DX Learning Solutions

ELE Group, LLC

Session Overview:
In the Midwest, “nice” is a leadership default, but not always a performance driver.

While being nice can create short-term harmony, it often results in long-term dysfunction: avoided conversations, a lack of clarity, and underperformance cloaked in politeness.
In this interactive, no-fluff session, <a style="font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.ele.llc/members/alex-draper" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alex Draper</a> (Founder of DX Learning and author of CARE to Win®) and <a style="font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.ele.llc/members/richard-rykhus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard Rykhus</a> (Head of Global L&amp;D at Shure) challenge the norm of “Midwest Nice” and introduce a new, practical standard: Kind Leadership, where leaders lead with a system that build an environment where candor and care can flourish.

Why? Because culture is a mirror of leadership. And if leaders model avoidance or ambiguity under the guise of being "nice," those habits cascade through teams.
This session invites HR, Talent, and Learning professionals to explore what it takes to evolve their culture from comfortable avoidance to courageous alignment.
.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-8919" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DraperAlex-crop.jpg" alt="Experiential Learning:" width="946" height="512" />

What You’ll Experience
Through candid storytelling and peer-driven discussion, you’ll explore:

<ul>
 	<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
 	<li>Why “nice” is often rooted in conflict avoidance, not care—and how it undermines trust and performance</li>
 	<li>How “kind” leaders use clarity to reduce ambiguity, accountability to inspire ownership, and care to build trust</li>
 	<li>Real-world examples of nice in action and example from those shifting norms without sacrificing empathy</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
You’ll also reflect on your organization’s spot on the DX Nice–Kind Spectrum, and leave with actionable tools to:
<ul>
 	<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
 	<li>Hold people accountable without being harsh</li>
 	<li>Offer feedback without micromanaging</li>
 	<li>Build psychological safety without enabling underperformance</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
Who Should Join
This session is designed for HR, Talent, and L&amp;D leaders across the Midwest who want culture to show up in day-to-day behaviors, not just posters and slogans.
If you're responsible for:
<ul>
 	<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
 	<li>Building trust across levels</li>
 	<li>Helping managers lead through ambiguity</li>
 	<li>Making performance expectations more human and more clear</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
…this session is for you.
You'll connect with peers facing similar cultural friction points—especially in organizations where kindness and courage need to coexist.

How It Works
We’ll start with a short insight from Alex Draper (drawing from CARE to Win®) and then move into real-time reflection and peer dialogue.
Together, we’ll unpack:
<ul>
 	<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
 	<li>How to build clarity without control</li>
 	<li>How to set high standards without shame</li>
 	<li>How to use empathy without enabling</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
This isn’t theory. You’ll walk away with:
<ul>
 	<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
 	<li>Practical tools to embed CARE (Clarity, Autonomy, Relationships, Equity) into your culture</li>
 	<li>A lens to assess where leadership behaviors might be blocking performance</li>
 	<li>A renewed sense of possibility for your role in reshaping norms.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
Why This Matters Now
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, only 23% of employees are engaged globally, and trust in leadership is at a historic low.
Midwestern cultures, often defined by humility and harmony, risk stagnation if discomfort is avoided. As Alex Draper writes:

<blockquote data-start="1038" data-end="1155">
“Empathy without clarity is enabling. Clarity without empathy is cruelty. But together, they unlock accountability with care.”
</blockquote>
Want to go deeper?
This discussion draws on Care to Win: The 4 Leadership Habits to Build High-Performing Teams (Revised Edition) (Oct 28, 2025).
Explore the book on <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/bookshelf?member=alex-draper">Alex's ELE Bookshelf</a>
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.
&nbsp;

