Experience Maker
In my work with leaders and teams, I often find myself stepping into the beginning of new seasons.
Sometimes that looks like working with a coach preparing for the start of a competitive year. Other times, it’s a business leader stepping into a new role, inheriting a new team, or trying to reshape a culture.
Different environments. Different scoreboards.
But underneath it all, the work is often the same: a group of people trying to build something meaningful together.
And almost every time, one question becomes the starting point:
What do you want people to experience while being part of your team?
Not just accomplish.
Not just produce.
Not just achieve.
Experience.
Because the longer I do this work, the more I believe culture is less about what leaders preach and more about what people consistently experience.
That question tends to unlock something. It shifts leaders out of simply managing performance and into thinking more intentionally about the environment they’re creating every single day.
🎥 [3:50] Watch — “Become an Experience Maker”
(From The Learning Leader Podcast with Ryan Hawk & Marcus Buckingham)
💭 Why It Matters
When I think about the equation Marcus Buckingham shares in this clip—experiences drive behaviors drive outcomes—one person immediately comes to mind: Pat Summitt.
Years ago, I worked at University of Tennessee during Pat Summitt Basketball Camp. At the time, I mostly saw the energy. Hundreds of campers from around the country filling the gyms, the Lady Vols entering the arena, young players hanging on every moment. But years later, what stayed with me wasn’t the spectacle. It was the intentionality behind it.
Everything had been thought through. The phrase “check-check-recheck” still rings in my head today.
The check-in process. The camp store. The locker room tours. The drills. The photo with Pat. Even the evening she hosted at her home for the coaches working camp—staying up late talking about hoops and life after everyone had already spent twelve hours on their feet.
None of it felt transactional. People left feeling like they had experienced Tennessee.
That doesn’t happen by accident.
Most leaders spend enormous energy trying to shape behaviors—more accountability, more connection, more buy-in, more engagement. But elite leaders understand that behaviors are often downstream from the environment people experience every day.
That’s why this line from the clip matters so much:
“That meeting you just called, it’s not a meeting. It’s an experience.”
Every interaction teaches people something. What matters here. What gets reinforced. Whether they belong. Whether excellence is expected. Whether people are truly seen.
To borrow a phrase from Will Guidara, Pat never let a gracious moment pass. The way she approached camp was a flashlight into her leadership. She loved the University of Tennessee, and she understood that every touchpoint mattered. She was the ultimate experience maker.
📌 Quote of the Week
“Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.”
— Danny Meyer
💬 Reflective Questions
What experiences are people consistently having inside the environment you lead?
Where might you be trying to force behaviors instead of designing experiences that naturally reinforce them?
✍️ Closing
Every interaction leaves a residue.
The question is whether it’s reinforcing the culture you’re trying to build.
Thanks for dropping in.
📅 Ready to lead from the inside out? Let’s connect.
See. Serve. Empower.
— Angel
You are a true writer from the heart!