Corporate Training is Not a Cost Center | Steve Nolan

What if the moment your company announces layoffs is exactly the moment to spend more on training, not less?

In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Steve Nolan, CEO of The Ariel Group — the leadership and communication development firm founded by performing artists — and a certified MBTI practitioner with more than thirty years of executive leadership.

Steve has spent his career in and around corporate training, and he is blunt about its biggest problem: in 2026, too many companies still treat it as a cost center and cut it first when AI spending squeezes the budget.

He and Andy dig into where assessments like MBTI still earn their keep, why leadership alignment is the thing CEOs and boards are begging for without having a word for it, and how Steve balances a mission-driven firm against a private equity partner — by refusing to live on Hope Island.

Tune in to episode 266 to hear how twelve Fortune 500 CEOs built Steve’s go-to-market strategy for him, what he would tell a head of L&D with AI landing on her from every direction, and the budgeting trick that keeps a line item from getting crossed out.

AndrewTemte.com