Beyond Midwest Nice: Building high performing environments of Clarity, Candor, and Courage

single-event

future of work

Your Teams

Learning Circles

digital transformation

alex.draper

innovation

upskilling

leadership development

talent development

richard.rykhus

Complimentary

online event

complimentary event

Talent Strategy

Culture Change

psychological safety

collaboration

accountability

trust

employee experience

Future of Work

Engagement &amp; Culture

continuous learning

reskilling

L&amp;D

performance

matt.sernaker

organizational culture

david.scherer

manager effectiveness

HR leaders

AI in HR

change leadership

workplace adaptation

knowledge sharing

High Performing Teams

actionable insights

practical strategies

cindy.pinkstaffmiller

people-first leadership

1Q2026

AI and learning

AI reskilling

leadership habits

care to win

Alex Draper

DX Learning

learning leaders

values in action

leadership in practice

LAK Group

Human Synergistics

Session Focus: <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/angie-zeigler">Angie Zeigler</a> will build on the foundation of the Chicago keynote to explore in greater depth why values often fail to translate into behavior. She will lead a peer discussion on identifying the cultural forces that quietly accelerate or undermine performance.
For talent leaders, the biggest culture risk isn’t unclear values—it’s the widening gap between the values on the wall and the behaviors employees experience every day.
In this follow-up live discussion, Angie Zeigler, head of culture practice with LAK Group, builds on the Human Synergistics keynote to explore why well-intentioned values initiatives stall—and what actually drives culture change at scale. Drawing on decades of research and real organizational data, Angie shares practical stories of how organizations that prioritize and reward specific, constructive behaviors are significantly more successful in closing the engagement gap.
This discussion is designed for leaders who want to move beyond culture statements and into the real work of aligning values, behaviors, and results.
Human Synergistics' research makes visible what most leaders sense—but struggle to diagnose.
<img class="aligncenter size-full 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="1920" height="1133" />
What this data reveals is uncomfortable—but actionable. Most organizations believe they are values-driven, yet fewer than a quarter consistently experience those values in daily work. That gap isn’t cultural “noise”—it’s a performance signal.
In this discussion, leaders will examine how everyday behaviors, systems, and incentives quietly reinforce—or undermine—the culture they say they want, and where small, targeted shifts can create outsized impact.
Who Should Join
This discussion is designed for leaders responsible for shaping culture, performance, and behavior at scale—across HR, talent, learning, and the business. If you’re wrestling with gaps between stated values and what actually gets rewarded, or trying to understand which behaviors accelerate performance—and which quietly undermine it—you’ll be in good company.

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 culture and performance collide in real organizations.

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.

From Values to Behavior: Navigating Superheroes and Saboteurs

angie.zeigler

performance improvement

employee engagement

Performance Improvement

Strategic HR

Culture Transformation

Values Alignment

employee trust

practical insights

leadership behavior

cathleen.cooke

performance culture

cultural diagnostic data

targeted intervention

organizational systems

HR processes

culture risk

culture reality check

reframing hr

An organization’s culture will either accelerate its strategy or quietly erode it. Too often, executive teams believe they know the culture—but their perception doesn’t match the day-to-day reality experienced by employees. That disconnect creates risk, stalls momentum, and undermines credibility.

This breakout session tackles the challenge head-on. Together, we’ll explore what happens when the executive team is out of sync with the current state culture and how to align them to confidently shape the future state. The session will emphasize both courage and accountability—helping leaders validate today’s reality, unify around tomorrow’s vision, and activate new cultural beliefs and behaviors across the enterprise.

By the end of this session, participants will:
<ol>
 	<li>Validate and Verify Reality – Learn approaches to help executive teams see the true current state of the culture through evidence, feedback, and honest dialogue.</li>
 	<li>Unify Around the Future State – Discover methods to bring leaders together around a compelling cultural vision and the specific behaviors required to achieve it.</li>
 	<li>Activate Across the Organization – Gain tools to cascade and reinforce new cultural beliefs and behaviors, ensuring they are embedded at every level of the business.</li>
</ol>
This session focuses on guiding leaders from assumptions to clarity, from division to alignment, and from intent to bold, cultural action.

