Breakout Speaker
Presentation Details
"Adventure: How to Lead People into a Future They Don’t Trust"
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You know this feeling: You have to announce a new strategy, technology, or direction. Slides? Check. Approved messaging? Check. Venn diagrams. You've got SEVEN baby! The harder work is what often gets buried: giving people a reason to step into the unknown. An increasingly tough ask in a world conditioned to question everything from experts and algorithms to reality itself.
We used to think the answer was simply telling a better story. But in a skeptical era, there's a fine line between "story" and "spin." That's because most of what we call “storytelling” these days lacks the most important story ingredient of all: ADVENTURE. Every change comes with its own ghosts, giants, and treasure worth finding. Together, we’ll explore how to acknowledge the unknown without losing direction, and help people find a meaningful role in its unfolding.
Author & Brand Strategist, CJ Casciotta has spent his career helping brands like Lululemon, Delta Air Lines, Sesame Workshop, and the UN Foundation evolve their story during times of change. In this session, he helps you do the same. