Leadership shapes what becomes possible
OLEL develops the human capacities people and organizations need to meet what matters most with greater care, wisdom, and courage.
Every moment is practice.
We tend to think of practice as something we choose to do: meditate, rehearse, train, prepare.
But we are practicing all the time.
Without noticing
When we rush through a conversation, we practice rushing.
When we avoid saying what needs to be said, we practice avoidance.
When we defend our position instead of getting curious, we strengthen that habit.
On purpose
When we pause before reacting, we practice presence.
When we listen to understand, we practice care.
When we question an assumption, we widen our view. When we speak up despite the discomfort, we practice courage.
Over time, moments become patterns. Patterns become habits. Habits shape who we become. Who we become shapes how we lead.
Extraordinary leadership is built in ordinary moments because every moment is practice.
What we practice doesn't stop with us
No one leads alone.
How we show up affects the people around us. Those interactions shape teams. Teams shape organizations. Organizations shape communities, industries, and society.
We are shaped in return by the relationships, cultures, incentives, histories, technologies, and systems around us.
Leadership therefore asks more of us than becoming better individual performers.
It asks us to understand ourselves, see the larger whole we are part of, and recognize that how we act within it matters.
A method for putting this into practice.
The OLEL Method turns this philosophy into a practical system for development. It builds three fundamental capacities.
CARE — Turn inward.
Develop the awareness to recognize what is happening within you and how it shapes the way you meet the moment.
WISDOM — Widen the view.
See beyond the immediate situation to the people, patterns, relationships, assumptions, and conditions shaping it.
COURAGE — Act on what matters.
Translate what you see into meaningful action, especially when doing so is difficult.
The Method draws from enduring wisdom traditions alongside contemporary leadership, organizational behavior, coaching, psychology, neuroscience, and behavior science.
Where OLEL Began
How do we develop the human capacity to see more clearly, care beyond ourselves, and act courageously on what matters?
Founder Leslie Hubbard has spent more than two decades exploring that question across very different worlds.
At 23, she became a Buddhist nun in the Zen tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. During eight years of monastic training and leadership, she helped establish a monastery and supported Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching around the world.
Her path later took her to Harvard Divinity School, leadership and teaching in higher education, executive education, climate and sustainability, organizational work, executive coaching, and an MBA focused on sustainability and innovation from Bard College.
OLEL was created to bring that insight into modern life, leadership, and organizations.
The work of OLEL.
OLEL works with individuals and organizations through coaching, leadership development, assessments, keynotes, workshops, retreats, and organizational partnerships.
Different settings. Different challenges. One underlying purpose: to develop people who can meet the moments that matter with greater care, wisdom, and courage.
Because those moments accumulate.
They shape people.
People shape organizations.
Organizations shape the world around them.
What we practice today shapes what becomes possible tomorrow.