Our purpose: growing leaders, changing lives

We partner with organizations to transform how people lead, building practical leadership skills that grow people and change lives.

 

"The Breakthrough Co's approach allows learning to stick a lot better than workshops."

Mark McConnell, Global L&D Manager, Argenta

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Our team

We love our work. We get our biggest buzz from hearing how what we do has changed people’s lives.  

We are a diverse team in age, background, location, skills and passions. Our diversity creates an open, engaging, and supportive workplace. And we strive to contribute our best to our team, the work, and our clients. 

 Our partners 

Our network of Partners customizes the Active Leader program experience for each customer with their unique knowledge, skill sets, and facilitation styles. 

Become a partner 

Join our vibrant community of partners who work with clients across many industries and geographies using our proven Active Learning approach. 

Core values

🧡 Health, Family, Work. In that order. 

🧡 We contribute whole-heartedly. 

🧡 We speak up: where there's insight there's responsibility.

🧡 We’re Active Learners, because we live our values .

🧡 We’re authentic: honest, open and reflective.

Our story

The Breakthrough story began in 2003 with Dr. Mike Ashby buying a training workshop business. As a former VP at Ernst & Young Consulting and a COO role, his experience as a consultant and senior manager shaped a deep understanding of leadership.

Over 20 years of reading, teaching, and working directly with Breakthrough clients, he identified that traditional knowledge-based workshops only work for the highly motivated. Most leaders would attend his workshops and learn a lot, but their workplaces would remain unchanged. He knew there had to be a better way to teach people.

Dr. Mike envisioned something that didn’t exist at the time: a leadership development approach that fundamentally changes how people lead, both at work and in life. It has transformed into our shared mission to embed great leadership habits into the daily lives of managers, turning knowledge into action, and action into lasting behavior change. 

Ryan was already in the picture when Mike acquired the company. Ryan was one of the youngest learners on the program with a shining passion, energy and unique blend of corporate and small business experience. In the years after he finished the program, he became more involved in The Breakthrough Co, and in 2013, he joined Mike in the business, taking on the role of CEO.

We’re taking our vision global, with clients in US, Europe and Australia. Ryan is leading our expansion into North America from Boulder, Colorado.