Dear Friends of Ei,

It’s been a minute! I hope this note finds you well. As 2025 takes flight, I (Victor) have been thinking about the journeys—both literal and figurative—that defined the past year. It’s been a year of transition, exploration, and clarity. Now, I’m excited to be popping into your inbox with Sara for our first-ever shared Annual Letter.

For those who may not know, 2024 marked a major milestone for Ei and for me personally. After over 12 years of founding and leading this organization, I stepped out of the CEO role and into a new position as Chairman of the Board. Our incredible COO, Sara Loncka, stepped into the CEO seat, bringing her thoughtful creativity, steady leadership, and deep commitment to our mission of helping leaders take Leaps.

That transition gave me space for something I’d long dreamed of: a sabbatical. I embarked on the epic journey of walking much of the Camino de Santiago, a centuries-old pilgrimage across Spain. Picture me, a backpack, weeks of trails, and a few global strangers (who quickly became friends). Honestly, the reality also included more blisters and poorly translated Spanish than I’d anticipated.

The journey was a chance to reflect on the rhythms of work, life, and growth in a way I’d never experienced before. It was the right experience at the right time for me — something that didn’t just change my life, but changed how I see my life.

Upon returning, I embarked on a new professional chapter as a Chief Talent Officer at NextGen Growth Partners. Our team helps entrepreneurial leaders partner with, acquire, and grow everyday companies. This work puts me face-to-face with developing leaders every day, working with them through periods of uncertainty, transition, and challenging decisions. Throughout these conversations, one theme keeps emerging: the need for growth experiences that aren’t just informative but transformative.

In just a few short months the lessons I’ve learned in helping organizations build sustainable, people-focused strategies are informing how Ei is building upon our offerings to better meet the needs of companies and teams.

Here are three themes I see leaders focusing on as they grow their teams in 2025:

Helping People Get into Experiences Sooner

Organizations are moving away from traditional, content-focused training programs toward immersive, experience-based learning embedded in day-to-day work. Teams are learning not just through workshops, but by tackling real challenges together, fostering deeper understanding and stronger collaboration. As Josh Bersin highlights in his 2024 report, The Big Reset: Human-Centered Learning, ”...experiential programs that integrate seamlessly into work are outperforming traditional models in driving retention and engagement.”

Using Experiential Learning as a Medium for Team Connection

The world of work is more fragmented than ever. In response, team or department-specific learning experiences are becoming a vital way to build trust and connection. Shared learning opportunities—whether through offsites, workshops, or project-based initiatives—help teams align on goals, break down silos, and strengthen interpersonal bonds. In today’s workforce that is increasingly struggling to find the right balance of in-person + remote work to facilitate individual and organizational health, learning through experience, together, is a lynchpin.

Helping People Design Their Own Challenging Experiences

The pace of change happening today demands that teams develop resilience and adaptability as core competencies. By giving each employee opportunities to design their own “stretch” learning experiences provides a safe and powerful environment for navigating uncertainty, experimenting with new ideas, and learning from failure—skills that translate directly to success in dynamic workplaces.

As Experience Institute continues to grow, we are poised to not only lead this work, but to do so with the foundation of a company that is healthy and able to adapt to the needs of our partners as they navigate the future of work.

Now, let me hand it over to Sara to share how Experience Institute is working to better support you and your teams in 2025.

Hi, Sara here!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how some Leaps are intentionally planned while others find you, presenting you with the option to embark on the growth journey or not. Stepping into the CEO role was undoubtedly a Leap in the latter category, one that I’m both deeply glad to have been presented with and to have accepted. When Victor founded Ei over a decade ago, I was one of the first to subscribe to his monthly updates, an early funder of his vision, and from the start, was convinced that he was building something different and meaningful. Something necessary. As Ei has evolved over the years, my conviction has only grown.

Today, we’re navigating a crowded and rapidly changing marketplace (like every company). With the disruption of AI, teams like ours seem to be doing one of two things:

1. Floundering with half-baked AI tools in the hopes of taking market share with an offering that’s not true to their strengths or necessarily improves their outcomes.

2. Focusing on their unique value proposition while staying flexible to customer needs.

We’re firmly in the second camp.

Here’s how we're focusing on what makes Ei special while putting our learning partners first:

Centering Human Connection at the Heart of All Ei Programs

During a recent debrief for a high-potential program, a participant exclaimed, “This wasn’t just head learning—this was soul learning.” And that was because of the people in the room.

Despite tech advancements, lasting transformation comes from human connection. It emerges through live experiences—experimenting, struggling, breaking through, and sharing with others. Digital tools can augment learning, but the deeper lessons of empathetic leadership and creative problem-solving are internalized through meaningful, shared connections. Our programs are designed to create a relational environment where learning becomes profound and lasting.

Leveraging Experimentation to Build Adaptability

In recent conversations with learning leaders and CEOs, one word has consistently emerged: "adaptability." This concept resonates deeply with Ei's founding principle: "learn to risk and risk to learn"—a philosophy of experimentation that challenges individuals to grow. By pursuing small shifts and changes, learners build confidence to approach challenges and opportunities differently.

Experimentation pushes individuals beyond their comfort zones, fostering greater adaptability, resilience, and a commitment to progress over perfection. When we reflect on the organizations we’ve supported most effectively over the past year—and those we’re best positioned to help in the future—it’s clear they share a common trait: a willingness to embrace a culture of experimentation.

Harnessing the Power of Ei Programs to Advance Business Strategy

The best learning programs don't exist on an island. They're part of the whole. Which is why we work across departments before designing or launching any type of program. If it's going to stick, it needs to be applicable across teams and it needs to connect to the overall direction of the business. This approach is embedded in our Leaps methodology, where every learner is challenged to design a Leap that connects personal growth with a specific business need.

As a 2024 Leaps Participant articulated: "It's truly powerful to see how everything we do in business connects—pursuing what we're passionate about, learning along the way, and making an impact on both people and the business. For me, the biggest takeaway is the importance of linking all the dots, doing what you're passionate about, and doing it well—not perfectly. That's something that will really stick with me." Through our workshops and methodology, we ensure that learning is not a standalone activity but a strategic tool for organizational advancement.

So, to recap:

At Ei, we’re doubling down on what makes learning transformative: human connection, stretching comfort zones, and strategic impact. Lasting growth happens in live, shared experiences where people challenge themselves, take risks, and build confidence through small, meaningful shifts. Today, we’re not focused on just keeping up—we’re helping people and companies thrive by staying grounded in what makes growth meaningful and lasting.

From Sara, Victor, and the Entire Ei team:

Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Whether you’re a longtime collaborator or a new connection, we’re grateful for the opportunity to support and learn alongside you. As we step into 2025, we invite you to join us in exploring what’s possible when we embrace change, challenge assumptions, and take bold leaps together. Reply to this email, follow us on LinkedIn, and forward to friends who might be interested in taking Leaps with us. We read every response and comment, and love learning about each person in this community.

Here’s to a year of growth—for all of us.

Warmly,

Sara Loncka & Victor Saad

CEO & Chairman of the Board

Experience Institute