Ryan Blanck, CEO of Deviate, took the TCS Live stage in 2025 with the same fire he’s brought to NFL locker rooms, NHL teams, and even rock and roll touring bands. His message was simple but powerful: leadership and culture are built on intentionality and emotional connection.

Blanck challenged coaches with a live experiment. First, they greeted each other with “level 5” energy—average, polite, transactional. Then, they had to greet one another with “level 10” energy, like seeing a long-lost friend. The difference was night and day.

“Transactional relationships will never build a transformational culture,” Blanck emphasized.

He reminded coaches that the design and intentionality behind relationships matters. A transformational culture requires leaders to go beyond surface-level interactions, infuse emotion into communication, and stay rooted in values.

Blanck also called out the fragility of leadership in professional sports:

“The average tenure of an NHL coach is 2.3 years. What the f%^k are we doing?”

His point: if leadership turnover is this high, either the wrong people are being hired, or organizations aren’t building cultures of belief and belonging.

Through stories, activities, and reflection, Blanck pressed coaches to identify their core values - their compass in murky times. For him, it’s growth, commitment, and humour. For every coach, those values should guide communication, connection, and leadership.

He left the room with a challenge:

• If someone walked into your culture blind, what would they hear that told them they were valued?
• In the last 60 days, what have you done to intentionally build connection within your team?

Because in the end, as Blanck put it: this can be the difference between winning and losing.

Coaching Challenge: Take five minutes this week to write down your top three values. Then ask yourself: Are these values showing up in how I lead my team? Do my players feel them every day?

Noteworthy timestamps:

• 0:00 What do you stand for?
• 2:05 The frenzy experiment
• 3:45 Transformational culture
• 5:40 Average head coach tenure
• 6:25 The Leadership Challenge
• 12:40 Card activity - three piles
• 15:40 Very important pile
• 19:15 Favourite 15
• 21:20 Eliminate five
• 23:35 Eliminate cards down top five
• 27:40 Prioritize top five, add back eliminated five
• 30:30 Identify conversation starter
• 36:00 Identity core leadership
• 38:45 Identify team identity