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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

Strategy

Digital &amp; AI

dirk.tussing

jean.ryan

leadership development

aaron.olson

critical thinking

Talent Strategy

marty.murrillo

peer-learning

matt.sernaker

clarity

rachel.kaberon

AI Adoption

cindy.pinkstaffmiller

risk management

strategic thinking

1Q2026

strategy and change

Human-Centered Transformation

insight choice risk

learning in the flow of work

team capability building

team-based learning

confidence

capability

decision-making under uncertainty

choice architecture

design charrettes

L&amp;D leaders

LAK Group

Human Synergistics

<h3 style="text-align: center;">Culture Isn’t Soft. In Business, It’s a Compounding Asset.</h3>
This real-time live discussion surfaced a CEO-level reminder that talent leaders can’t afford to treat culture as “values messaging.” Culture is an operating system—and the ROI shows up in revenue, productivity, and execution risk when values actually translate into day-to-day behavior.

<img class="aligncenter wp-image-44495" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CHIE2025-Kern-Keynote-80-vs-25-percent-slide.jpg" alt="Michael Kern presenting a slide showing a contrast between “&gt;80%” and “&lt;25%” to illustrate gaps between stated values and lived behaviors." width="725" height="428" />
Cathleen Cooke named the uncomfortable part of why so many culture initiatives stall:

<blockquote data-start="480" data-end="572">
“Leaders are often blind to it.” -- <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/cathleen-cooke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cathleen Cooke</a>, Human Synergistics
</blockquote>
“It” is the lived reality inside the organization: the default behaviors people experience in meetings, handoffs, decisions, and moments of pressure—often far from what’s posted on the wall.
Then  <a style="font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.ele.llc/members/angie-zeigler" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Angie Zeigler</a> brought in culture research that landed like a boardroom gut-check:

<blockquote data-start="1050" data-end="1131">
“…those that lacked good company culture grew at only 166%… It was actually… 682% over an 11-year period”
</blockquote>
If 682% feels abstract (it does), translate it into boardroom math:

<ul data-start="958" data-end="1066">
 	<li data-start="958" data-end="1012">
166% growth ≈ 3× revenue (about 9% a year)
</li>
 	<li data-start="958" data-end="1012">
682% growth ≈ 8× revenue (about 21% a year)
</li>
</ul>
Or put a simple story on it: start at $100M revenue → end around $266M vs. $782M.
That’s the pivot when the conversation stops being “values work” and becomes a 2026 business question: Are leaders designing the conditions where constructive behavior repeats—at scale?
As our peer-group of ELE’s senior talent leaders reflected on Angie’s culture research, the lightbulbs went on. Most companies publish values and hope they guide behavior. In practice, the organization runs on what gets rewarded, tolerated, repeated—and what gets ignored. Three capability-building moves surfaced, designed for leaders building team capability inside real work, not just delivering training:

<ul>
 	<li data-start="1756" data-end="2140">
Clarity (make the invisible visible): Stop debating values in the abstract. Pick a few “culture moments that matter” (a weekly meeting, a cross-team handoff, a customer escalation, a performance conversation). Define the Superhero behaviors that accelerate execution there—and the Saboteur behaviors that quietly slow it down—so teams can actually spot them in the wild.
</li>
 	<li data-start="2142" data-end="2488">
Capability (design for practice, not awareness): If values can’t be rehearsed, they won’t show up under pressure. Build tiny “reps” into existing routines: a quick role-play before a hard stakeholder conversation, a 10-minute retro after a messy handoff, a two-minute reset on how decisions get made. This is where values become executable.
</li>
 	<li data-start="2490" data-end="2772">
Confidence (build reinforcement loops): Culture compounds when leaders consistently recognize the behaviors they say matter—and interrupt what undermines them early. If a saboteur behavior gets tolerated, it gets normalized. If a superhero behavior gets reinforced, it scales.
</li>
</ul>
Cathleen reminds us that fewer than 25% of employees say they even understand their organization’s values—and even when they do, daily behavior often doesn’t match.
That’s ELE’s POV for the 2026 shift in one sentence: Move from values declared to behaviors designed—where execution actually happens.
Consider this test: Can the team describe what “collaboration” (or any value) looks like in a real decision, a real meeting, a real conflict—without sliding into buzzwords? If not, that’s not a training gap. That’s a design opportunity.

