Only 11% of executives are happy with their leadership development.

That stat caught us off guard—and energized us. Why? Because it validates what we’re hearing inside real companies every week.

In this episode, Becky Rivest, Jeff Lovell, Mike Pumphrey, and Aaron Lee unpack a recent Training Magazine article on leadership development in the age of AI.

What begins as a data dive quickly becomes a deeply strategic conversation about what’s actually working—and what’s not—when it comes to building leaders at scale.

Key Quotes

• "Leadership development takes more than belief. It takes a plan." — Becky Rivest
• "AI is an amplifier. It makes clarity clearer—and chaos more chaotic." — Jeff Lovell
• "Innovation and engagement are rising—but they can't be addressed with information alone." — Mike Pumphrey

Show Outline

• 0:00 Summer signs and sunscreen: team check-in
• 2:00 The article that sparked this episode
• 3:30 Why intention without a plan is still failure
• 5:00 The 11% effectiveness stat (and why it matters)
• 8:00 Root causes: time, complexity, and missed investment
• 11:00 Innovation vs. engagement: a growing gap
• 13:30 Where development efforts leak impact
• 17:00 A client story: high touch > high tech
• 20:00 Culture, trust, and change management
• 24:00 A map for leadership development
• 25:00 Final takeaway: Don’t run another workshop

Resources We Mentioned

• Training Magazine: AI's Evolving Role in Developing Leaders

Welcome to the Leadership Manifesto, a practical, people-first framework for leadership development inside growing organizations. In this episode, we unpack six truths that help companies move from accidental growth to intentional culture, from individual burnout to scalable systems.

From the myth of hustle culture to real stories of transformation, this episode will resonate with founders, executives, and people leaders who are tired of duct-tape leadership and ready to build something sustainable.

Key Quotes

• “If success depends on a few exhausted leaders, you're one burnout away from a breakdown.” (00:00)
• “Hope is not a leadership pipeline. You need a system.” (18:28)
• “Training is a spark, but systems are what sustain leadership.” (16:00)
• “You don’t hire culture. You build it — every day.” (21:35)

Show Outline & Timestamps

• 00:38 – 3rd Gear: Why small talk matters for building strong teams
• 01:42 – Summer rhythms, family life, and the 100-day work reset
• 05:17 – Why every organization needs to understand its natural rhythms
• 06:40 – Intentional planning: A client story of coordinating around capacity
• 08:29 – Whole-person leadership and why compartmentalization doesn’t work
• 09:47 – What is the Leadership Manifesto — and why do we need it now?
• 11:34 – The tension between systems and people, and how both must be present
• 13:49 – Founder handoff challenges and caring for the whole executive
• 14:58 – Climbing down the mountain: how to develop others intentionally
• 15:56 – Truth #1: Training doesn’t build leaders. Systems do.
• 18:28 – Truth #2: Hope isn’t a pipeline. Strategy is.
• 21:35 – Truth #3: You don’t hire culture. You build it every day.
• 24:14 – Truth #4: Heroic effort is not a sustainable growth plan
• 26:47 – Truth #5: Your business won’t grow faster than your people
• 30:11 – Truth #6: Information doesn’t create transformation. Execution does.
• 32:46 – Client story: The bottlenecked CEO and the power of systems
• 36:53 – Why this work matters: from leadership tools to kayaking with your kids
• 38:01 – If this feels overwhelming, you’re not behind — you’re just early
• 39:06 – Bold step: Build one system. Start with one meeting, one rhythm.

Mentioned on the show:

• Dr. Laurie Bassi's Research + Investment Advisory Firm: outperformed the S&P 500 by 40% [BusinessTraining.com]
• Episode 1: Why Your Leadership Retreat Isn't Working
• The LRN Learning Center

What if the boldest leadership move you could make wasn’t about vision or execution, but self-awareness? In this powerful episode of the Leaders Rising Podcast, listeners are invited into a candid conversation about leadership transformation that begins not with image, but with truth.

Dr. Tom Nebel, founding partner and executive chairman of Leaders Rising Network, shares the raw and redemptive story of his leadership journey. From early signs of defiance as a child to pioneering faith communities and coaching leaders around the world, Tom’s path has been marked by bold starts, painful pivots, and deep personal work. Through it all, a single theme stands out: leaders grow when they choose to liberate others, not control them.

