Leading At The Next Level

Christian Shields is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. We met Christian recently through an interview for a friend's YouTube channel. Since that was focused specifically on his music, we've invited him to chat with us here about the clear purpose that drives him to do what he does and the values that have guided him throughout his career. We'll also be sure to talk a little b...

We initially met Jason through collaboration on "Voices For Leadership, Volume One" in early 2022. Since that initial interaction, we've built a cool relationship - albeit from more than a thousand miles away - that helps us improve the level of service we provide our every time we talk with him. Jason's personal mission is to facilitate transformation by encouraging and enabling light-bulb moment...

We've known Charles Henricks for quite a few but have recently had the opportunity to build our professional and personal relationship with him. In addition to serving as CEO, Principal Architect, and Managing Partner of The Gaines Group, PLC, Charles recently earned a fellowship with the Construction Specifications Institute National Conference based on his work advocating for sustainability in t...

Travis Hellstrom is a writer and founder of Advance Humanity ( www.advancehumanity.com ). After graduating from college with a degree in Pre-Med/Biology, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia from 2008–2011, where he worked with local hospitals and clinics in the eastern steppe of Mongolia to help doctors, nurses and residents improve the overall health in the community. Currently, he is a gr...

We recently hosted The 2025 Executive Summit, the FIRST EVER event of it's kind geared at providing mid-level managers, executives, and business owners with an interactive day focused around a common theme - Applying The Values Advantage! Approximately 60 leaders from close to three dozen organizations worked through the simple practices they'd need to implement to model their organizations' core...

We recently had the opportunity to provide three separate sessions as part of a large client's "Professional Development Days" curriculum. Two were based on keynote presentations we've shared with thousands of people over the years but the final session was a variation of a lesson from our "Leading At The Next Level" program, likely back in 2021 or 2022, that we've only shared publicly a time or t...

Passing on the Knowledge As we looked at the cost of a poor promotion, I shared stories about a few different rock star employees I had worked with over the years. One of them had been an assembly line lead for nearly four decades but refused even to consider taking the next step into a supervisory or management role. Another was as knowledgeable as anyone I ever knew about every piece of equipmen...

We Can’t Blame HR for Everything… Early in this process, we looked at two separate profitability killers that nearly always feed off each other and contribute to just about every metric a company tracks: the cost of high turnover and the cost of constant recruiting. In far too many cases, the responsibility for each lands squarely in the lap of someone in the human resources department. When that...

Improving YOUR Profitability By Building Better Leaders Let's circle back to something I shared as we began our look at What’s Killing Your Profitability : "Organizations of all sizes invest significant amounts of time, money, and energy in improving their processes with hopes of becoming more profitable. Sometimes this is based on the goal of becoming best-in-class, but sometimes it is just to st...

Why do you do what you do? As we opened The 2025 LeadershipLegacy Experience, Cindy and I went into significant detail covering how important it is for every leader to have a clear purpose for accepting all that comes with leading a team. But let’s be honest, very few things in life worth having come easy. Regardless of what you’re engaged in, personally or professionally, a clear purpose is absol...

We've known Maria for a long time and have been absolutely blown away by the responsibility she carries and how she displays genuine servant leadership. In addition to running her own success business, MIM Community Solutions, she's played a critical role in founder CEL Harrisonburg-Rockingham Latino Business Council (serving as the organization's first president). In this episode, we'll talk with...

While Cindy didn't take on an "official" role in Dove Development & Consulting until about a year in, she's had a tremendous influence from the beginning. Wes often shares that he'd get a lot done even if it was just him, but having Cindy by his side means folks may actually like it. Her compassion coupled with a drive for excellence is key in how they live our their core values together. In t...

A Simple Foundation for Immediate Results: You don't need to look all that hard to find studies showing how developing our Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, can impact our effectiveness in so many situations. The challenge so many run into is finding a simple way to take action on any single resource touted as the holy grail for building our Emotional Intelligence. In his book Emotional Intelligence,...

