Case Study

The Fox Cities Chamber’s Blueprint for Fast, Real-World Development

Overview

The Fox Cities Chamber, with more than 1,700 member businesses in Wisconsin, has a long-standing reputation for leadership innovation. Seeking to serve emerging and informal leaders in the region, the Chamber partnered with BetterCulture to launch Leader Lab—a compact, behavior-driven program designed to build real-world leadership habits in less time. Fox Cities utilizes BetterCulture’s On-Demand MindSet Leadership Program as the content for the Leader Lab program.

Challenge

Like many successful chambers, the Fox Cities Chamber already had a traditional leadership development program in place. Their nine-month “Leadership Fox Cities” offering had long served seasoned professionals looking to deepen community involvement and leadership capacity. But over time, a clear gap began to emerge.

Member businesses voiced a new need:

Length: At nine months, the established program was too long for many emerging professionals.
Applicability: Feedback showed younger leaders preferred hands-on leadership tools—not just theory.
Audience Gaps: High-potential contributors and individuals without management titles but with clear leadership potential weren’t always well-served by legacy programming.

The Chamber recognized that its traditional offerings, while valuable, weren’t reaching a vital but distinct segment of the workforce. They needed a new kind of program—one that was shorter, more accessible, and immediately applicable to participants’ everyday work lives.

Solution

To meet this emerging need, the Fox Cities Chamber partnered with BetterCulture and used the On-Demand MindSet Leadership Program content to launch Leader Lab—a leadership development program built around short, high-impact sessions and real-time workplace application.

This wasn’t another speaker series or community tour. Leader Lab was intentionally designed to:

Focus on behaviors, not titles. The content was built to help participants build confidence, improve communication, navigate feedback, and lead by example—no matter their role.
Fit into real schedules. With 2-hour sessions and actionable takeaways, participants could grow without missing full days of work or committing to long-term schedules.
Provide turnkey implementation. BetterCulture’s toolkit included everything needed—professional video content, facilitator guides, and participant materials—allowing Chamber staff to roll it out easily without needing to create or manage new curriculum.
Emphasize reflection and reinforcement. Each session kicked off with participants sharing how they applied what they learned from the previous one,helping ideas stick and showing visible progress over time.

Most importantly, Leader Lab wasn’t a replacement for the Chamber’s legacy programs—it was a complement. It gave them a way to serve a new audience, fill an unmet need, and expand their leadership development footprint.

Process

The rollout followed a smooth, collaborative flow:

Targeted Recruitment
- The Fox Cities Chamber invited applications from member businesses for rising leaders or informal influencers.
- The messaging emphasized relevance, convenience, and immediate impact on day-to-day work.
Cohort Experience
- Each session included 2-hour facilitated group discussions using BetterCulture’s guide.
- Participants reflected on what they tried in their workplaces and were encouraged to apply specific leadership practices before the next session.
Seamless Facilitation
- The facilitation of BetterCulture’s content required minimal prep—the supplied content, facilitation guide, and workbooks made delivery easy.
- The Fox Cities Chamber staff simply hosted, facilitated, and focused on participant engagement.
Visible Recognition
- Graduates were recognized publicly—through newsletters, social channels, and at Fox Cities Chamber events, building pride and visibility for both emerging leaders and their organizations.

Outcomes

The Fox Cities Chamber Leader Lab program exceeded expectations—and the results speak for themselves:

High Engagement & Real-World Application
Every session features active participation, with all attendees contributing and sharing how they’ve applied the material in their workplaces. Participants report meaningful changes in how they communicate, lead, and collaborate day-to-day.
Repeat Participation & Lasting Value
Businesses are seeing such strong results that they’re returning with new employees each cohort. One small business has already sent three team members to three different cohorts—each bringing back new insights from the same foundational content.
Broader Accessibility
The Fox Cities Chamber intentionally priced the program affordably at $450 per participant, making leadership development accessible not only to large employers, but also to smaller businesses that might otherwise be priced out of formal training opportunities.
Increased Demand & Revenue
Community demand has been so strong that the Fox Cities chamber now runs multiple Leader Lab cohorts in two different counties per year. This has not only amplified the Chamber’s reach, but also generated significant non-dues revenue from a program that’s easy to facilitate and scalable by design.
Scalable and Turnkey
Leader Lab delivers a high-quality experience with minimal lift for Fox Cities staff. The BetterCulture materials include everything facilitators need to succeed—no education background or content creation required.

We are getting a lot of repeat customers… A small business has already sent three individuals in three separate cohorts. They’ve all brought back new insights from the same principles. That speaks volumes about the information BetterCulture has put together.

Aimee Herrick

Director of Events & Emerging Talent