HI-Way (Human Intelligence) Leadership Certificate Series
The HI-Way Leadership Series features Human Intelligence (HI) as the foundation for leadership in the fast-evolving age of AI.
HI emphasizes human-centered advantages that equip leaders to execute with future-forward adaptability and agility. Designed to enhance individual and organizational impact, HI empowers participants with tools to navigate in a VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) as they strategically align and build relationships purposefully.
- In-person: Each course is 2 days.
- Virtual: Each course is 7 evening sessions of 2 hours each.
HI-Way Leadership Certificate Series includes:
What Makes Our Courses Unique?
College-Accredited Courses & Certificates
Elevate short courses come with WASC-accredited college, degree-bearing units, transcripts, and certificates—eligible for tuition assistance/reimbursement.
Cross-Industry Collaborations
Learn alongside participants across multiple industries and sectors.
Customized Report
Provide your managers with a tailored report to incorporate in your individual performance development plan.
Co-Created
Learn collaboratively from the signature, trademarked, TrailBlaze Tools by Elevate that are highly practical, simplified, and visual.
Career & Competency Connected
Course lessons relate to any job function. See the Competency DNA Matrix.
Captivating & Condensed
Apply practical, research-based learning from the certificate. These courses are short, experiential, and homework-free!
Human Intelligence (HI) Model
Cognition
Represents intellectual and creative strengths, including analytical thinking, innovation, and problem-solving.
Contribution
Reflects the human capacity to impact others, communities, and broader societal systems through advocacy, collaboration, and leadership
Centered
Focuses on personal growth, self-awareness, and intrapersonal skills.
Connectedness
Emphasizes relational intelligence, collaboration, and interpersonal impact.
Leadership Competency DNA Matrix
The Leadership Competency DNA Competency Matrix stems from a meta-study of almost 200 articles that list key competencies for Board and Executive leaders. These have been consolidated into the following competencies, which balance concise categories with preserving nuances of distinct competencies.
The HI-Way Leadership Series’ Human Intelligence maps out areas where human-centered advantages shine. Please see below for our full Leadership Competency DNA Matrix and the 14 of 16 competencies where HI shines over AI, as represented in the gold-filled hexagons.
Human Intelligence (HI) Model
The Human Intelligence (HI) Model consists of the axes and quadrants below. We have mapped the key competencies where humans shine (from the Elevate Leadership Competency DNA Matrix) on the HI Model below.
The Strategic Leader Leadership Series
Within our contemporary contexts of complexity and rapid change, strategic leadership proves essential for driving impactful decisions and achieving long-term success. The Strategic Leader Leadership Series equips participants with the tools to think critically, act strategically, and make decisions confidently. Combining the visionary frameworks of the Strategic VIEW course with the actionable strategies of the Thrive course, this series empowers leaders to navigate uncertainty, seize opportunities, and inspire organizational growth.
Master Strategic Thinking:
- Develop a visionary mindset by learning frameworks to seize opportunities and manage risks.
- Apply systems and process mapping to solve complex challenges effectively.
Enhance Decision-Making Agility:
- Create and implement quadrant-based decision-making models that simplify and clarify choices.
- Leverage tools for self-awareness, team development, and strategic foresight to maximize impact.
Achieve Individual and Institutional Success:
- Align personal and organizational goals to drive sustainable growth and innovation.
- Balance creativity and structure to lead confidently in dynamic environments.
COURSE 1
STRATEGIC VIEW
Strategic Thinking for Individual and
Institutional Impact
57% of leaders say their companies need employees with strategic thinking capabilities.
Up to 90% of organizations fail to execute their strategies successfully.
Are you making decisions with a clear, forward-thinking strategy, or just reacting to daily demands? What if you could sharpen your strategic thinking to drive both business success and strengthen your own career growth? Join us for this interactive short course!
Elevate your ability to think and act strategically. Learn to develop a more strategic mind through key frameworks and step-by-step methods. The Strategic VIEW focuses on crafting novel, visionary approaches to seize opportunities, manage risks simultaneously, align with the organization’s goals, and challenge rigid mindsets.
