By the Elevate Co-founders

Inspecting and adapting is an important part of life and business, and is something we practice regularly at Elevate. In our recent reflections, the co-founders of Elevate have realized it’s time to diverge paths. Below we share a brief explanation of why and what that means for you (and all of us).

First and foremost: We care deeply about the success and well-being of our wonderful clients, partners, and Elevators — all the amazing humans who have chosen to work with us. To set clear expectations for all of us: nothing will change in the short term. We will continue to strive to be the best possible partners we can be, transparently acting in your best interests, and to deliver on our engagements and commitments. We will maintain Elevate as a business as long as needed to support all of us. 

What won’t change

We co-founded Elevate as a way to work with people we adore and respect, and together to change the world for the better.

We’ve believed that healthier, more inspiring leaders and organizations create healthier, more inspired humans who work there.

We’ve found that purposeful agility provides the best learnings and mechanisms we know of (so far!) to help leaders inspire with impact, lead with heart, and deliver with confidence.

We’ve believed in giving back as part of everyday business–leveraging our unique skills in transformation, facilitation, and leadership coaching–to aid global and local non-profits, NGOs, and startups aspiring to solve the world’s toughest challenges.

We all still believe all of this, and our next endeavors will continue to build on these beliefs and values.

What has changed

Though we’ve always pursued and celebrated each of our individual areas of focus, Elevate’s offerings have particularly diverged over the last couple of years into three distinct areas: one focused on facilitating culture change in organizations of all types and sizes, one focused on purpose, portfolio and value stream management at scale, and one focused on top-tier SAFe consulting and training. We believe that each of these deserves its own focus, brand, and dedicated passionate individuals driving efforts forward. Our decision to elevate beyond Elevate reflects this desire.

What will change

In the immediate term, nothing will change for our clients, partners, or team. In the coming months and quarters, the Elevate co-founders will soon begin to invite new engagements through new businesses as they create their next realities. Additionally, our crew of transformation consultants will be creating some incredible things we’re excited to share when they’re ready.

The Welcome Elephant

Ronica Roth and Christine Hudson will co-lead The Welcome Elephant, continuing to deliver their culture-defining coaching, workshops and programs. They will also continue to (slowly but surely) make progress on their book, Practice Makes CultureTM.

Eric Willeke

Eric will continue his work as an independent advisor for executives seeking business agility in their enterprises, while taking the opportunity to slow down and reflect over the coming months in a partial sabbatical. He expects he will emerge from this time with a renewed focus on writing and speaking, a desire to further elaborate his work around portfolio agility, strategy agility, and managing value streams at scale, and a stronger focus on supporting inspiring companies pursuing a higher purpose in the world. He may even finish his book, “Sponsoring Agility – The executive journey through agile transformation.” Expect updates here and at ericwilleke.com.

SAFe Transformation & Consulting

Our amazing Transformation Consultants are exploring a variety of paths. We look forward to sharing their next endeavors in the coming months.

Appreciations

As always, we’re honored you’ve chosen to work with us, and we love working with you all. We have deep gratitude for the incredible opportunities to journey and learn together, and to change organizations for the better. Thank you.

Elevate co-founders Christine, Eric, and Ronica