Meet Matt
Matt Elliott founded Blue Lake Ideas after a 35-year leadership career, including 12 years as President of Bank of America Michigan. He led teams across nine states and the largest sustainability engagement by any commercial bank in North America, reaching 25,000 businesses and deploying more than $35 billion in sustainable capital. He took the bank’s brand satisfaction in Michigan from fifth to first and, through human-centered design, saved more than 40,000 labor hours a year.
He is a CEO advisor, board director, author, and speaker, Chair Emeritus of the Detroit Regional Chamber, and Co-Chair of MSU’s Green & White Council. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Michigan State University.
The numbers tell only part of the story. At the peak of that career, Matt was winning on paper while quietly losing his capacity to lead. Recapturing it changed how he leads and became the work of Blue Lake Ideas.
“I woke up that morning convinced I was having a heart attack. A few hours later, I learned it was a different kind of attack—a panic attack… That morning’s ER visit was not caused by a single crisis, but by too much life coming at me too fast for too long.
So in the end, my trip to the hospital bed wasn’t a failure. It was feedback.”
[For Matt to confirm: OK to quote the unpublished manuscript]
“I generally admire folks who are able to balance opposites and find ways to bring everyone into the story for a shared definition of winning.”
Balance the opposites
Bring everyone into the story
Agree on what winning means
Winning is about delivering: on the promises we make to ourselves, on the commitments we make to the people we lead and serve, and on the presence we owe the people we love. When we recapture the capacity to deliver on these commitments, we win.
The Power of 
™ is the discipline. Intelligence™ is the practice. When we practice the three moves, we create and preserve the capacity we need to find the and deliver. That is the Capacity Advantage.
Matt partners with like-minded professionals to deliver workshops and advisory.
Intelligence™ FrameworkA repeatable practice
Whether taught via a keynote or a workshop, the three simple moves of the 
Intelligence framework form a practice to lead ourselves and develop our teams. Workshop participants leave with a named tension, a shared definition of success, and the confidence to take the next step.
“When Matt makes an introduction, it comes with weight. When he offers guidance, it moves the needle.”
Find the right way in
Bring Matt to your next leadership event
Tell us who’ll be in the room and what they’re carrying. A conversation, not a booking.
Matt writes every week on Substack and in The Capacity Advantage on LinkedIn. Subscribe for new writing from Matt on building capacity.
Follow on LinkedIn →Questions
Is Blue Lake Ideas the same as The Power of ?
Blue Lake Ideas is the firm. The Power of is the idea at its center, and Intelligence is the practice that puts it to work, in a keynote, a workshop, an advisory engagement, or the book.
What experience informs the work?
Thirty-five years of leading at scale: 12 as President of Bank of America Michigan, regional leadership across nine states, and the largest sustainability engagement by any commercial bank in North America. It also includes the overload that came with that career, and the practice he built to recover from it.