Course Topics Include:
- Strategic Thinking Illuminated: Key Components
- The Strategic Cornucopia: Multiple Strategy Models
- Position Your Own Meta-Strategic Framework
- Apply & Test Strategic Scenarios
- Systems & Process Mapping to Solve Challenges
COURSE 2
THRIVE
Effective Decision-Making Strategies for the
Information-Inundated Professional
85% of business leaders have experienced decision regret in the past year.
72% admit data overload has halted their decision-making.
Are you confident in your decision-making process, or do you often second-guess your choices? What if you could enhance your decision-making skills to boost both organizational success and your personal effectiveness? Join us for this interactive short course!
Thrive elevates your ability to grow while multiplying your strategic toolkit. Create multiple decision-making strategic models that prove simple yet effective. These models follow visual diagram models and research-based strategic decision-making systems, equipping professionals with the necessary tools to systematize, clarify, and simplify how we make decisions.
Course Topics Include:
- Self-Awareness & Self-Development: Strategic Focus Field, Flow Model, Optimized SWOT, Project Portfolio, Optimized Eisenhower, Optimized Force Field Analysis & Rubber Band
- Understand & Develop Others: 6 Hats, Appreciative Inquiry, Optimized Plus/Delta & Johari Window
The Alliance Code Leadership Series
In today’s interconnected workplace, success hinges on navigating complex organizational dynamics and building meaningful relationships. The Alliance Code Leadership Series equips leaders with the skills to thrive in these environments by combining the insights of the Navigate and People Quotient courses. This series provides tools to strategically manage workplace politics, leverage social capital, and strengthen interpersonal dynamics. Whether creating alliances or fostering team collaboration, participants will leave prepared to lead with confidence, influence, and impact.
Navigate Organizational Dynamics:
- Master workplace politics’ “invisible rules” and leverage social capital effectively.
- Build ethical strategies to navigate challenges and influence organizational success.
Strengthen People Quotient:
- Develop self-awareness and interpersonal strategies to align individual and team performance.
- Build high-performing teams by fostering trust, collaboration, and motivation.
Lead with Confidence and Influence:
- Combine strategic insights and emotional intelligence to create lasting professional relationships.
- Inspire your teams and peers with clarity, purpose, and a commitment to shared success.
COURSE 1
NAVIGATE
Understand Organizational Dynamics,
Build Leverage & Exercise Ethics
91% of employees experience conflicts in the workplace due to office politics.
90% believe that political bias influences promotions, salary increases, or career advancement opportunities.
Do you find yourself entangled in workplace politics, unsure how to navigate them ethically? What if you could master organizational dynamics to enhance both your professional influence and your company’s culture? Join us for this interactive short course!
Master organizational dynamics and create a desirable workplace. Navigate teaches the “invisible” and “intangible” world of workplace politics and how to build leverage and allies. Learn how to identify key political “rules” and tools for building research-based social capital within an organization while avoiding the pitfalls of dirty politics.
Course Topics Include:
- Build Your Political IQ, Balance Professional Ethics
- Politics & Leverage: The Tactical & Practical
- Craft Your Political Strategy
COURSE 2
PEOPLE QUOTIENT
Systematic Blueprints for Intrapersonal Peak
Performance & Interpersonal Team Success
86% of resilient employees report high motivation levels, compared to 44% of their less resilient peers.
70% of employees say collaboration is critical to their job performance.
Are you proactively enhancing your personal resilience and interpersonal skills to thrive in challenging situations? What if you could elevate both your individual performance and your team’s collaborative success? Join us for this interactive short course!
Develop dual dimensions of leadership—excel intrapersonally by optimizing your habits, resilience, and energy, and thrive interpersonally by aligning teams, fostering collaboration, and building collective intelligence. This research-based course equips leaders with systematic strategies to drive individual (Intrapersonal) and team (Interpersonal) success, ensuring meaningful, measurable outcomes in professional environments.
Course Topics Include:
- Intrapersonal Peak Performance: Build resilience and establish success-driven habits through positive reframing and energy regulation systems.
