Authentic, Adaptive, and Transformative Leadership Training
Leadership for the challenges that don't have easy answers.
Experiential training, coaching, and organizational consulting grounded in adaptive leadership, for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, corporations, and artists
“RISE San Diego has touched many of our employee groups, from those who provide direct services to students to those who manage teams. It’s hard to imagine any quality work being done without the work that their training provides.”
Our Approach
Leadership development that works the way organizations actually work.
RISE Institute takes a comprehensive approach to organizational and leadership development from an adaptive leadership perspective. We help translate theory into action and invite deep inquiry into challenging problems, from unclear roles and stalled change efforts to teams that have lost trust.
Our faculty has significant training, facilitation, and consultation expertise, and has delivered thousands of hours of training and consultation with organizations large and small, alongside accomplished C-suites and every level of staff, board, and volunteers throughout the world. No matter the type or size of the organization, the most successful partnerships are built on true collaboration and individualization. For us, that starts with listening to understand.
Far too often, leadership training is offered as an add-on, separate from how an organization actually makes decisions and gets work done. We integrate research-backed leadership theory, practical experience, the lived wisdom of culture and community, and human-centered design so that learning shows up in roles, meetings, and results.
All training sessions are experiential, and specific topics are selected in collaboration with your team. Sessions include small-group dialogue, practice on real challenges, mini-lectures, and pre-reading for shared language.
Participants work on their own leadership and examine the system as a whole to inform strategic direction and build a stronger, more adaptive culture.
The RISE Way
Every program is shaped by five commitments: adaptive orientation, community-based action, cultural congruence, trauma-informed healing, and sustainable impact. Each follows three movements:
Exploration Conversations to build shared language
Experiential Potential to practice on real challenges
Strategic and Scenario Synergy to turn insight into an action project presented to peers
Who We Serve
Nonprofits and philanthropy: executive directors, managers, board members, and program officers building stronger organizations and partnerships.
Small businesses: owners and managers making the shift from doing the work to leading the people who do it.
Entrepreneurs: founders and social entrepreneurs designing ventures grounded in purpose and ready for capital.
Corporations: managers and executives leading through complexity, and employees preparing for community and board leadership.
Artists and creatives: culture bearers and creative businesses building sustainable practices and a stronger voice in the creative economy.
What We Build
Stronger leaders, steadier organizations, and more prosperous communities.
LEAD
Grow as a leader. Adaptive leadership, vertical development, and purpose work for individuals and executive teams facing problems without easy answers.
STRENGTHEN
Steady your organization. Systems diagnosis, clear roles and authority, change strategy, and team effectiveness for boards and leadership teams.
MANAGE
Lead the people who do the work. Practical training in one-on-ones, feedback, delegation, conflict, and meetings that decide.
PROSPER
Build what lasts. Business, capital readiness, and leadership training for entrepreneurs, small businesses, artists, and creatives.
Ways to learn with RISE Institute
Workshop Series
Three to five in-person sessions over two to three months for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and artists, with peer accountability between sessions and an action project to close. From $295, with sponsored seats available.
Weekend Executive Seminars
An immersive Friday-to-Sunday experience for senior leaders from corporate, nonprofit, public, and creative sectors, offered twice a year. Themes include Leading Through Complexity and The Eco-Leader. From $1,950.
Custom Training and Consulting
Programs designed with your organization, beginning with a discovery conversation. Pricing is tiered by organization size and need.
Discovery and Diagnostic
Lunch and Learn Series
Half-Day Workshops
Full-Day and 3-Day Retreats
Private Leadership Cohorts
Organizational Consulting
Board and Staff Retreats
Leadership Coaching
Coaching for executives, managers, and staff at corporations, foundations, and community organizations:
Executive Adaptive Coaching
Leadership Team Coaching
Manager Coaching Circles
Leadership From Any Chair for frontline and emerging leaders
Entrepreneur and Capital
Readiness Pathway
A four-stage pathway for artists and small-business owners, delivered with community lenders, credit unions, and banks. Foundations builds purpose and money basics; Build covers business model, pricing, and cash flow; Bankable prepares a loan-ready package and a pitch to a lender panel; and Grow supports first hires, contracts, and coaching.
Online Learning
Self-paced courses, signature courses with live group calls, and the RISE Circle membership community, available anytime and anywhere. Organizations can purchase licenses for teams, grantees, and members. Courses from $79 · RISE Circle $29/month
Services Include:
Discovery and Organizational Diagnostic
Lunch and Learn Series
Half-Day Workshops
Full-Day and 3-Day Retreats
Private Leadership Cohorts
Executive and Team Coaching Organizational Consulting
Board and Staff Retreats
Consulting Practice Lab
Training Modules
Selected with your team, grounded in research and practice—our training modules include:
Leadership Development
Adaptive Leadership Essentials
Leading When Nothing Is Certain (VUCA)
Immunity to Change
Leading From Who You Are
Leadership Without Authority
The Regulated Leader
Network Leadership
Growing the Cup: Vertical Development
The Eco-Leader
Theory U
Organizational Development
BART for Teams: Who Decides What
Board and Staff Roles That Work
What's Missing? Managing Complex Change
Change Management the Adaptive Way
Trust Is the Currency of Change
Direction, Alignment, Commitment
Consulting Practice Lab
Polarity Thinking: Both/And Leadership
Appreciative Strategy and SOAR
Partnering for Collective Impact
Design Sprints for Programs and Products
Succession and Leadership Pipelines
Management Training
Manager to Leader
Conflict Competence
AI and I: Leading With AI
Feedback and Feedforward
Accountability Without Micromanaging
Meetings That Decide
Team Agreements That Hold
Psychological Safety for Teams
Emotions Are Data
Check Your Ladder: The Cost of Assumptions
Notice Before Solving: The Five Ns
Managers as Mobility Makers
Kintsugi: Leading After Breakage
Creative Economy and Prosperity
The Artist as Leader
Creative Enterprise Lab
Perfect Pitch
Money, Meaning, and Mindset
Capital Readiness Lab
Contract Ready
Creative Campaigns for Community Change
Community Wealth Strategies
Signature Methods and Assessments
RISE training is known for practices that make learning stick: the Action Project Charrette, Feedforward, World Café, and Coaching Circles or Learning Pods. We also use validated assessments, including the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, CliftonStrengths, the Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator, and the Global Emotional Intelligence Scale.
Partner With Us
For every four paid seats, RISE Institute offers one seat to a community leader at no cost. Foundations, corporations, and lenders can sponsor seats, underwrite a cohort of grantees or employees, or sponsor a Capital Readiness Lab.
Faculty, Facilitators, and Collaborators
