Chris Cooper: Elevation, not training: The architecture behind cultures that light the fire within

In this episode of The Wisdom Of… Show, Simon Bowen speaks with Chris Cooper, leadership and business elevation strategist, speaker, author, and one of the world's most experienced broadcasters. Chris founded Business Elevation in 2006, inspired by the culture his father experienced in the Steelworks of Northern England. Since 2011, he has hosted The Business Elevation Show, which reached 630+ episodes and more than 3 million downloads by 2026, and was the most accessed business programme on Voice America's platform globally by 2019. He is co-author of The Power To Get Things Done (Penguin Random House New York) and founder of The Elevation Collective™: an international community of extraordinary individuals amplifying good in the world.

Simon and Chris build a live visual model in the episode: the Elevation Architecture, mapping the layered system behind genuine elevation at the individual, leadership, team, culture, and organisational levels.

Episode breakdown

00:00 Welcome to The Wisdom Of… Show and introduction of Chris Cooper

02:30 The Steelworks of Northern England: Chris's father, the culture that diminished him, and the question that started everything

07:00 The procurement consultancy that reached £3M in three years, and why Chris walked away from it

11:00 "People are everything": the three words a retiring manager said to a young graduate, then walked away

15:00 Elevation is not training: the distinction that changes how leaders invest in their people

18:00 Culture is not a programme: why calling it one means you've already lost the room

20:00 LIVE MODEL BUILD: The Elevation Architecture

28:00 Individual, leadership, team, culture, organisation: the five levels and how they depend on each other

31:00 What 630 episodes and 3 million downloads teaches you about human nature, wisdom, and genuine conversation

33:30 The Elevation Collective™: how to curate a room of extraordinary people and what becomes possible when the right people are together

35:30 AI, human potential, and what sits above the line that technology cannot consume

37:00 "Is this the best thing for people?" The leadership question every business decision should begin with

38:00 Closing wisdom and farewell

About Chris Cooper

Chris Cooper is a leadership and business elevation strategist, speaker, broadcaster, and author with a career spanning over three decades across the UK and internationally. He founded Business Elevation in 2006 after a corporate career with Leyland DAF, Mars, United Biscuits, and the Punch and Spirit Pub Companies, spanning sales, marketing, training, procurement, logistics, and HR to board level. He co-founded a procurement consultancy that grew to £3 million turnover in three years before pivoting to follow his true purpose: helping people realise their potential.

Since 2011, Chris has hosted The Business Elevation Show on Voice America, which reached 630+ episodes and 3 million+ downloads by 2026, and was the world's most accessed business programme on the platform by 2019. He is co-author of The Power To Get Things Done (Whether You Feel Like It Or Not) (Perigee/Penguin Random House New York), a contributor to the 2021 international bestseller Play The Game, and a contributor to Rumi: Power of Love (2024).

He is the founder of The Elevation Collective™, an international community bringing together extraordinary individuals for the greater good. He is an Ambassador for Hopefull (providing 5,000+ free meals daily to the people of Ukraine) and for The Global Angels Foundation.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website: https://chriscooper.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdcooper

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/chrisdcooper

The Elevation Collective™: https://chriscooper.co.uk/the-elevation-collective

About Simon Bowen

Simon has spent over two decades working with influential leaders across complex industries. His focus is on elevating thinking in organisations, recognising that success is directly proportional to the quality of thinking and ideas within a business. Simon leads the renaissance of thinking through his work with global leaders and organisations.