When something isn't working inside an organization, the instinct is to find a better tool. A new platform, a new system, a new application that promises better collaboration and faster execution. It's a reasonable instinct. And it almost always backfires.

Technology is an amplifier. It makes healthy organizations more efficient and struggling organizations more broken. The problem is never really the tool. The problem is the operating system you're installing it on.

In this episode, recorded live during the Rising book launch event, Steve walks through why technology implementations so often fail to solve the problems they were meant to fix, and what leaders need to examine before they implement anything new. He then introduces the organizational operating system that sits underneath every initiative, every tool, and every culture conversation: identity, goals, people, rhythms, and systems, all working together or quietly working against each other.

This episode is for leaders who have watched a promising implementation fall flat, or who suspect that the real issue in their organization runs deeper than any tool can reach.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Why technology amplifies organizational health, and organizational dysfunction, in equal measure
• The difference between solving a people problem and masking it with a process solution
• What an organizational operating system actually looks like and what happens when it's misaligned
• Why clarity doesn't begin at the organizational level, it begins with the individual leader
• How identity, goals, people, rhythms, and systems either reinforce each other or undermine each other

Rising is a book for organizations that are growing but quietly losing clarity along the way. Written by Jeff Lovell and Aaron Lee of Leaders Rising Network, it makes the case that most growth problems are clarity problems, and that the path forward is building an intentional people system, not pushing harder.

Get a free copy of Rising.

Most leaders don't think their culture is broken. They're too close to it. What they notice instead is that meetings feel heavier, decisions take longer, and the same energy they keep pouring in isn't producing the same results. That's not a culture collapse. That's a culture drift. And it almost always starts in the gap between what leaders intend and what their teams actually experience.

In this episode, recorded live during the Rising book launch event, Jeff Lovell opens with a diagnostic that most leaders will recognize immediately: pressure doesn't create culture, it reveals it. Becky Rivest follows with a look at how clarity shapes communication, especially in the moments that matter most. And Mike closes with one of the more honest leadership stories you will hear, about a season when good intentions, hard work, and urgency combined to make everything worse.

This conversation is for leaders who carry real weight for their organizations and are starting to sense that something is drifting, even if they can't quite name it yet.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Why culture drifts under pressure and what it's actually revealing when it does
• The gap between what leaders intend and what their teams experience, and why it widens with authority
• How blind spots compound the higher you rise
• Why communication is the outward expression of leadership clarity
• What happens when a leader confuses urgency with wisdom

Rising is a book for organizations that are growing but quietly losing clarity along the way. Written by Jeff Lovell and Aaron Lee of Leaders Rising Network, it makes the case that most growth problems are clarity problems, and that the path forward is building an intentional people system, not pushing harder.

Get a free copy of Rising.

Show Outline

• 0:52 - Why We Wrote Rising
• 2:32 - The Weight Leaders Carry
• 4:10 - Culture Doesn't Break, It Drifts
• 5:00 - What Pressure Actually Reveals
• 7:30 - The Gap Between Intent and Experience
• 10:00 - Leaders Judge Culture by Intentions, Teams Judge by Experience
• 12:45 - What You Permit, You Promote
• 15:00 - The One Question That Stabilizes Leadership
• 17:45 - Communication as the Outward Expression of Leadership
• 18:21 - The Cost of Drama at Work
• 19:02 - Finally, Someone Who Will Tell the Truth
• 22:12 - Mike's Story: When Hard Work Made Things Worse
• 26:09 - The Cost of Urgency Without Clarity
• 27:23 - Effort Is a Tool, Not a Solution

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

What makes leadership development actually stick? In this episode, we unpack the full lifecycle of Bespoke—a structured leadership program that moves leaders from unconscious habits to empowered, scalable leadership.

Joined by Astrid Benedetto and Jim Lee, we explore how combining 5 Voices, data partnerships, and a rhythm of training, coaching, and apprenticeship transforms individuals and drives ROI.

