Crescent Leadership, LLC

10/13/2026

Four exceptional executives don't automatically make one brilliant, high-performing leadership team. It takes intention, trust, courageous conversations, and a commitment to shared accountability.

Over the past two days, we had the opportunity to work with Carolina Caring's Executive Leadership Team as they navigate change and shape how they'll lead the organization together.

Through our Leader-First® Shared Leadership framework, we explored Team Trust, Courageous Communication, Multidirectional Accountability, and how their unique leadership superpowers influence collaboration, decision-making, and organizational growth.

We are incredibly grateful to continue our journey with Carolina Caring, and this exceptional leadership team.

09/24/2026

And just like that, the 2026 Leader-First® Leadership Summit is a wrap.

Four days. Leaders from nine states. A room full of curiosity, courage, vulnerability, laughter, hard questions, honest reflection, and a willingness to look inward before asking others to change.

We began with a question: Who do I need to become to lead my team well through what comes next? Over the past four days, these leaders did the work of answering it.

They examined how they show up at work and at home. They challenged assumptions and bias. They explored the Leader Touchstones that shape how they lead. They wrestled with real business and leadership challenges. They strengthened relationships, practiced new ways of thinking and leading, and made commitments that will travel home with them.

Today, they leave Greenville and return to organizations, teams, families, and communities across the country... and that is where the real work begins.

To every leader who trusted us with these four days, thank you. Thank you for showing up fully, for walking courageously into this challenge, and for contributing so generously to one another's growth. And most of all, thank you for allowing us to join you on your journey.

09/22/2026

Exploring the today. Deep work happening in this room! Nothing more beautiful than a group of leaders willing to look first to self.

09/21/2026

T-minus 30 minutes.

The room is ready, and this morning we’ll welcome leaders from nine states across the country to Greenville for the 2026 Leader-First® Leadership Summit.

Four days to learn, reflect, challenge ourselves, connect, and grow.

Here we go.

09/18/2026

A colleague sent me an article this week that argues curiosity may be one of the hardest virtues to practice in a divided culture. The author’s premise is political, but what stayed with me was much broader: curiosity becomes most demanding when we are convinced we already understand the person in front of us.

That is where the idea connects so strongly with the Curiosity Touchstone in Leader-First® Leadership for me.

Curiosity requires discipline because certainty feels efficient. We hear a comment, observe a behavior, or encounter a perspective that does not make sense to us, and our brains quickly begin filling in the missing information. We assume intent. We create explanations. Sometimes we reach a conclusion before we have gathered enough information to deserve one.

A curious leader interrupts that process.

One line from the article captures the practice particularly well: “Ask one more question before you reach a verdict.”

I think that is harder than it sounds.

Curiosity does not require you to surrender your convictions or ultimately agree with what you hear. It asks you to remain open long enough to understand how another person arrived where they did. There is a meaningful difference between asking, “How can you think that?” and genuinely wondering, “How did you come to think that?”

That additional question can change a conversation. Over time, I believe it can also change the quality of our leadership.

The strongest leaders I know have convictions. They also have enough humility to recognize that their first interpretation may not be the complete one.

The article is worth a read: Curiosity to Build a Better Society

Both sides imagine the other as twice as extreme as it really is. Here's the one demanding, unglamorous habit that can actually close the gap: curiosity.

09/17/2026

Summit Happy Hour Sponsor Spotlight

We’re thrilled to announce that Wente Family Vineyards will sponsor our Day Two Happy Hour at the 2026 Leader-First® Leadership Summit—helping us close out the day with connection, reflection, and a well-earned toast.

This special sponsorship is made possible thanks to James Lovaas, Crescent Leadership Collaborator and proud LFL Alum. While James won’t be joining us in person this year, his ongoing support and belief in this community continue to show up in powerful ways, like this one.

We’re raising a glass in advance to James and to Wente, the country’s oldest continuously operated family-owned winery. Grateful for leadership that extends beyond the room.

Learn more: https://wentevineyards.com

09/17/2026

Leader-First® Leadership Summit Site Sponsor Spotlight!

As we count down the final hours to the 2026 Leader-First® Leadership Summit, we want to give a heartfelt thank-you to our site sponsor: Upstate Warrior Solution, host of this year’s Summit at the Rupert Huse Veteran Center in Greenville, SC.

This incredible facility was designed for warriors, by warriors—a state-of-the-art space where veterans and their families can connect with resources, support, and community under one roof. More than just a building, the Rupert Huse Veteran Center is a hub for healing, transition, leadership, and impact.

We’re honored to hold this year’s Leader-First Summit in a space that reflects our values: purpose, service, and connection. Thank you to Upstate Warrior Solution for sharing this powerful place with us.

Learn more about RHVC: https://upstatewarriorsolution.org/rhvc

09/17/2026

Introducing the Leader-First® Leadership Summit Leaders!

