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<p>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.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>For 22 years, leaders from Fortune 1000 companies have brought their hardest problems here — and left sharper than they arrived.</p>

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<p class="ql-align-center"><strong>This is where people leaders get sharper — and their teams get smarter.</strong></p><p class="ql-align-center">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.</p>

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

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<p>Signal what matters most. Your vote shapes what your peers tackle next.</p>

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

<p>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.</p>

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.

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

<p>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.</p>

Insights on Talent Challenges | Captured Peer Conversations | ELE

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<p>Pick your path — each plan reflects a different commitment to accelerating business value.</p>

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

CNA Insurance

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ELB Learning

<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;">
<p style="font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">The “generation divide” may be the label. The deeper challenge may be disconnection.</p>
<p style="font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">After years of isolation, remote habits, and screen-first communication, many teams are rebuilding the muscles of trust, feedback, psychological safety, and real-time collaboration.</p>
<p style="font-family: 'Calibri', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem;">This Design Charrette helps people leaders look past generational shorthand and identify what is actually slowing team performance—then work through the signals, risk tradeoffs, and practical actions that help teams reconnect and execute better.</p>

<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;"><strong style="font-style: normal;" data-path-to-node="6,0" data-index-in-node="0">What happens next?</strong> 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>

Design Charrette | Beyond the Generation Divide

Engagement &amp; Culture

kyle.swanson

performance management

psychological safety

Performance Improvement

brady.bair

Trust Building

Culture Transformation

wise2026

Design Charrette

angela.howard

feedback loops

bill.crandall

insights-wise-2026

peer collaboration

modern workforce

generational divide

remote habits

screen-first communication

team execution

workplace collaboration

team friction

organizational dynamics

communication strategy

behavioral patterns

leadership choices

workplace isolation

performance barrier

<div style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #333; line-height: 1.8; max-width: 850px; margin: auto; text-align: justify; font-size: 18px;">
<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">The Dreaded Disclosure Hangover</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">We have all been there: that gut-wrenching, post-meeting replay where you cringe at how much personal context or raw emotion you just shared with your colleagues. In a professional landscape that has long worshiped the stoic, hyper-polished executive persona, we live in constant fear of "Too Much Information" (TMI). We guard our thoughts, lock away our uncertainties, and default to sterile communication.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">In <b><i>Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing</i></b>, Harvard Business School professor Leslie John argues that we are worrying about the wrong problem. Backed by more than a decade of behavioral research, John reveals that while the fear of oversharing is short-lived, the cost of under-sharing—or "Too Little Information" (TLI)—is a silent killer of organizational trust, alignment, and performance.</p>


<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">The Blueprint: Mastering the Art of Wise Disclosure</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">John dismantles the "extroversion illusion"—the myth that talkative people are inherently open—and reframes transparency as an intentional, strategic skill. To move past the anxiety of vulnerability and tap into the power of disclosure, leaders must master three core principles:</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>The Danger of TLI (Too Little Information):</b> Under-sharing is the primary reason workplace relationships stall, trust erodes, and cross-functional silos form. When leaders hide their human side, employees default to skepticism rather than baseline trust.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>The Redemption of Gutsy Reveals:</b> Behavioral data shows that even when a disclosure feels borderline uncomfortable, listeners rarely penalize the sharer. Instead, they deeply admire the courage, interpret the risk as an act of trust, and feel more connected to the speaker.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Knowing Your Disclosure "Why":</b> "Wise oversharing" requires intent. Leaders must clarify their purpose before opening up—whether it is to process a high-stakes pivot, lower friction during a crisis, or empower team members to voice their own challenges.</li>
</ul>

<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">Why It Matters for the ELE Community</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">For senior talent, HR, and L&amp;D executives who are designing the architecture of hybrid workplace cultures, this book offers critical guardrails:</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Operationalizing Authentic Leadership:</b> We endlessly tell executives to be "authentic," but rarely give them the playbook. John’s research provides a practical framework for how executives can share their professional scars and current challenges to build genuine authority and influence.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>De-escalating Chronic Workplace Anxiety:</b> In a world of distributed teams, micro-communications (like brief Slack messages or silent Zoom rooms) are easily misread. Encouraging "healthy oversharing" acts as a pressure valve, clarifying intent and preventing catastrophic assumptions.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Supercharging Psychological Safety:</b> Psychological safety cannot be mandated via corporate policy. It is a lagging indicator of a leader's willingness to go first, take an interpersonal risk, and reveal their own blind spots.</li>
</ul>

