Insights & Updates

“The kind of people we look for are people that are interested in the same stuff we are.”At Icelaven, we don’t start with credentials—we start with character. That mindset drives how we hire, partner, and lead. Because talent alone doesn’t guarantee trust. And...

"We started out trying to start one charter school."Icelaven wasn’t born from a pitch deck. There was no roadmap, no strategic rollout. It started with one hard goal: open a single charter school in South Carolina. But the deeper they got into it, the clearer it...

“I definitely think Icelaven has to evolve.” In a rapidly changing landscape, standing still isn’t neutral—it’s risky. That belief drives Icelaven’s posture toward growth. For James Galyean and Craig Wooten, evolution isn’t a buzzword or a pivot point. It’s a...

I suspect that when my great grandfather was growing up on his family’s farm, burnout was not a frequent topic at their dinner table. Sure, people worked their fingers to the bone, and they knew the meaning of exhaustion, perhaps better than anyone. But being tired...

Kevin DeShazo, founder of Be Better Leaders, posted the following on X this morning: “You are not your goals. You are your habits. It’s not what you want that shapes your life, it’s what you do every day.
Live intentionally.” While we certainly don’t always enjoy the...

Growth is the goal, but it’s also the test. As companies grow, something subtle but crucial can be lost: the soul of the organization. That original inspiration the clear sense of purpose and the belief that we were building something meaningful is all too easy to...

In business, it’s easy to say, “integrity matters.” The real test is what happens when compromise looks profitable. We’ve learned sometimes the hard way that how you grow matters just as much as how fast you grow. Shortcuts can be tempting when pressure is high, and...

It’s easy to confuse complexity with strategy.
 We all have big plans and lofty goals, with pitch decks full of big ideas. But in my experience and across the companies we manage momentum doesn’t come from how sophisticated our strategy sounds.
It comes from how clear...

In our last post, I shared the story of William Wilberforce a man who spent more than two decades pursuing the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. He faced fierce opposition, chronic illness, bouts of depression, and numerous political setbacks. Yet, for over...

In my last post, I shared how messaging without execution is just a pitch and how the real magic happens when our portfolio of companies at Icelaven delivers on their promises. But there’s something even more powerful that happens after we align our brands and our...