Listeners will walk away with a deeper understanding of what it means to build liberating cultures, how visual tools like the Support Challenge Matrix and 5 Gears can transform relationships, and why your scars often tell a more powerful story than your success. Whether you're leading a team, a company, or yourself, this episode offers both challenge and clarity for the road ahead.

Resources Mentioned on the Show

[download the Scatterplot exercise]

Key Quotes

“Your scars will tell better stories than your trophies.”

— Dr. Tom Nebel (26:33)

“Liberation happens when someone brings support and challenge. And you know they’re for you.”

— Dr. Tom Nebel (23:00)

“We didn’t just fix the relationship. The tools gave us a way to finally have one.”

— Dr. Tom Nebel (32:40)

Show Outline + Timestamps

• 00:00 – Setting the tone and revisiting early podcast attempts
• 01:47 – Childhood defiance and the first signs of leadership potential
• 05:02 – Entrepreneurial roots and lessons from a legacy of builders
• 08:21 – Leading from conviction in college as an outlier
• 12:59 – The moment Tom chose to start something from scratch
• 18:29 – Crisis, transition, and redefining purpose after personal loss
• 20:29 – What it really means to be a liberator using the Support Challenge Matrix
• 27:41 – How the 5 Gears tool changed Tom’s relationship with his adult son
• 34:16 – Founding Leaders Rising Network and designing environments for others to thrive
• 47:00 – One bold step for leaders: use the scatterplot to see how others experience your leadership

Culture change in a regulated industry isn't just hard — it’s rare. But at National Exchange Bank & Trust, it’s happening from the inside out. In this episode, Tami Christian and Tammy Pitts share how a conservative, compliance-first environment evolved into a people-first culture built on trust, voice, and vulnerability.

With the help of Dr. Tom Nebel from Leaders Rising Network, they began embedding tools like the 5 Voices, Support Challenge Matrix, and intentional leadership rhythms across 30+ branches and all levels of leadership. From the early discomfort of self-preservation to the breakthrough of shared language, this episode explores what it takes to lead culture change that actually sticks — and scales.

Listeners will discover how NEBAT used employee engagement surveys, voice training, and 1:1 development rhythms to unify their teams, sharpen their managers, and shift their entire culture toward relational, liberating leadership. It’s a blueprint for any organization that wants to move from compliance to connection — and build a leadership culture that lasts.

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Resources Mentioned

• Five Voices Assessment
• Identify your foundational leadership voice and begin the self-awareness journey
• ➝ [Insert Link Placeholder]
• Support Challenge Matrix Tool
• Visualize how you show up with your team and how to calibrate for liberation
• ➝ [Insert Link Placeholder]
• Intentional Multiplication Framework
• Move beyond training space to develop sustainable leadership culture
• ➝ [Insert Link Placeholder]

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Key Quotes

“I fell in love with the language very quickly. And I’ve seen a lot of tools over the years.”

— Tammy Pitts (03:21)

“You could feel the room shift. Vulnerability created a trust breakthrough.”

— Dr. Tom Nebel (11:03)

“We went from training events to a full culture embed. And that changed everything.”

— Tami Christian (18:14)

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Show Outline + Timestamps

• 00:00 – Why engagement is critical in modern banking
• 00:45 – What NEBAT’s culture looked like before transformation
• 03:21 – A fresh HR perspective and falling in love with the 5 Voices
• 05:29 – Tom’s surprise at the bank’s dominant nurturer profile
• 08:04 – How voice diversity (and friction) built trust across the team
• 11:03 – Vulnerability that unlocked organizational trust
• 15:13 – How every new hire gets onboarded into the culture
• 16:55 – Using engagement surveys + tools to measure real growth
• 18:14 – Programmatic rollout: from training space to embedded rhythms
• 21:15 – Measuring engagement as more than satisfaction
• 24:30 – Getting beyond compliance into true relational engagement
• 27:51 – What it looks like to lead when trust is on the line

Most leaders still see HR as compliance. But what if it's actually the engine for people alignment, trust, and culture?

In this episode, Natalie Goulding joins Aaron Lee for a conversation that exposes the hidden gaps between leadership, HR, and company culture and how to close them. Drawing on real client stories and lived experience, Natalie challenges the idea that a policy, a ping pong table, or a once-a-year performance review can fix your engagement or turnover issues.

They unpack what’s broken in the way most companies approach HR, and what to build instead.