Key Quotes:

• "You can't do this alone. You need the right partner with the right data." — Astrid
• "Most leadership development stops at informing. That's not enough to transform anyone." — Jim

Show Outline:

• 4:00 - Astrid's motivation to join the Bespoke program
• 5:40 - Cultural insights and 5 Voices awareness
• 9:30 - Jim's vision behind designing the program
• 13:30 - Subjective vs. objective leadership blind spots
• 17:30 - Proving ROI through data partnerships
• 21:00 - The Intentional Multiplication Model: Inform, Train, Coach, Apprentice
• 36:40 - What a month looks like inside Bespoke
• 43:40 - Why most internal programs fall short
• 45:00 - Where leaders get stuck & how to move forward
• 48:30 - One bold move for leaders today

"Culture is revealed when behavior collides with values." — Jeff Lovell (07:53)

In this summer-session episode of the Leaders Rising Podcast, Jeff Lovell and Aaron Lee pull back the curtain on a timely truth for growth-stage organizations: Culture isn’t the enemy of performance—it’s the pathway. With candid reflections from their own compressed schedules and real client stories, Jeff and Aaron dig into the friction leaders feel when aspirations don’t match behavior.

Whether you’ve got posters on the wall or ping-pong tables in the office, this conversation reframes culture from a vibe to a diagnostic. You’ll hear how performance stress, feedback gaps, and people-first leadership all intersect—and how micro-decisions are shaping your workplace more than your strategy slides.

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Take the Culture Pulse Assessment

6 minutes. 8 questions. Find out what's really going on.

Take the Culture Pulse Assessment and get a clear picture on where your team is headed.

Link in the show notes @ LeadersRisingNetwork.com/podcast

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Key Quotes

• “Culture doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to be practiced.” – Jeff Lovell
• “We all footnote our values. The leadership moment is deciding whether we’ll own it.” – Aaron Lee
• “Ask your team: Where is our culture not showing up the way we say it does?” – Jeff Lovell

Show Outline

• 00:00 Summer tensions and the leadership pulse check
• 03:27 The culture problem myth: What we miss when we blame culture
• 05:39 Culture as what we do, not what we say
• 07:53 Behavior vs. values: Where real culture is revealed
• 11:08 Feedback, reviews, and owning the story
• 14:25 Client example: Execution wins, culture slips
• 17:00 Human capital is not a machine
• 21:30 Whole people, whole week: Building space for humanity
• 24:35 A practical reflection tool for cultural gaps
• 28:08 Bold step: Ask where your culture isn’t showing up
• 29:35 Invitation for follow-up and free culture conversations

Becky Rivest didn’t set out to become a leadership coach. But her journey from public school classrooms to corporate training floors—and now to LRN—shows what happens when learning and humility drive everything.

In this personal and thoughtful episode, Aaron Lee sits down with Becky to explore the twists and turns of her leadership development story. From standing in front of her first class of students to helping corporate teams transform from the inside out, Becky shares insights that resonate with every leader navigating change and growth.

You’ll hear how unexpected shifts, great mentors, and bold humility paved the way for a career that’s still evolving—and making an impact. Whether you're just stepping into leadership or helping others rise, Becky’s story will help you reflect on your own path.

Connect with Becky

• LinkedIn @BeckyRivest

Key Quotes

• “Nobody ever asked me what kind of leader I wanted to be in that classroom.”
• “There’s another way to teach—and for me, it wasn’t in a school.”
• “Humility is what lets us learn, grow, and lead with love.”

Show Outline

• 0:00 What Becky’s learning outside of work this summer
• 2:36 First leadership memory: from student to student teacher
• 5:00 Feedback, fatigue, and finding her footing in the classroom
• 7:54 Why she walked away from teaching—and what came next
• 10:22 Discovering a different kind of teaching inside a contact center
• 12:54 The leaders who shaped her: accountability + humanity
• 18:03 Joining LRN: finding a team aligned with her purpose
• 21:03 Becky’s go-to advice for leaders (hint: it’s not a skill)
• 25:28 Humility as a leadership superpower
• 26:06 Go-to books, music, and life beyond 9 to 5

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