Each day, we’re highlighting the outstanding leaders who will gather with us this September to recharge, reconnect, and recommit to leading with purpose. Today, we’re proud to feature Caitlin Coffey, Assistant Resource Development Director at The Cindy Platt Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County.

Caitlin has called Brevard home since 2007 and has a long history with the Club. She previously served as Teen Center Director from 2011 to 2014 before stepping away to focus on family, and she has now returned to support the organization’s mission through resource development.

Over the past 15 years, Caitlin has built a varied career rooted in community, education, and entrepreneurship. Her experience includes work in schools and summer programs, as well as owning and operating small businesses in Brevard. Together, those experiences have given her a practical understanding of relationships, local needs, and what it takes to build support around a mission.

As both a mom and a longtime member of the community, Caitlin brings a personal connection to the Boys & Girls Club's work. She understands the important role the Club plays in supporting local children and families and is passionate about helping strengthen the resources and relationships that make that work possible.

Her return to the Club also reflects something we value in leadership: the willingness to reconnect with meaningful work in a new season and bring broader life and professional experience back to the mission.

Outside of work, Caitlin enjoys spending time with her daughter, browsing the shelves at Highland Books, and visiting local bakeries.

We’re looking forward to having Caitlin in the room and to the perspective she will bring on community connection, resource development, entrepreneurship, and mission-driven leadership.

The 2026 Leader-First® Leadership Summit
September 21–24, 2026 | Rupert Huse Veteran Center, Greenville, SC

09/16/2026

Introducing the Leader-First® Leadership Summit Leaders!

Each day, we’re highlighting the outstanding leaders who will gather with us this September to recharge, reconnect, and recommit to leading with purpose. Today, we’re proud to feature Lauren Luna, a U.S. Army veteran and Veteran and First Responder Advocate with Upstate Warrior Solution at the Rupert Huse Veteran Center.

Lauren’s commitment to service is deeply personal. She served in the Army and deployed to Iraq alongside her husband. After her military service, she spent eight years as a Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Telecommunicator before relocating with her family to South Carolina.

Today, Lauren brings those experiences into her work with veterans, first responders, and their families. As an Advocate with Upstate Warrior Solution, she helps individuals navigate complex systems, connect with critical resources, and move through periods of transition with greater clarity and support.

Her role is grounded in peer connection and practical advocacy. Because Lauren has personally experienced both military service and public safety work, she understands many of the pressures, transitions, and challenges faced by the people she serves. That lived experience allows her to meet people with both empathy and credibility while helping them identify resources related to housing, employment, healthcare, legal needs, and other areas of stability.

Lauren describes herself as a woman of faith, an Army veteran, and a mother of three. Each of those identities has shaped the way she approaches service, relationships, and leadership.

What stands out about Lauren’s story is the continuity of service throughout it. Whether serving in uniform, supporting public safety operations, raising a family, or advocating for local veterans and first responders, she has continued to choose work centered on helping others move forward.

We’re glad to have Lauren joining us from Upstate Warrior Solution and look forward to the perspective she will bring on service, resilience, advocacy, and leading from lived experience.

The 2026 Leader-First® Leadership Summit
September 21–24, 2026 | Rupert Huse Veteran Center, Greenville, SC

09/15/2026

Introducing the Leader-First® Leadership Summit Leaders!

Each day, we’re highlighting the outstanding leaders who will gather with us this September to recharge, reconnect, and recommit to leading with purpose. Today, we’re proud to feature Jamie Atkinson, CEO of The Cindy Platt Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County, a nonprofit leader whose work is grounded in service, optimism, and a deep commitment to helping young people thrive.

A native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, Jamie earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with an emphasis in secondary education from Brevard College, where she was also a student-athlete. She credits that experience with shaping her approach to discipline, teamwork, perseverance, and leadership.

Jamie later earned a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from the University of Central Florida and found what she describes as the work she was meant to do. After spending five years in higher education, she joined The Cindy Platt Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County in November 2018, and says the experience has changed her life.

For Jamie, the young people she serves are at the center of that work. From kindergarteners just beginning their journey to high school students who have grown up within the Club, they continually challenge her to become the best version of herself and remind her why the mission matters.

Jamie also brings a strong belief in the power of mindset to her leadership. One of her favorite quotes is, “Whether you think you can or you cannot, you are exactly right.” It is a philosophy she carries into both her work and her life, grounded in the belief that optimism and possibility can be contagious.

Outside of work, Jamie enjoys cooking, spending time with her family, and being with her loyal pups, Lola and Frankie.

We’re looking forward to having Jamie in the room and to the perspective she will bring on nonprofit leadership, youth development, resilience, and the impact leaders can have when they show up with purpose and belief in others.

The 2026 Leader-First® Leadership Summit
September 21–24, 2026 | Rupert Huse Veteran Center, Greenville, SC