Bridging the Culture Gap

Strategy

michael.grubich

suzanne.sherry

Change Management

CHIE2025

strategy execution

culture gap

executive alignment

culture strategy

leadership accountability

cultural beliefs

unified vision

cascading change

future state culture

Zurich North America

Ziel Leadership

Goodwill NYNJ

As organizations expand beyond traditional recruiting, apprenticeships and alternative talent pipelines are redefining how we attract, develop, and retain the next generation of workers.

In this 45-minute interactive discussion, we’ll explore how a culture of belonging can turn these programs into true engines of growth—where diverse talent feels seen, supported, and set up to succeed. Participants will co-create strategies for inclusive onboarding, mentorship, and career progression that help new talent thrive from day one.

Walk away with practical ideas for embedding belonging into every stage of the talent journey—so your apprenticeship and early-career programs don’t just fill roles but fuel the future.

Apprenticeships: Building Belonging into the NextGen Talent Pipeline | Inclusion as the Foundation for Future Growth

Integrated Talent Management

kyle.swanson

inclusion

talent pipeline

belonging

mentorship

DEIB

ashanti.morgan

Talent Retention

apprenticeship programs

L&amp;D strategy

dan.kwong

zachary.glaser

francheska.feliciano

susan.meehan

integrated talent

DEIB strategy

early career programs

nextgen talent

diverse talent

career progression

Every senior leader knows the truth: your culture and performance rise and fall on your managers. They are the critical link between strategy and execution—and often the silent bottleneck preventing a truly high-performing culture from taking root.

This focused discussion moved beyond the limitations of generic leadership training to deliver a crucial blueprint for senior HR and Talent leaders: how to build a powerful, consistent "manager core" that actively drives cultural and performance outcomes, rather than just sustaining the status quo.
<h3>Key Strategic Takeaways for Manager Enablement:</h3>
<ul>
 	<li>Align Capability to Enterprise Strategy: The essential first step is to end the separation between training and business goals. Leaders learned how to intentionally align manager capability building with enterprise strategy to ensure cultural goals and performance standards are embedded in daily execution, not merely theoretical concepts.</li>
 	<li>Build the Consistent Development Roadmap: To achieve consistency at scale, organizations must move away from ad-hoc interventions. The session provided a framework for building a consistent development roadmap that clarifies expectations and equips managers with enabling skills across all organizational levels.</li>
 	<li>Redefining Accountability for Outcomes: Attendees explored how to redefine manager accountability, shifting the focus from completing training modules to taking ownership of tangible culture and performance outcomes, driving measurable business impact.</li>
 	<li>The New "Must-Have" Capabilities: The session identified the critical leadership capabilities for the future of work, emphasizing the move beyond compliance and traditional coaching toward adaptive leadership—enabling managers to lead with clarity and consistency amid volatility.</li>
</ul>
This session armed HR and Talent leaders with the actionable insights necessary to transform rigid management structures into adaptive, empowered networks that finally deliver measurable returns on manager enablement strategy.

Building Capability to Support a High Performing Culture | Moving Beyond Generic Leadership Training to Build a Manager Core

Leadership

mike.kester

melissa.versino

strategic alignment

business impact

spencer.macdonald

adaptive leadership

manager capability

high performing culture

manager core

performance outcomes

talent enablement

CCA Inc.

Burnout is at an all-time high—and it’s not just an individual problem. This interactive session explores the issue from three levels: the employee experience, the leader’s role, and the organizational culture that shapes it. Together we’ll examine how stigma around mental health, fears of AI and job insecurity, and identity-based differences amplify burnout in the workplace. Participants will leave with practical strategies to reduce stigma, lead with empathy while maintaining high performance, and reimagine cultures that support sustainable success.

🏡 How to Apply This Back at Work
Don’t let this stay a roundtable insight—make it a real-world shift. Here’s how to bring these burnout-busting, data-informed strategies home:

Individual Level:
Take one daily “micro-reset” to check in with your energy—pause, breathe, and adjust your pace before burnout builds.

Leader Level:
Begin every 1:1 by asking how your team member is really doing—then listen without jumping straight to solutions.

Organizational Level:
Redesign workflows and meeting norms to support recovery time, focus, and psychological safety across teams.