From Values to Behavior: Navigating Superheroes and Saboteurs

Engagement &amp; Culture

Leadership

angie.zeigler

missy.gonzales

Culture Change

business impact

jenny.heitman

rahul.sharma

patricia.ouzounian

change leadership

Values Alignment

cathleen.cooke

ali.glaser

performance culture

executive alignment

leadership accountability

learning experience design

manager enablement

values in action

talent experience design

confidence capability clarity

capability over training

behavior-based leadership

culture to behaviors

leadership behaviors

observable behaviors

reinforcement loops

real-work practice

in-work coaching

Superheroes and Saboteurs

Values-to-Behavior Gap

Culture ROI

Culture Compounding

Culture as an Operating System

Behavioral Design

Constructive Behaviors

Culture Signals

Culture Measurement

2026 Strategy

C-Suite Narrative

BARYONS

Session Focus: A design charrette exploring how AI mentors can support managers in building more inclusive, scalable NextGen talent pipelines.

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</div>
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This interactive design charrette brings talent and learning leaders together to explore how AI mentors can support managers as coaches—especially in apprenticeship and early-career pathways.

<blockquote>Borrowed from architecture, a design charrette brings experienced practitioners together to solve complex problems quickly.
<ul>
 	<li>Design Charrettes—introduced by <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/alaska-fu">Alaska Fu</a>, ELE’s Experience Designer—are focused, peer-powered working conversations that help leaders co-create and refine practical approaches in 50–90 minutes.</li>
 	<li>In ELE design charrettes, peers work through challenges using three complementary lenses—internal client, AI learning guide, and real-world skeptic—to strengthen judgment before committing to action.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Building on ELE’s <a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights/apprenticeships-building-belonging-into-the-nextgen-talent-pipeline">October discussion on apprenticeships and belonging</a>, this conversation shifts from concept to design. Participants will examine where AI can strengthen manager capability, reinforce inclusion, and support learning closer to real work—without replacing human judgment.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44083" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Apprenticeships-e1766102315299.jpg" alt="Apprenticeships" width="1020" height="436" />
Here’s what that looks like in practice—leaders working through real decisions together.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-44501" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/WISE2025-Hruska-Listening.jpg" alt="Mike Hruska, CEO of Baryons, participating in a peer panel discussion during ELE’s May 2025 Milwaukee conference." width="1027" height="685" />
This work builds AIQ—helping managers use AI as a thinking partner, not a replacement.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-44503" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ELE-POV-AIQ-EQ-IQ.png" alt="Diagram showing AIQ overlapping with IQ and EQ, illustrating how AI-enabled human judgment drives performance." width="1115" height="627" />

This design charrette brings leaders together to explore how AI mentors can support real managerial decisions—before scaling anything.

<blockquote>
“AI mentors work when they help managers make better decisions—not faster guesses. That’s where confidence and capability actually grow.” — Mike Hruska, co-founder Baryon
</blockquote>
AIQ sits alongside IQ and EQ. It’s the ability to know what to delegate to AI, how to integrate its output into real workflows, and when human judgment matters most. Managers can tap the collective intelligence of AI mentors to move faster—without losing trust, context, or accountability.
Who Should Join
This discussion is designed for senior HR, talent, learning, business, and change leaders who are actively navigating AI-driven transformation. If you’re balancing experimentation with real organizational constraints—and want to learn from peers facing similar tradeoffs—you’ll be in the right room.

How This Works
Each discussion runs for 50 minutes and blends a short framing insight with open, peer-driven exchange. There are no slides to sit through and no pitches—just focused conversation designed to surface what’s working, what’s not, and what leaders are trying next as AI reshapes work.