- Interpersonal Team Success: Strengthen team alignment and synergy by fostering collective intelligence and collaborative influence.
- Elevate Communication: Tools for positive emotional diffusion and shared success.
Mastering Interpersonal Dynamics Leadership Series
In order to master interpersonal dynamics, you need to primarily focus on understanding people and how we interact with one another. This essentially focuses on gaining insights into two primary areas: people systems and relationship synergies. The Mastering Interpersonal Dynamics Series provides practical, research-based tools to help you achieve mastery in these two people-centered domains.
COURSE 1
CHARISMA & CONTEXT
Leverage Your Surroundings, Personal
Brand, and Presence
82% of people trust a leader more when they display confidence and authenticity.
Personal branding can increase professional opportunities by up to 50%.
Are you making the most of your personal brand and presence to enhance leadership influence? What if you could strengthen both your charisma and contextual awareness to build trust, credibility, and impact? Join us for this interactive short course!
True leadership influence comes from mastering both charisma and context. Charisma reflects the magnetic attraction and appeal that leaders project, while context captures the environment and factors that shape interactions. Together, they create a research-based commanding presence that inspires trust, strengthens personal branding, and aligns power with purpose.
Course Topics Include:
- Leverage Charisma and Power Types:
- Identify and apply various power types to effectively lead across diverse situations.
- Cultivate an authentic, magnetic presence that drives engagement and credibility.
- Understand and Optimize Context:
- Recognize the influence of situational dynamics on leadership decisions and relationships.
- Use contextual awareness to align personal branding with organizational goals.
- Strengthen Negotiation and Motivation:
- Utilize emotional intelligence to drive motivation and navigate negotiations with confidence.
- Build strategies to connect authentically and foster lasting relationships.
- Leverage Charisma and Power Types:
COURSE 2
POWER WORDS
Proactive, Productive, and Positive
Language for Persuasion
81% of professionals believe communication skills are crucial to career success.
Words shape perception—studies indicate that variations in language styles significantly influence perceptions of credibility and persuasiveness.
Are you maximizing the power of language to build influence and credibility? What if you could refine the way you communicate to inspire both trust and action? Join us for this interactive short course!
When abused, words can wound…or do worse. When leveraged in benevolent ways, they can produce powerful impacts that benefit those around us. This research-based course focuses on the nuances of language to influence others and transform your professional life for positive progress and productivity. Learn how the subtle signals and significance of words can make the workplace a better place.
Course Topics Include:
- Methods to Integrate the Science of Marketing toward Workplace Influence
- Embedding and Discerning Assumptions to Engage Others
- Emotions and Motivation in How We Use Words
- Increasing Synergy with Words to Sway Others
Influence for Impact Leadership Series
In an interconnected world, influence proves to be one of the most valuable leadership tools. The Influence for Impact Leadership Series combines the strategic language mastery of Amplify with the dynamic people-focused strategies of Peoplenomics to empower leaders to create meaningful, sustainable impact. This series provides participants with the skills to use persuasive communication, build relationships, and amplify influence in direct and ambient ways. Whether inspiring teams, collaborating with peers, or fostering innovation, this series helps leaders shape environments where influence drives results.
Master Proactive and Positive Communication:
- Use the art of persuasive language to inspire trust, engagement, and action.
- Integrate emotional and motivational cues to enhance workplace relationships.
Leverage Ambient People Dynamics:
- Understand how relationships, reputation, and social dynamics shape influence.
- Build strategies for collaboration that balance championing and following.
Drive High-Impact Results with Influence:
- Combine linguistic mastery and interpersonal insight to amplify influence across levels.
- Create environments where minimal input yields maximum impact through trust and collaboration.
COURSE 1
AMPLIFY
(Leadership through Strategic Relationships + Alliances) x Purposeful Personal Branding & StorySharing = Amplification
80% of professionals say networking is essential for career success, yet 48% struggle to maintain connections.
Leaders who effectively share their personal brand stories are 22 times more likely to be remembered.