Learning &amp; Development:
Embed energy management and well-being practices into all leadership and onboarding programs, not just wellness initiatives.

Talent Management:
Use engagement and pulse data to spot early signs of burnout—and intervene with workload, clarity, or connection support.

These aren’t just ideas—they’re upgrades to your people strategy. Start small, test fast, and share what works.

Everyone Is Burnt Out | Recharging Your People Strategy

people strategy

talent management

employee well-being

Burnout Prevention

Sustainable Success

manendra.bhugra

ali.glaser

mental health stigma

leadership empathy

workforce recovery

L&amp;D programs

data informed strategy

Lead Belay

By 2030, the workplace will be unrecognizable: AI will be a teammate, automated workflows will handle routine tasks, and data will shape every decision. In this reality, the only sustainable competitive advantage is not technology, but the unique, non-replicable humanity of your workforce.

This powerful and deeply personal keynote addressed the most urgent question facing senior leaders: How do we successfully lead when machines can mimic empathy and analyze performance, yet cannot truly feel or connect?

Drawing from his own journey of profound personal change, Mike Kester validated the truth that the most effective leaders in the age of automation are those who help us tap into what makes us most human.

The keynote leveraged the context of the Ideal Culture Profile to reveal that as AI assumes more of the cognitive load, human performance is increasingly driven by three powerful, deeply human forces that leaders must intentionally cultivate:
<ol start="1">
 	<li>Fear (and the Courage to Face It Together): Creating a culture of psychological safety where employees can confront the disruption and rapid obsolescence of skills without professional paralysis.</li>
 	<li>Purpose: Providing the meaning that ensures work feels worth doing, connecting daily tasks back to a mission that transcends automation.</li>
 	<li>Love (and Deep Care): Fostering the organizational care that awakens the best in people, transforming teams into resilient, connected networks designed to innovate.</li>
</ol>
The keynote challenged leaders on how their Ideal Culture Profile must evolve when machines are teammates, not just tools. This talk examined cultural shifts—from human–AI collaboration to data-informed leadership—and highlighted one bold pivot leaders can make now to ensure their culture stays ahead of the curve.

The culture that thrives won't avoid disruption; it will channel it into trust, reskilling, and innovation.

Leading with Humanity in the Age of AI

competitive advantage

human AI collaboration

Workforce Resilience

innovation culture

Purpose-Driven Work

AI era

data informed leadership

eading with humanity

courage in leadership

emotional connection

ideal culture profile

Lake Forest Center for Leadership

The journey is never linear — we Bloom, we Burn, and we Breakthrough. In this keynote, Matt Sernaker will share the unique duality of his career and how his work in hospitality and entertainment has enabled him to craft impactful experiences for both audiences and employees.

From Balance to Breakthrough

well-being

emotional intelligence

resilience

work-life balance

Personal Development

Leadership Journey

Leadership Insights

engagement strategy

breakthrough leadership

practical wisdom

culture design

UL Solutions

Burns Bright Consulting

In this 45-minute panel discussion, Jennifer Rainey will moderate a discussion on exploring how belonging fuels engagement, innovation, and wellbeing for the next generation. Through a dynamic conversation we’ll examine how leaders can intentionally design cultures where people flourish—and where leadership itself becomes sustainable.

What if thriving at work came down to two simple shifts—leading with love and living with intention? Drawing inspiration from The Power of Love in Business and All In! The 28-Day Reset, this discussion explores how trust, courage, and compassion create high-performing, resilient teams. Expect to walk away with “Seven to Heaven” principles and small daily resets you can apply immediately to strengthen belonging and wellbeing across your organization.