If your people systems haven’t evolved alongside your business strategy, this episode will give you fresh language, diagnostic questions, and one bold move to realign your team for the future of work.

Resources Mentioned

HR Pulse Check PDF

A quick diagnostic for leadership teams to assess the health and clarity of their people systems.

➝ [Download PDF]

Book: Love as a Business Strategy by Mohammad Anwar (SoftWay)

A real-world case study of culture transformation through trust, humility, and people-first leadership.

➝ [Get the Book!]

Key Quotes

“Most companies say they want to fix turnover, but they don’t want to hear the real reason why it’s happening.”

“Your employee handbook might be compliance-driven, but it reflects your operating system — whether you mean it to or not.”

“If you're still using a system designed for the business you were five years ago, you're probably losing great people today.”

Episode Outline

• 00:00 – Welcome + a reflection on Rishikesh, wellness, and first gear
• 01:52 – HR isn't about people problems — it’s about alignment
• 03:36 – The real turnover problem: most companies don’t know why
• 04:44 – The cost of “doing nothing” with employee feedback
• 05:38 – Glassdoor, perception, and why perfection isn’t the goal
• 07:30 – What most companies get wrong about performance management
• 10:38 – The problem with outdated review cycles and check-the-box culture
• 13:59 – Where HR conversations usually begin: handbooks, audits, and policies
• 15:52 – From handbooks to behavior: why policy won’t fix accountability
• 17:47 – The rise of values-driven employee handbooks
• 18:19 – Authenticity, engagement, and showing up without the mask
• 21:40 – Psychological safety and letting people bring their full voice
• 23:20 – Repackaging broken systems: SoftWay’s story
• 25:02 – Where leaders get stuck: building people systems for who they were, not who they’re becoming
• 25:48 – One bold step: Start with clarity — what are your people actually doing?

Leadership retreats can inspire. Conferences can inform. But if your culture doesn’t transform, what are you really building?

In this episode, Aaron Lee and Jeff unpack a common leadership trap — relying on once-a-year inspirational events to carry a culture forward — and show why real transformation requires more than binders and buzzwords. From decades of firsthand experience with leadership conferences, Jeff shares the turning point that changed everything: when someone challenged him to climb a different kind of mountain — one of internal, lasting transformation.

From Jeff’s “no” to a C-suite retreat invitation to a framework that helps leaders shift from hero mode to developer mode, this episode invites you to stop asking, “What content should we bring in?” and start asking, “What culture are we building?”

If you’re holding too much, developing too little, or stuck in the cycle of information without impact, this episode gives you language, a framework, and one bold move you can take this month. Let’s find practical insights in real-time without needing to find extra time on your calendar.

Resources Mentioned

Time Audit + 4Ds Exercise (Do, Delegate, Develop, Drop)

• Map how you spend time and reclaim energy through intentional delegation
• ➝ [Insert Link Placeholder]

Intentional Multiplication Tool (Training vs. Transformation)

• Understand the process of moving from reactive delegation to strategic development
• ➝ [Insert Link Placeholder]

Leadership Culture Roadmap

• Visualize a shift from one-off events to sustainable leadership rhythms
• ➝ [Insert Link Placeholder]

Key Quotes

“The heroic thing to do in any organization is to lift others up with you.”

— Jeff (30:58)

“Transformation doesn’t mean we throw out the old. It means we repurpose what we’re already doing with greater intention.”

— Aaron (21:59)

“Don’t drop the mic. Hand it over. Support them before the moment, and step back during it.”

— Jeff (31:44)

Show Outline + Timestamps

• 00:00 – Setting the tone and reflecting on failed retreats
• 05:11 – Why most annual leadership events don’t stick
• 07:57 – The hidden weight leaders carry (and why it’s often unspoken)
• 10:13 – What we’re actually solving: task handoffs vs. true team development
• 13:58 – Sustainable rhythms over single-day events
• 15:05 – Client story: shifting from retreat request to long-term roadmap
• 18:52 – Why we said “no” to the retreat and what we offered instead
• 20:45 – From information to transformation: what it really looks like
• 23:05 – 4Ds Time Audit: Doing, Delegating, Developing, Dropping
• 27:43 – Where leaders get stuck: hero mode, reactive delegation, and false urgency
• 31:44 – Bold step: hand over the mic and support someone else to lead