2026 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Leadership changes when the conditions do.
Three speakers examine what happens when pressure rises, resistance surfaces, and leaders need to change direction without losing clarity, confidence, or trust.
Monday, October 5, 2026 · Northville Hills Golf Club · Northville, Michigan
Pressure
Pedro Chavez Jr.
Resistance
Eldon Solomon
Pivot
Hannah Riopelle
THREE DISTINCT PERSPECTIVES
A leadership program built around what happens when the plan meets reality.
Leadership is rarely tested under perfect conditions. These sessions explore how people think under pressure, how organizational resistance reveals hidden information, and how leaders adjust when better evidence changes the path forward.
PRESSURE
The Psychology of Leadership
Leaders learn how clarity, decision confidence, and psychological presence influence team performance when uncertainty rises.
RESISTANCE
Harnessing Resistance to Bridge the 67% Execution Gap
Leaders learn how to recognize pushback as evidence and convert organizational friction into stronger decisions and forward momentum.
PIVOT
How Leaders Pivot in the Workplace
Leaders learn when to pause, listen, gather better information, and adjust without losing trust or direction.
Clear thinking. Better evidence. Smarter adjustment.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Learn from leaders who have operated where outcomes matter.
OPENING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER
Pedro Chavez Jr.
The Psychology of Leadership
Build teams that think clearly, decide confidently, and maintain their structure when pressure rises.
12:30 PM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER
Eldon Solomon
Harnessing Resistance to Bridge the 67% Execution Gap
Discover why resistance is valuable organizational evidence—and how to turn friction into forward momentum.
1:45 PM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER
Hannah Riopelle
How Leaders Pivot in the Workplace
Learn when to pause, listen, adjust, and use better information to guide workplace decisions.
OPENING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER
The Psychology of Leadership
Pedro Chavez Jr.
Leadership Strategist · Engineering Executive · Founder, Phoenix Foundation
Leadership often fails when pressure rises, not because leaders lack knowledge, but because they misunderstand how people think and behave under stress.
Pedro examines how trust, clarity, expectations, decision boundaries, and leadership presence influence team performance when outcomes matter most.
CREATE CLARITY BEFORE PRESSURE
Establish clear mission goals, decision boundaries, and definitions of success before uncertainty peaks.
BUILD DECISION CONFIDENCE
Prepare teams to think and act without hesitation long before pressure reaches its highest point.
MANAGE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESENCE
Use leadership mindset, communication, and emotional tone to keep teams focused and effective.
"Pressure does not create leadership. It reveals whether the team was built to hold."
When pressure reveals the problem, resistance reveals what the plan missed.
The program moves from understanding team behavior under stress to examining the organizational evidence hidden inside pushback, silence, and friction.
12:30 PM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER
Harnessing Resistance to Bridge the 67% Execution Gap
Eldon Solomon
Eldon Solomon, M.S., LMTRC, LCAC
CEO, BTG Consulting
Most leaders treat pushback as a problem to suppress. Eldon shows why resistance is often the most valuable data in the organization—and how leaders can use it to replace heroic guessing with evidence-based decisions.
BUILD A HUMAN SYSTEM INTERFACE
Audit the structure through which leadership intent, employee interpretation, values, risk, and resistance move through the organization.
DECODE THE SILENCE
Understand why compliance can be more dangerous than productive resistance when critical information never reaches decision-makers.
USE EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION-MAKING
Convert organizational friction into measurable intelligence and a more grounded path toward execution.
"The resistance you are trying to eliminate may be the intelligence your strategy is missing."
Better information changes what the leader does next.
The program continues from gathering organizational evidence to making the adjustments required when assumptions, conditions, or priorities change.
1:45 PM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER
How Leaders Pivot in the Workplace
Hannah Riopelle
Owner and Founder, Green Light Innovations
The most effective leaders know when to pause, listen, and adjust before a small misstep becomes a costly detour.
Hannah shows leaders how to create conversations where every voice is heard, real feedback becomes usable information, and better decisions follow.
PAUSE BEFORE REACTING
Create space to understand the situation before committing to the wrong path.
LISTEN FOR BETTER INFORMATION
Build conversations where employees and stakeholders can communicate what leaders need to hear.
ADJUST WITH PURPOSE
Use feedback, curiosity, and data to make smarter decisions without losing trust or momentum.
"Strong leaders do not pivot because they lack direction. They pivot because the evidence changed."
ONE PROGRAM · THREE PRACTICAL LENSES
Leave with tools you can bring back to the team.
CLEARER EXPECTATIONS
Define what matters before uncertainty increases.
STRONGER DECISION CONFIDENCE
Help people act within clearly established boundaries.
BETTER ORGANIZATIONAL EVIDENCE
Recognize resistance, risk, and silence as usable information.
LESS HEROIC GUESSING
Ground leadership decisions in what the system is actually communicating.
MORE USEFUL FEEDBACK
Create conversations where people can speak before problems become expensive.
SMARTER PIVOTS
Adjust direction without creating unnecessary confusion or losing trust.
WHO SHOULD BE IN THE ROOM
For leaders responsible for people, execution, and change.
The program is designed for leaders who need practical ways to improve clarity, surface better information, make stronger decisions, and guide people through changing conditions.
MONDAY · OCTOBER 5, 2026
Professional Development Agenda
10:30 AM
Professional Development Check-In
Attendees receive the printed directory and Strategic Connection introduction materials.
11:00 AM
Welcome with MC Tom Hamp
OPENING SPEAKER
Pedro Chavez Jr.
The Psychology of Leadership
12:00 PM
Lunch in the Banquet Hall
SECOND SPEAKER
12:30 PM
Eldon Solomon
Harnessing Resistance to Bridge the 67% Execution Gap
1:30 PM
Break
THIRD SPEAKER
1:45 PM
Hannah Riopelle
How Leaders Pivot in the Workplace
2:45 PM
Open-Bar Cocktail Reception
Professional Development, Golf, and Dinner attendees come together.
3:45 PM
Dinner Served
5:00 PM
The event ends, but the connections continue.
MORE THAN THREE PRESENTATIONS
The speaker program is part of a larger connected experience.
Professional Development attendees receive the printed event directory, take part in the Strategic Connection process, attend lunch, and join all Crusaders attendees for the cocktail reception and dinner.
OCTOBER 5, 2026 · NORTHVILLE HILLS GOLF CLUB
Three sessions. One afternoon that changes how you see the room.
Join Pedro Chavez Jr., Eldon Solomon, and Hannah Riopelle for practical leadership perspectives on pressure, resistance, decision-making, and workplace change.
The official registration experience handles ticket selection, current pricing, and payment.