Democratizing Real People Development
Because isolated growth doesn’t scale—and surface-level learning doesn’t stick.
In most organizations, learning and development shows up in one of two ways:
coaching and individualized attention for executives and senior leaders, or
one-off company-wide speakers and workshops.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with either. But both leave a lot of impact on the table.
Executive coaching often happens in a vacuum. A leader is growing, reflecting, experimenting—but the team around them isn’t part of the same learning process. The language, tools, and accountability aren’t shared. Which means the change stops with the individual.
Company-wide workshops, on the other hand, create exposure without follow-through. They can spark curiosity but rarely create the structure or repetition needed to turn insight into action.
When I started Cohd, I was intentional about building something different. I didn’t want surface-level work. I wanted meaningful work that led to real behavior change—for individuals and for the systems they’re part of.
That’s what gets me excited every day.
What It Looks Like When Development Isn’t in Isolation
I’ve done plenty of speaking engagements. They have a place. Exposure to new ideas matters. But what’s powerful is what happens when people are in practice—learning, reflecting, and getting feedback together.
In just the past week:
A participant called and said it was terrifying to recognize how much he’s changed over the course of the program.
In one team practice, someone shared that the content we’re covering helped him realize he’s been bringing drama into the team dynamic—something he hadn’t seen before.
A woman opened up that she’s reliable to others, but she lets herself down; that’s where she needs to start to build self-trust.
An almost-graduate talked about how he thinks about his Personal Development Practice nearly every day, and how it’s helping him put himself in uncomfortable situations so he can grow professionally.
An executive spoke in depth about how grateful he was for his team holding up a mirror and showing him how he was negatively impacting those around him; his team, in turn, thanked him for his openness, receptivity, and commitment to growth.
This is what development looks like when it’s shared, not siloed. It’s not an overnight fix. It takes time, precision, and collective effort.
And it matters—because when development becomes a team practice, everything strengthens. Communication gets cleaner. Decisions get faster. Trust deepens. The culture shifts from individual improvement to collective elevation.
Where Real Change Lives
Cohd’s approach has two key impacts: it transforms and elevates participants on a personal level, and it transforms teams on a cultural level.
When we democratize this kind of development—when we do transformational, deep work not just with executives, but with everyone—you elevate your whole office. You create trust and excitement. Fulfillment and camaraderie. People feel cared for and supported.
The status quo in L&D is too often exclusive or shallow.
It’s time to change that.
If you want your leaders to grow, bring their teams along for the journey.
Because development done in isolation can be insightful—
but development done together is transformative.
Want more behind-the-scenes from our founder? Check out the latest from our ––HH section:
Our In Practice section is where we share ideas and takeaways from the team practices Cohd runs every week with leaders and team members across industries. If you want to learn from those sessions, explore our latest In Practice posts:
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