaron made it actionable.

The Strategy &amp; Change | Action Planning Worksheet is a practical tool for senior leaders because it turns the framework into a single page teams can work through together—in the flow of real decisions. (<a href="https://ideation.ele.llc/LC_Reskilling/20260227_Strategy-and-Change-Worksheet-editable.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here to download the editable worksheet</a>)
<img class="aligncenter" src="https://cdn.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Strategy-and-Change_Action-Planning-Worksheet.jpg" alt="Strategy and Change Worksheet" width="972" height="562" />
It helps teams:
<ul style="margin-bottom: 25px;">
 	<li>surface blind spots without turning it into a debate club</li>
 	<li>clarify the real choice being made (and the tradeoffs)</li>
 	<li>name risk early enough that it helps—not late enough that it hurts</li>
</ul>
And there’s a bigger reason we’re excited: Even better: this worksheet is the backbone for ELE’s next Design Charrette—because it forces the exact moves teams need to build Confidence, Capability, and Clarity while they’re solving something that actually matters.

<hr style="margin: 40px 0; border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee;" />

Want to go deeper?
This mini-workshop draws on ideas from Strategy and Change by Aaron Olson and co-authors—focused on insight, choice, and risk when leaders face disruption.
<ul>
 	<li>Explore the book on ELE’s Bookshelf (<a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/bookshelf/strategy-and-change">learn more or purchase</a>)</li>
</ul>
</div>

Strategy & Change in Practice: Turning Uncertainty into Better Decisions

jean.ryan

aaron.olson

critical thinking

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