In recent episodes of The Leading At The Next Level podcast, we've worked to provide an overview of what participants can expect from The 2025 Executive Summit and to provide practical steps anyone else listening in can take to lay a foundation with values, build a culture around values, and create a legacy through values. My newest book - "The Values Advantage" - is scheduled to be released in ea...

Join Wes and Cindy Dove to explore “Creating a Legacy Through Values: Sustainable Expectations,” a transformative lesson from the 2025 Executive Summit and The Values Advantage. Learn to set high, sustainable expectations and foster accountability to build a values-driven legacy that impacts teams and communities. Discover practical tools and real-world insights to ensure lasting success. Limited...

We've had the privilege of developing a friendship with Emily over the last few years and couldn't be more excited to chat with her about: - Banking with Emily - Building Professional Relationships - The importance of Leading with a Clear Purpose In addition to her role as a Commercial Banking Executive with Burke & Herbert Bank, Emily just wrapped up her term as President for the Rotary Club...

Join Wes and Cindy Dove to dive into “Building a Culture Around Values: A Consistent Example,” a pivotal lesson from the 2025 Executive Summit and The Values Advantage. Learn how to model core values daily to foster a strong, unified team culture that boosts engagement and retention. Discover practical strategies and real-world examples to make values non-negotiable. Limited to just 100 participan...

Join Wes and Cindy Dove to explore “Laying a Foundation with Values: Simple Practices,” a key lesson from the 2025 Executive Summit and The Values Advantage. Discover how to embed core values into your leadership through consistent, simple behaviors that drive team trust and profitability. Learn actionable strategies to create a values-driven culture, with insights from real-world success stories....

Join Wes Dove for an exclusive preview of the 2025 Executive Summit, a transformative event for leaders to build a values-driven legacy. Learn how to embed core values into your leadership with simple practices, consistent examples, and sustainable expectations, straight from his upcoming book, "The Values Advantage." Discover actionable tools to boost team engagement, profitability, and reputatio...

We recently had the opportunity to host Chris Robinson in Richmond, VA as part of a "City Tour" he did to connect with Maxwell Leadership Certified Team Members and learned more about his upcoming book, "From DRIFT to DRIVE; A High Achiever's Guide to Breaking the Chains of Complacency" In this session, we talk with Chris about his clear purpose for accepting leadership responsibility, the impact...

We were extremely excited to partner with the Harrisonburg Professional Firefighters Foundation through The 2025 LEADERSHIPLEGACY Experience with Dove Development & Consulting to launch a local 100 CLUB, providing businesses with an opportunity to support and sustain an amazing cause. Each organization partnering with us on this event had the opportunity to join as a FOUNDING MEMBER of the 100...

We've worked closely with Thomas Rea and his team at Bank of the James since the very first public event we hosted in 2015. Thomas has been an amazing resource in helping us tweak and grow our reach ever since! We're excited to continue that relationship as they join us for The 2025 LeadershipLegacy Experience at the Atlantic Union Bank Center on June 13 as Leadership Lunch Partners. In this...

We've had great experiences at Augusta Health and we've developed professional relationships with many of the team members there. We're thrilled to take that a step further and announce Augusta Health as Emerging Leadership Partners of The 2025 LeadershipLegacy Experience ! In this session, we'll talk with Crystal Farmer (Senior Vice President & COO) about her clear purpose for accepting leade...

We've worked closely with several key contributors to Valley Business Keynote for years, attending their event and having many of them at our events. We're excited to take that relationship to a new level through a joint partnership bridging the two events; VBK & The 2025 LeadershipLegacy Experience ! In this session, we'll talk with Noah Yoder (newly elected VBK President) about the clear pur...

Alex Sellner served in the United Stated Air Force for over 21 years before joining Virginia Works as a Local Veterans’ Employment Representative, then accepting the role of Chief of Veterans Services in early 2021.   Alex’s faith and his passion for serving other veterans have been a tremendous part of his clear purpose for helping each of his team members connect their purpose with their da...