Join the ELE Conversation
These every-other-Friday discussions are part of ELE’s ongoing peer exchange for leaders shaping talent and work in the AI era. Come ready to listen, contribute, and learn alongside peers testing ideas in real organizations and sharing what they’re learning.
Recordings are posted to <a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights">ELE Insights</a> within 2–4 business days.

Design Charrette: Building the NextGen Talent Pipeline with AI Mentors

single-event

future of work

Your Teams

Learning Circles

digital transformation

tracey.wik

innovation

upskilling

talent development

Complimentary

online event

complimentary event

collaboration

Future of Work

continuous learning

reskilling

L&amp;D

HR leaders

AI in HR

matthew.huston

workplace adaptation

knowledge sharing

michael.hruska

actionable insights

practical strategies

manager capability

AI and learning

AI reskilling

Design Charrette

NextGen Talent Pipeline

AI Mentors

reframing hr

Lead Belay

HumanSide

Session Focus: Mike Kester sets the frame with a concise keynote on leading with humanity in the AI era, followed by a robust peer discussion on human-centered transformation.

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As we kick off 2026, this interactive video discussion invites you to rethink what human-centered transformation means in the age of AI. We’ll kick things off with Mike Kester’s keynote on human-centered leadership and then jump into a peer-powered conversation grounded in real leadership tradeoffs.
In this robust ideation, you’ll move beyond the AI hype and dive into how to shape workforce transformation that truly puts people first. We’ll reframe upskilling strategies, share real challenges, and leave with practical insights you can use as we co-create a human-centered future together.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44497" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/WISE2024-Kester-and-Lead-Belay.jpg" alt="Mike Kester facilitating a small-group breakout discussion with senior talent and business leaders." width="1920" height="1116" />
If you missed <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/kate-haney">Kate Haney</a> in our <a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights/ai-practical-lab-from-whiteboard-to-workflow">October AI Practical Lab</a>, you missed one of ELE’s brightest minds—and a talent leader who has been leading enterprise AI reskilling at Zurich North America for more than a year.
Kate shared practical, hard-earned lessons from the field. One insight resonated deeply across the group:

<blockquote>
Successful AI upskilling isn’t just about training programs—it’s about communication, support, and real success stories that make it stick.
</blockquote>
That insight frames the AI Transformation model below—and why human-centered transformation requires far more than content or tools.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44471" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AI-Transformation-Upskilling-in-AI-Maturity-e1766111773634.png" alt="Upskilling in AI Maturity" width="1200" height="1200" />
Every other Friday, ELE brings senior talent, HR, business, and change leaders together on Zoom—not to deliver a generic webinar, but to exchange what’s actually working as organizations reskill for the AI era.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44489" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ELE-Fluno-Center-with-Teri-Hart.jpg" alt="Here’s the final alt text I’d use (clean, descriptive, accessibility-friendly, and ELE-appropriate):" width="640" height="311" />
These discussions are built for peers who are navigating real tradeoffs: what to scale, what to slow down, and where human judgment still matters most as AI reshapes work.
Bring your questions, your specific challenges, and your ideas. You’ll learn from leaders facing similar decisions—and contribute your perspective to a shared, evolving understanding of human-centered transformation in practice.
Who Should Join
This discussion is designed for senior HR, talent, learning, business, and change leaders who are actively navigating AI-driven reskilling and workforce transformation. If you’re balancing experimentation with real organizational constraints—and want to learn from peers facing similar tradeoffs—you’ll be in the right room.
How This Works
Each discussion runs for 50 minutes and blends a short framing insight with open, peer-driven exchange. There are no slides to sit through and no pitches—just focused conversation designed to surface what’s working, what’s not, and what leaders are trying next as AI reshapes work.
Join the ELE Conversation
These every-other-Friday discussions are part of ELE’s ongoing peer exchange for leaders shaping talent and work in the AI era. Come ready to listen, contribute, and learn alongside peers testing ideas in real organizations and sharing what they’re learning.
Recordings are posted to <a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights">ELE Insights</a> within 2–4 business days.

Design Charrette: Building the NextGen Talent Pipeline with AI Mentors

Co-Creating Human-Centered Transformation in the Age of AI

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