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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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Bring a real bottleneck. Name what's stuck, what's at stake, and why it matters now.

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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.

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BARYONS

Ágora Learning & Consulting

<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;">"We are pushing all of this AI experimentation, but yet, we are not reducing our performance metrics." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/people/adrienne-guerrero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adrienne Guerrero</a>, Positive Delta</blockquote>
That quote named something most organizations haven't said out loud yet.
People leaders from CNA Insurance, Combined Insurance, Spencer Stuart, UL Solutions, The Regis Company, and across the ELE community gathered to work through a problem hiding in plain sight: employees aren't keeping skills current — not because they don't care, but because no one's adjusted what gets measured. Perform now, learn later is the rational choice. Until that changes, upskilling is just noise.
Who was in the room: Nicole DeFalco facilitated. Vilson Simon, Adrienne Guerrero, and Mike Hruska led breakouts. Matt Sernaker produced. Baryons AI participated live — synthesizing room signals in real time.

<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;">The reframe that stopped the room</h3>
Three breakout perspectives — HR business partner, frontline manager, employee — surfaced the same signal: no one's been given a clear reason why upskilling matters or what's in it for them. Managers aren't being villains. But they're signaling, unintentionally, that delivery wins.
<a href="https://www.ele.llc/people/baryons-aimentor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BARYONS AI Mentor</a> fed it back:

<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;">"If we reframe upskilling as a funded investment in job security, rather than a threat to productivity, we can convert employee fear into innovation."</blockquote>
That wasn't a framework from a slide. It was the room's own thinking — sharpened. The smiles weren't about the AI output. They were recognition.

<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-top: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding-bottom: 5px;">What the room produced</h3>
A 30/60/90 scaffold: communicate the why in 30 days, adjust metrics to create safe learning zones by day 60, formalize a reward structure for both learning and output by day 90. That thread moves into the AI Practical Lab on June 11 for deeper implementation work.
<a href="https://www.ele.llc/people/michael-hruska" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Hruska</a>'s breakout tested an approach worth stealing: the AI human sandwich — human framing first, AI synthesis in the middle, human challenge and iteration at the end. <a href="https://www.ele.llc/people/marty-murrillo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marty Murrillo</a> put it simply:

<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 have to challenge it, think, and iterate. You're the director."</blockquote>
<img class="aligncenter" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Baryons-SuperManagers-in-my-pocket.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="640" />
That skill — challenging AI output before you act on it — isn't in most upskilling plans yet. It should be.

<h3 style="font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 1.3rem; margin-top: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding-bottom: 5px;">The open question nobody answered</h3>
<a href="https://www.ele.llc/people/azizeh-constantinescu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Azizeh Constantinescu</a>, UL Solutions, asked the one that landed hardest:

<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;">"When AI can do the task faster, are we cutting off human growth and development at the knees?"</blockquote>
Classic change models assume a destination. AI doesn't offer one. Any reskilling strategy built toward a defined endpoint will be obsolete before it's deployed. The leaders getting traction are designing for iteration — not installation.


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June 11, the same co-presenters take this into coaching workflows -- live. If you missed June 5, this is where the work continues.
Join the June 11 AI Practical Lab: <a style="color: #0056b3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.ele.llc/calendar/ai-practical-labs-23" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.ele.llc/calendar/ai-practical-labs-23</a>

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Bring this work forward.
If your organization is stuck on the same double bind — pushing AI adoption without adjusting what gets measured, or asking people to upskill without giving them a reason that connects to their future — this is exactly the kind of real work the ELE community is built for.
Bring the challenge. Compare signals with trusted peers. Leave with practical next moves you can actually use.
Submit My Challenge Now: <a style="color: #0056b3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.ele.llc/faqs/share-top-of-mind-talent-challenges">https://www.ele.llc/faqs/share-top-of-mind-talent-challenges</a>

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Design Charrette | Simplifying Reskilling to Scale

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