Leadership development often falls short not because of lack of effort, but because of a lack of relevance, ownership, and sustained application. In this pragmatic session, Kevin Wilde—former Chief Learning Officer of the Year, long-time head of award-winning corporate leadership development at General Mills and GE, and Executive Leadership Fellow at the Carlson School of Management—shares five field-tested tools that consistently elevate leadership impact and accelerate development.
Drawing from over three decades of corporate experience, a dozen years teaching executive MBAs, and ongoing research into leadership learning readiness and coachability, Kevin will walk L&D professionals through simple, powerful tools they can immediately apply. The session will be interactive, encouraging participants to reflect on their current practices and share additional high-impact approaches.
What You’ll Gain:
Whether you are revamping a leadership program or coaching individual leaders, these tools—like the CPRI cycle for relevance, the Learning Zone ownership model, Ally Coaching partnerships, the One-Page Plan for Habit Building, and the Balcony Habit for strategic reflection—offer a practical, proven framework to boost leadership effectiveness and learning transfer.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Diagnose key gaps in current leadership development efforts that limit long-term impact and learning transfer.
- Apply the CPRI (Challenge-Pause-Resources-Intention) cycle to design or refine leadership experiences that connect learning to real-time leadership relevance.
- Use the Coachable Leader Learning Zone framework to boost learner ownership and shift leaders from passive participants to proactive, self-directed learners.
- Implement Ally Coaching as a scalable strategy to promote peer-supported growth and accountability.
- Guide leaders to create a One-Page Habit Plan that turns leadership insights into sustained behavior change.
- Introduce the “Balcony Reflection Habit” as a regular practice for strategic self-awareness and improved decision-making.
- Share additional tools with fellow practitioners through facilitated discussion.
Kevin D. Wilde currently serves as an Executive Leadership Fellow at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. He teaches applied leadership in several graduate courses.
In 2015, he concluded a thirty-four-year corporate career in leadership and talent development at General Electric and General Mills. During his time at General Mills, the organization was consistently recognized for its innovative development work, highlighted by Fortune’s #2 ranking as one of the best companies in the world at leadership development, #1 listing by Leadership Excellence magazine, #1 Global Learning Elite ranking, and Training magazine’s “Hall of Fame” designation as a top company for employee development. In 2007, Chief Learning Officer magazine selected Kevin as CLO of the year.
Kevin continues to be an active contributor to the leadership and talent development profession with business advising and writing. His advisory work includes the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), Study.com, and GP Strategies.
His most recent book, Coachability: The Leadership Superpower, received several awards, including getAbstract’s International Learning Impact and North American Book Award Gold. His early books include Dancing with the Talent Stars: 25 Moves that Matter Now, and A CLO Leadership Reader: Chief Learning Officer Magazine’s Best for Today’s Learning Leader. His writing for Talent Management magazine received a national award for editorial excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. His work has also been published in over a dozen books, including Coaching for Leadership, the Pfieffer Annual on Leadership Development, and ATD’s Forward Focused Learning.
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