Are you strategically building relationships that amplify your influence and success? What if you could align your brand with key alliances to create lasting, scalable impact? Join us for this interactive short course!
You may be familiar with the PIE model (Performance, Image, Exposure), where only 10% of leadership success rests with Performance and 90% with Image and Exposure. But what if we expanded that framework with stronger, research-backed and data-driven foundations? AMPLIFY moves beyond individual visibility to emphasize strategic partnerships, purposeful branding, and co-created narratives. By mastering the art of relationship-driven influence and story-sharing, you’ll elevate both your career and your organization’s impact.
Course Topics Include:
- Paired Purpose. The intersection of aligned mutual visionary goals magnifies collaboration and fuels purposeful partnerships.
- Imaginarium. An ecosystem of creativity and innovation blends vision, imagination, and branding into a system showcasing multidimensional personal and professional identities.
- Elevation. A method of enhancing co-created and co-evolving narratives through collaborative StorySharing that emphasizes mutual growth and upward trajectory over individual exposure.
- Relationship Strategy. A focused system to build and sustain strategic, value-driven relationships prioritizing mutual success and impact—scalable to larger alliances.
COURSE 2
PEOPLENOMICS
Science & Systems that Build Social Capital, Trusted Relationships & Multi-Layered Connections
Employees in high-trust environments are:
- 260% more motivated
- 41% less likely to be absent
- 23% more likely to share ideas and solutions
- 50% more productive
- 29% more satisfied personally and professionally
How can your team deepen trust and leverage layered networks to drive results and success? Join us for this interactive short course!
PEOPLENOMICS features an interactive short course that integrates the interdisciplinary science and strategies of human dynamics with broader organizational contexts. Moving beyond traditional models, the course helps professionals develop stronger leadership skills to navigate mutually beneficial influence, strategic relationships, and authentic trust.
Course Topics Include:
- Value Ripples & Reciprocity. Learn how strategic giving multiplies visibility and influence.
- Weak Ties & Social Capital. Leverage unexpected allies in seemingly casual, “weak ties” and opportunity networks within behavioral economic systems.
- Multiplex Relationship Mapping. Strengthen connections across personal, professional, and community domains.
- Trust Dynamics. Assess and enhance trust across team, peer, and leadership relationships.
- Contextualized Code-Switching. Develop the ability to communicate across cultures, levels, and settings with awareness and nuance.
The MindSpan Leadership Series
Great leaders need sharp minds and adaptive skills. The MindSpan Leadership Series blends the transformative insights of Mental Agility with the powerful techniques of BrainStream to create well-rounded, future-ready leaders. This series offers practical tools for cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, and innovative problem-solving. By mastering these skills, participants will enhance their ability to lead under pressure, build stronger teams, and navigate today’s dynamic workplace confidently and creatively.
Achieve Mental Agility:
- Cultivate flexible thinking and resilience to adapt to uncertainty and drive innovation.
- Embrace change as an opportunity for growth with strategies to manage risk effectively.
Harness BrainStream Tools:
- Boost concentration, memory, and emotional regulation to maximize mental effectiveness.
- Build emotional agility to foster trust, empathy, and collaboration in professional relationships.
Lead with Clarity and Purpose:
- Combine mental agility and focus to create impactful strategies for long-term success.
- Inspire teams with a balance of innovative thinking and people-centered leadership.
COURSE 1
MENTAL AGILITY
Think Innovatively & Take Smart Risks
Research shows that Learning Agility accounts for 54% of leadership success.
Resilient leaders have an 87% leadership effectiveness score, compared to 12% for non-resilient leaders.
Are you adapting your thinking to stay ahead in today’s rapidly changing environment? What if you could enhance your mental agility to drive both innovation and effective risk-taking? Join us for this interactive short course!
Mental Agility means thinking in adaptable, fresh, and innovative ways to stay on the competitive edge. Even small changes will lead to improved collaboration, productivity, and synergy amongst teams and organizations—multiple small changes can lead to a “sea change” of transformation. This research-based course focuses on how to stay mentally flexible, generate fresh ideas, and innovate immediately, practically, and consistently. Moreover, it focuses on risk and how taking risks can lead to transformation. Risk need not prove disruptive, as individuals will learn to adapt and take risks in ways that organizations can accept and embrace.
