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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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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.

Human Synergistics

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Change is no longer an event. It's the environment.
This experiential session drops you into a Human Synergistics survival simulation designed to reveal how your people respond when the stakes are real and the answers aren't obvious. You'll feel firsthand how trust, psychological safety, and collective judgment show up differently in remote and hybrid contexts, and what it takes to cultivate them intentionally. In a world where AI is reshaping how teams work, communicate, and solve problems, the human dynamics at the core of great teamwork matter more than ever. You'll gain practical perspective on leading teams through change, fostering innovation across distributed environments, and creating the conditions that make groundbreaking solutions possible.
And you'll have a great time doing it.

<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;">What happens next? 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>

Simulation: The Ground is Shifting--How Great Teams Navigate What's Next!|

future of work

Engagement &amp; Culture

Future of Work

leadership development

psychological safety

problem solving

adaptability

hybrid teams

Team Dynamics

Strategic Leadership

Trust Building

innovation culture

Organizational Health

michael.kern

cathleen.cooke

Navigating Change

human synergistics

wise2026

insights-wise-2026

experiential simulation

remote collaboration

collective judgment

communication barriers

distributed workforces

operational effectiveness

behavior patterns

CNA Insurance

DX Learning Solutions

ELB Learning

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The “generation divide” may be the label. The deeper challenge may be disconnection.
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.
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.

<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;">What happens next? 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

kyle.swanson

performance management

Performance Improvement

brady.bair

Culture Transformation

Design Charrette

angela.howard

feedback loops

bill.crandall

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

Zurich North America

The era of AI has created a $4.4 trillion productivity opportunity, yet many L&amp;D strategies are fundamentally misaligned to capture it . The challenge isn't just about adopting new tech; it's about shifting your entire talent function from a focus on static skills and mindset to continuous, measurable momentum.

This keynote cuts through the surface-level AI talk to deliver a practical framework for senior talent leaders. You'll gain forward-thinking insights on:
<ul>
 	<li>The Dangerous Cost of Cultural Lag: Why an AI strategy without a corresponding culture strategy doesn't just fail, but actively amplifies existing organizational weaknesses.</li>
 	<li>New Rules of Performance: Understand the critical shift from driving for traditional Output to maximizing Contribution, and from building basic Skills to enabling strategic Capabilities.</li>
 	<li>Time as a Talent Advantage: Explore how leaders can deliberately shape a culture where Trust is an action verb and the speed of learning becomes the new competitive edge.</li>
 	<li>The Five Talent Pillars: Review the key areas for transformation—from what you develop and how you deliver it, to how leaders model future-ready behaviors—to create a truly future-ready workforce.</li>
</ul>
Walk away with actionable strategies to move past generic development plans and build the necessary cultural and talent infrastructure to drive measurable business growth in the age of AI.

Developing Talent to Power Growth | From Mindset to Momentum

Integrated Talent Management

Strategy

teri.hart

performance improvement

talent development

talent management

cultural transformation

CHIE2025

future-ready workforce

HR transformation

Strategic HR

Business Growth

AI Adoption

L&amp;D strategy

organizational design

strategic capabilities

<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>
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.
In Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing, 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.


<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>
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:

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;">The Danger of TLI (Too Little Information): 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;">The Redemption of Gutsy Reveals: 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;">Knowing Your Disclosure "Why": "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>
For senior talent, HR, and L&amp;D executives who are designing the architecture of hybrid workplace cultures, this book offers critical guardrails:

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;">Operationalizing Authentic Leadership: 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;">De-escalating Chronic Workplace Anxiety: 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;">Supercharging Psychological Safety: 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>

<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;">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

jim.orheim

behavioral science

Talent Engagement

human connection

workplace vulnerability

leadership trust

personal disclosure

authentic leadership

The New York Times best-selling team leadership handbook for modern executives, managers, and organizations

After her first two weeks observing the problems at DecisionTech, Kathryn Petersen, its new CEO, had more than a few moments when she wondered if she should have taken the job. But Kathryn knew there was little chance she would have turned it down. After all, retirement had made her antsy, and nothing excited her more than a challenge. What she could not have known when she accepted the job, however, was just how dysfunctional her team was, and how team members would challenge her in ways that no one ever had before.

For twenty years, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been engaging audiences with a page-turning, realistic fable that follows the travails of Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech’s CEO, as she faces the ultimate leadership crisis. She must unite a team in such disarray that it threatens to derail the entire company.

Equal parts leadership fable and business handbook, this definitive source on teamwork by Patrick Lencioni reveals the five behavioral tendencies that go to the heart of why even the best teams struggle. He offers a powerful model and step-by-step guide for overcoming those dysfunctions and getting every one rowing in the same direction.

Today, the lessons in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team are more relevant than ever. This special anniversary edition celebrates one of the best-selling business books of all time with a new foreword from the author that reflects on its legacy and lessons.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

team-building

communication

employee engagement

collaboration

accountability

organizational development

teamwork

Conflict Resolution

laura.sandera

High-Performance Teams

Management Skills

terresa.bubbers

catherine.hebel

As a leader, you work hard at crafting effective messages. You aim to influence, persuade, and present. You have a voice and a platform… but is anyone listening?

The reality is that the people you’re talking to are distracted. They’re listening at 125–250 words per minute but thinking at 1,000–3,000 words per minute. That gap means they will likely miss 75% of what you say.

And guess what? It’s the same when it’s your turn to listen. What are you missing? At the very least, if your people don’t feel heard or understood by managers and leaders, trust is eroded, frustration increases, and engagement is reduced.

You need to listen and be heard…but most of us have never learned how.

The Listening Shift will show you how to be a listening leader. Find out:

✅ why listening matters
✅ how do you engage people across your organization by listening
✅ how to have listening conversations – collaborative, connecting, and inclusive
✅ how to help others listen to you.

Janie van Hool is an expert leadership advisor in the art of communication. In the last 20 years, her practical, accessible, solutions-focused communication approach has allowed hundreds of leaders to engage, inspire, and influence their listeners.

The Listening Shift

leadership

mike.kester

ana.bedard

ariana.paz

inclusive leadership

Effective Communication

Communication Strategies

Book Review

Listening Skills

Collaborative Conversations

Organizational Communication

Persuasion Techniques

Influencing Skills

Active Listening

Janie van Hool

Leadership Advisor

Workplace Communication

Employee Motivation

Managerial Skills

Professional Development

baryons.aimentor

Stephen M. R. Covey shows how trust—and the speed at which it is established with clients, employees, and all stakeholders—is the single most critical component of a successful leader and organization.

Stephen M. R. Covey, widely known as one of the world’s leading authorities on trust, asserts that it is “the most overlooked, misunderstood, underutilized asset to enable performance. Its impact, for good or bad, is dramatic and pervasive. It’s something you can’t escape.” Thankfully, it’s is also the thing that can dramatically improve your personal and professional success.

Why trust? The simple, often overlooked fact is this: work gets done with and through people. The Speed of Trust offers an unprecedented and eminently practical look at exactly how trust functions in every transaction and every relationship—from the most personal to the broadest, most indirect interaction. It specifically demonstrates how to establish trust intentionally so that you and your organization can forego the time-killing, bureaucratic check-and-balance processes that is so often deployed in lieu of actual trust.

This 2018 updated edition includes an insightful afterword by the author which explores ten key reasons why trust is more relevant now than ever before—including how trust is the new currency of our world today.

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