📚 Related Readings:
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/bookshelf/becoming-a-human-organization-transforming-work-touching-lives" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Becoming a Human Organization, Transforming Work, Touching Lives | ELE Group</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/bookshelf/the-power-of-love-in-business-12-principles-to-help-you-and-your-business-thrive" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Power of Love in Business: 12 Principles to Help You and Your Business Thrive | ELE Group</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/bookshelf/all-in-the-28-day-reset" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">All In! The 28 Day Reset: A Daily Commitment to Being at Your Best | ELE Group</a></li>
</ul>

Becoming a Human Organization | Simple Shifts for Transforming Work and Touching Lives

azizeh.constantinescu

wellbeing

HR Strategy

leadership principles

Sustainable Leadership

owen.burns

human organization

senior HR leaders

compassionate leadership

intentional design

For senior HR and Talent leaders, the single biggest culture risk isn't a lack of declared values—it's the massive, draining gap between the values on the wall and the behaviors on the floor. This misalignment actively undermines performance and erodes employee trust, creating a confusing and exhausting work environment.

In this practical, research-backed session, Michael Kern, Consulting Director at Human Synergistics, leveraged over 40 years of groundbreaking culture research to reveal a hard truth: Your organizational systems and leaders' everyday behaviors, not your mission statement, are the true curriculum for your culture.
<h3>Essential Takeaways for Aligning Culture and Performance:</h3>
<ul>
 	<li>The Culture Reality Check: Attendees moved beyond surface-level surveys to understand the deep, diagnostic data that reveals the gap between the "Ideal" (what people value for success) and the "Current" (what people actually experience). You can't change what you can't measure with precision.</li>
 	<li>Identifying Superheroes and Saboteurs: Michael provided a framework for senior leaders to identify the forces—both people and organizational policies—that are either driving the desired culture ("Superheroes") or actively undermining it ("Saboteurs"). This is the critical step to move from generalized observation to targeted systemic intervention.</li>
 	<li>The Three-Part Alignment Strategy: The session detailed the essential alignment needed to bridge the values gap, focusing on:
<ol start="1">
 	<li>Leadership Behaviors: Shifting from mere approval of values to actively modeling the desired culture every day.</li>
 	<li>Organizational Systems: Revising HR processes, recognition programs, and performance management to reward value-aligned actions.</li>
 	<li>Values: Ensuring the stated values are clear, actionable, and connected to business outcomes.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul>
This keynote was a powerful call to action for leaders ready to stop declaring their values and start living them, creating a truly congruent, high-performing organizational culture that drives measurable results.

Reconnecting Values to Culture | Navigating the World of Superheroes and Saboteurs

michael.kern

BARYONS

By 2030, AI, automation, and data will shape every decision, workflow, and talent strategy—but as this provocative keynote demonstrated, Culture will remain the true, non-replicable driver of performance. This high-energy session, featuring a mystery co-emcee from the AI future, challenged senior HR, Talent Development, and L&amp;D leaders to rethink the organizational model they are building today.

The core message was a powerful strategic call-to-action: The winners of the next decade will be the organizations that solve the human equation behind AI integration.
<h3>The Strategic Questions Leaders Must Answer:</h3>
<ul>
 	<li>What is the New Meaning of "Flourishing"? The keynote used future "what-if" scenarios to ask a fundamental question: In a world where AI handles most cognitive tasks, how do we define and measure human flourishing? The challenge is to make the "good life" accessible to all employees, ensuring work remains a source of purpose, not just output.</li>
 	<li>Building a Culture for the "Unknown": Leaders were pushed to design cultures that thrive on ambiguity, asking: What kind of leadership is required when your most significant competitor—or even a potential new product—doesn't exist yet? The answer lies in fostering psychological safety and prioritizing curiosity over certainty.</li>
 	<li>From Skills to Strategic Conversation: The session highlighted that the future role of the executive is not just to manage people, but to orchestrate high-quality conversations and collaborative problem-solving. This means building a cultural architecture where talent development accelerates both emotional intelligence and strategic discernment.</li>
</ul>
This keynote provided a critical perspective on the organizations we must build today to ensure that by 2030, our culture is a source of sustainable competitive advantage, not a barrier to an AI-driven future.

How Will Culture Drive Performance in 2030 | A Look Ahead: Where AI, Culture, and Performance Intersect

workforce planning

AI integration

Ethical AI

michael.hruska

Login