Course Topics Include:
- Embrace Mental Agility
- Types of Adaptable and Innovative Thinking
- Risk-Taking Strategies
COURSE 2
BRAINSTREAM
Mental Effectiveness and Emotional Intelligence
Individuals in flow states can experience up to a 500% increase in productivity.
Emotional intelligence accounts for 58% of a leader’s job performance.
Are you fully harnessing your mental capacity to achieve peak performance? What if you could enter a streamline your cognitive processes to enhance both your productivity and leadership effectiveness? Join us for this interactive short course!
Cultivate mental flow and propel your brain toward smarter and faster thinking. The BrainStream course gives you insights and techniques to enhance mental effectiveness and leverages your emotional agility for maximum impact. The course tools will boost your concentration, focus, and memory with research-based, proven brain exercises. Unleash your mental flow and unlock more potential as you challenge assumptions and biases that may hold you back. You will also learn how your thoughts, emotions, experiences, and personal narratives impact your professional relationships and career.
Course Topics Include:
- Maximize lateral thinking for creativity
- Develop emotional agility to increase motivation
- Boost concentration, focus and memory
Wisdom & Wonder at Work Leadership Series
Leadership thrives at the intersection of wisdom and wonder. This series combines the reflective power of Wisdom Works with the creative energy of Working Wonder, equipping leaders to lead with purpose, adapt with agility, and inspire with curiosity. Through overarching strategies, actionable frameworks, and practical tools, participants will develop a deeper connection to their inner compass while embracing innovative thinking to navigate complex challenges. Whether aligning values or sparking creativity, this series fosters balanced, visionary leadership that drives meaningful results.
Develop Your Inner Compass:
- Build a foundation of purpose, integrity, and ethics to guide decisions with clarity and consistency.
- Leverage wisdom to align personal values with professional goals for principled leadership.
Ignite Creativity and Curiosity:
- Foster a culture of innovation by applying wonder-driven strategies to solve challenges.
- Use playfulness and imagination to unlock new perspectives and inspire collaboration.
Master the Balance of Insight and Action:
- Combine wisdom’s reflective depth with wonder’s forward-thinking energy to lead dynamically.
- Transform complex challenges into opportunities for personal and team growth.
COURSE 1
WISDOM WORKS
Your Inner “Utility” System
in the Workplace
90% of executives believe their company positively impacts employee well-being, yet only 60% of employees agree.
Purpose-driven companies experience higher growth rates, with 58% achieving at least 10% growth over three years.
Are you aligning your inner values with your professional actions to create a wise, harmonious, and effective workplace? What if you could integrate purpose, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence to foster both personal and organizational success—through the science of Wisdom? Join us for this interactive short course!
What makes something “work”? In this course, the word “works” comes alive with multiple meanings—like public works symbolize a utility system that empowers and serves; “works” as a function ensures things operate smoothly; and in the workplace, it defines how people thrive together. This research-based course equips leaders with the six dimensions of the Wisdom Works Model, delivering practical tools to align purpose, think strategically, adapt flexibly, and lead with emotional intelligence. By integrating these elements, participants will create systems of success that work—personally, professionally, and collaboratively.
Course Topics Include:
- Inner Compass (Purpose, Integrity, Ethics) & Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
- Contextual Intelligence & Strategic Thinking
- Adaptability + Versatility Systems
COURSE 2
WORKING WONDER
Discover Its Power, Systems, and
Strategies in Leadership
83% of C-suite executives and more than half of employees believe that curiosity sparks positive organizational change.
Teams engaging in playful activities can improve their performance metrics by up to 30%.
Are you leveraging curiosity and imagination to transform challenges into opportunities? What if you could leverage the power of wonder to drive both innovation and strategic leadership? Join us for this interactive short course!
