Listen first. Then turn insight into action.

Building organizations from the inside

Steve Nolan is the CEO of Ariel Group, a leadership development, training and executive coaching firm that works with many of the world’s best-known organizations, including Fortune 10, Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. Over more than 30 years, he has led over 1,000 people and influenced upwards of a billion dollars in revenue and growth outcomes, building, scaling and transforming organizations from the inside. Before stepping into the CEO chair, Steve spent five years as Chief Revenue Officer of The Myers-Briggs Company, one of the most recognized names in the assessment and leadership development industry.

But Steve hasn’t just studied leadership, he’s lived it. He’s carried revenue targets, integrated acquisitions, navigated private equity ownership and made high-stakes decisions with incomplete information, all while learning as much from the calls that didn’t work as the ones that did. Today, Ariel Group trains 20,000 people a year across 27 countries with a team of 250+ facilitators and coaches, and Steve brings a candid, refreshingly practical point of view to conversations on leadership, growth and what it really takes to run a business. His core belief: the problem you think you have is rarely the real one, and the smartest growth often comes from fixing the revenue you’re already quietly losing rather than chasing the next customer.

A people-first philosophy

Steve credits The Living Organization with shaping his people-first approach to leadership: listen first, understand the customer experience, then turn insight into action.

Career

• Ariel Group — CEO
• The Myers-Briggs Company — Chief Revenue Officer (5 years)
• Penn Foster
• Study Group
• Learning Express
• American Councils for International Education
• Student Conservation Association

Credentials

• Certified MBTI practitioner
• Graduate of the Sandler Selling System

Steve lives in Virginia with his wife and two daughters.