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<div style="font-style: italic; color: #444; background-color: #f4f4f4; padding: 30px; border-radius: 12px; border-right: 5px solid #cc0000;">Building a world-class culture is not about designing flawless, risk-averse interactions; it is about building the capacity for radical human connection. When we allow our leaders to step away from the podium of corporate perfection and share the real, unvarnished realities of the work, we stop policing communication boundaries and start unlocking deep collective commitment. Let’s stop building armor and start building trust.</div>
</div>

Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing

Leadership

employee experience

executive development

organizational culture

Team Dynamics

jim.orheim

behavioral science

Talent Engagement

L&amp;D strategy

human connection

workplace vulnerability

leadership trust

personal disclosure

authentic leadership

<div style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #333; line-height: 1.8; max-width: 850px; margin: auto; text-align: justify; font-size: 18px;">
<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">The Tyranny of the Fast Fix</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">As senior leaders, we have been promoted and rewarded throughout our entire careers for one specific skill: having the right answer. When an employee walks into a manager’s office or slacks a challenge to a director, a powerful chemical reaction occurs. The leader’s brain registers the problem, pulls from legacy experience, and instantly delivers a solution. It feels efficient, helpful, and satisfying. But most of the time, it is a trap.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">In <b><i>The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious &amp; Change the Way You Lead Forever</i></b>, Michael Bungay Stanier argues that our default instinct to jump in and solve things is actually holding our teams back. When leaders offer immediate advice, they are usually solving the wrong problem, disempowering their talent, and creating a bottleneck that crushes organizational agility. True leadership capacity is built not by having all the answers, but by developing the discipline to stay curious just a little bit longer.</p>


<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">The Blueprint: Taming Your Inner Advice Monster</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">Bungay Stanier provides a practical, behavioral framework to help managers transition from a "tell-assert" default to an "ask-learn" mindset. To master this shift, leaders must identify and tame three distinct personas of the Advice Monster:</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Tell It:</b> This persona convinces you that the only way you add value as a leader is by having the answer. Taming it requires acknowledging that your front-line talent is often closer to the data and better equipped to design the solution if given the space.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Save It:</b> This persona takes full responsibility for everyone else’s success and struggles, rushing in to prevent any discomfort or failure. Taming it means realizing that stepping in too early robs your people of the critical learning experiences required to build their own resilience.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Control It:</b> This persona is driven by the fear of losing control over the process or the outcome, forcing everyone to follow a rigid, pre-determined playbook. Taming it requires moving toward a culture of psychological safety where experimentation and adaptive learning are prioritized over compliance.</li>
</ul>

<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">Why It Matters for the ELE Community</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">For senior HR, talent, and L&amp;D executives who are tasked with designing the leadership development programs of tomorrow, this framework offers a profound operational shift:</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Scaling a True Coaching Culture:</b> Organizations often spend millions training managers to be "coaches," but the habits rarely stick because the baseline instinct to give advice remains untouched. This book offers a hyper-practical, behavioral approach to stripping away the complexity of traditional coaching programs.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Uncovering the Real Challenge:</b> The first problem an employee brings to a manager is almost never the real problem; it is simply the top-of-mind symptom. By training your leadership bench to ask open-ended questions before acting, you ensure the organization spends its energy fixing root causes rather than symptoms.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Protecting Executive Bandwidth:</b> When leaders constantly give advice, they train their teams to become dependent on them for every decision. Taming the Advice Monster breaks this dependency cycle, freeing up senior executives to focus on high-leverage strategy and long-term innovation.</li>
</ul>

<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<div style="font-style: italic; color: #444; background-color: #f4f4f4; padding: 30px; border-radius: 12px; border-right: 5px solid #cc0000;">True performance improvement doesn't happen when we build smarter leaders who have better answers; it happens when we design environments that demand smarter questions. When we have the humility to step back, slow down our instinct to fix, and stay curious a little longer, we unlock a level of collective capability and ownership that no top-down advice could ever engineer. Let’s stop managing the answers and start architecting potential.</div>
</div>