What if you could leverage Wonder as a powerful leadership tool? This research-based course explores how curiosity, imagination, and playfulness ignite innovation and transform strategic challenges into opportunities. Rooted in the OCEAN framework (Openness, Curiosity, Exploration, Awe, and Navigation), Working Wonder equips leaders with the ability to think beyond limitations, foster a culture of visionary imagination, and approach problems with an inventive mindset. By blending OCEAN with research on play, participants will learn how Wonder drives meaningful breakthroughs and empowers teams to achieve extraordinary results.
Course Topics Include:
- Embrace the OCEAN framework and thinking system for innovation
- Harness playfulness and creative discovery to reframe obstacles into opportunities for growth.
- Develop Wonder into Leadership Excellence
- Apply imaginative strategies to solve complex problems and achieve long-term impact.
Shift to Success Leadership Series
Leadership requires the ability to adapt to change and guide others through it. Shift Happens furnishes professionals with skills to embrace organizational culture and navigate shifting dynamics with confidence. This course focuses on navigating conflict, making tough decisions, and fostering collaboration in the face of uncertainty. Participants will develop practical tools to realign their thinking, build resilience, and negotiate effectively with tough colleagues in everyday situations.
Master Tough Decision-Making:
- Build clarity and confidence to make critical decisions under pressure.
- Use strategic frameworks to align decisions with organizational goals and values.
Navigate Change and Challenges:
- Develop resilience and adaptability to thrive in turbulent and shifting environments.
- Learn strategies to transform resistance into opportunities for growth.
Foster Collaboration in Conflict:
- Resolve interpersonal challenges by turning conflict into collaboration.
- Cultivate trust and alignment to create productive, high-performing teams.
COURSE 1
SHIFT HAPPENS
85% of employees experience conflict in their workplace, leading to an estimated $359 billion in lost productivity annually in the U.S. (and that’s not yet inflation-adjusted from 2019!)
70% of change initiatives fail, often due to employee resistance and lack of management support.
Are you prepared to adapt to organizational shifts and effectively manage conflicts? What if you could transform challenges into collaborative opportunities through strategic negotiation and adaptive thinking? Join us for this interactive short course!
Early-stage professionals must adapt to an organization’s culture, while later-stage professionals must change with the shifting currents. The need to change becomes more apparent as turbulent times take hold. It takes shifting your worldview and realigning your thinking. Shift Happens focuses on navigating conflict and how to negotiate with tough colleagues in everyday situations.
Course Topics Include:
- Tough Decision Making
- Dealing with Change and Shifts
- Challenges: Conflict to Collaboration
COURSE 2
IN DEEP SHIFT
Artful Influencing & Managing (AIM)—
Up, Down, and All Around
86% of professionals agree that poor communication and lack of collaboration as the primary causes of workplace failures
Employees are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work when they feel their voices are heard.
Are you effectively influencing and managing relationships across all levels of your organization? What if you could bolster the art and science of influencing upward, downward, and laterally to drive meaningful change? Join us for this interactive short course!
Leadership today demands influence that flows seamlessly across all levels—upward, downward, and laterally. Deep Shift equips leaders with the tools to master Artful Influence & Managing (AIM) by navigating complex stakeholder dynamics, fostering collaborative relationships, creating a culture of trust, and strengthening reciprocity. This course enables leaders to drive results while building meaningful connections. Whether you’re influencing your team, peers, or senior leaders, this course provides a roadmap for impactful, collaborative leadership.
Course Topics Include:
- Map and Manage Strategic Stakeholders
- Use stakeholder mapping techniques to identify key influencers, decision-makers, and allies.
- Build customized engagement strategies to align goals and gain buy-in at every level.
- Span Boundaries to Foster Collaboration
- Break silos and build bridges by fostering cross-functional and cross-organizational relationships.
- Leverage boundary-spanning strategies to unite diverse perspectives for collective success.
- Adopt an Abundance Mentality
- Cultivate a mindset of reciprocity, leveraging shared opportunities to create win-win outcomes.
- Use generosity and trust-building to foster long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships.
- Map and Manage Strategic Stakeholders
Let us know what you’re looking for!