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

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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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Signal what matters most. Your vote shapes what this community tackles next.

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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.

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.

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.

Real challenges. Real peers. Clear next moves.

This is where people-leaders get sharper.

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

Executive Learning Exchange (ELE)

<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

Future of Work

Digital &amp; AI

dirk.tussing

deborah.lenchard

adrienne.guerrero

marty.murrillo

kathryn.stone

peter.hogaboam

patricia.ouzounian

audra.pinter

david.scherer

AI Adoption

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

&nbsp;
<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"We get through so much information in such a short amount of time — and the fact that we have a speedrun workshop that's still tangible is impressive." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/matt-sernaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Sernaker,</a> Lake Forest Center for Leadership
</blockquote>

<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
This isn't a presentation. Here's what it is instead.
ELE introduced something new this year — and if you haven't been in one yet, it's worth understanding before you read the rest of this post.
A Design Charrette is a structured, time-boxed peer experience built around one real business challenge — submitted in advance by a community member. Not a topic. Not a theme. A problem someone is actually living right now.
The format runs on two roles. An Internal Client owns the challenge and grounds the room in what the business actually needs. A Strategist helps reframe it, surfaces the tensions, and starts mapping what a path forward might look like. Then the full group breaks out — three rooms, 15 minutes, rapid ideation on a single piece of the problem. Everyone works from the same tool: ELE's Signals-to-Action Planning Worksheet.
As Matt Sernaker framed it at the open:

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"We're moving away from just presenting out on specific topics — focusing on the workshop mentality, making it tangible, a safe learning environment for people to really practice." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/matt-sernaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Sernaker</a>, Lake Forest Center for Leadership
</blockquote>
The group comes back together, debriefs the moves, and leaves with a co-built Action Planning Worksheet — a 30/60/90-day path grounded in peer input, not someone else's framework. That worksheet then feeds the next event in the series: an AI Practical Lab, where the group picks the work back up and builds an implementation plan.
This is ELE's 2026 pivot. Not content delivery. Peer-powered problem solving.
👉 See it in action: <a href="https://www.ele.llc/moments/design-charrette-the-art-of-strategic-listening" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the Design Charrette highlight reel</a>.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
Who was in the room: <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/lorna-malloy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lorna Malloy</a>, Education Design Manager at Allstate Insurance, as the Internal Client; <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/patricia-ouzounian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patti Ouzounian</a>, AI Workforce Transformation Strategist at ELE, and <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/megan-bickle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Megan Bickle</a>, Head of Talent Management at Rothy's, as Strategists; <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/matt-sernaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Sernaker</a>, Senior Business Development Director at Lake Forest Center for Leadership, as Executive Producer; plus contributing members from the ELE community.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
The challenge: when speed overrides listening
The business problem Lorna brought to the April 24 Charrette was one most people in the room had lived personally.
Leaders move fast. Agendas are packed. A decision needs to land before the call ends. Someone asks if there are concerns. Silence follows. The meeting moves on.

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"Don't assume silence means alignment, right? That's what we're saying." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/lorna-malloy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lorna Malloy</a>, Allstate Insurance
</blockquote>
Patti Ouzounian, stepping into the Strategist role, reflected back what she heard — and in doing so, modeled exactly what the format is designed to practice:

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"Leaders aren't always available to listen to their teams, and they often make assumptions, and base their decisions on those assumptions — and that really overrides any chance for listening, leaving teams and people feeling really unheard, especially during times of change." — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/patricia-ouzounian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patti Ouzounian</a>, ELE
</blockquote>
That reframe — from "people aren't speaking up" to "we haven't created the conditions for them to" — is the move. It shifts the problem from a people problem to a design problem. And it's exactly the kind of clarity a Design Charrette is built to surface.


<hr class="border-border-200 border-t-0.5 my-3 mx-1.5" />
The reframe: thermostat, not thermometer
Megan Bickle pushed the room on a question worth carrying back to your own team:

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"Is this a temperature gauge or a thermostat, right?" — <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/megan-bickle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Megan Bickle</a>, Rothy's
</blockquote>
Annual engagement surveys tell you what already happened. Real-time listening lets you adjust before the resistance hardens into a pattern. The group named the cost of the gap clearly: slower execution, eroded trust during change, and a growing disconnect between what leaders think they're hearing and what teams are actually saying.

<blockquote class="ml-2 border-l-4 border-border-300/10 pl-4 text-text-300">
"Without the listening, you don't have a feedback to know if you're on target." — <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" />
What to try next

<ul 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-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3">
 	<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">30 days: Add "What did we hear?" as a standing close to key meetings and decisions. Treat silence as an open question — not a green light. Early evidence signal: are different groups still surfacing the same concerns after the decision moved forward?</li>
 	<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">60 days: Build listening checkpoints into change initiatives at the 2–4 week mark — when quiet resistance typically becomes visible. Early evidence signal: are you catching friction before it calcifies into disengagement?<img class="aligncenter" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20260424-ELE-Strategic-Listening-90-Day-Implementation-Map.jpg" alt="" width="865" height="477" /></li>
</ul>

<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 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 Challenge Now</a>
Looking to turn these ideas into action? Access the <a href="https://community.ele.llc/t/pre-chat-post-chat-the-art-of-strategic-listening/5861" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Idea Exchange Post-chat</a> for an updated Action Planning Worksheet.

Design Charrette | The Art of Strategic Listening

Leadership

lorna.malloy

wendi.barlow

guillermo.gutierrez

matt.sernaker

megan.bickle

audrey..hackley

rachel.kaberon

ai practical lab

Leadership Effectiveness

actionable insights

Action Planning Worksheet

ELE 2026

peer-powered learning

execution drag

strategic listening

trust during change

signals-to-action

internal client

talent business problem

peer-driven problem solving

Alter Domus

<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>

Design Charrette | AI Disruption = Career Opportunity

Design Charrette | The Art of Strategic Listening

✨ AI Practical Lab: Context Is the Job

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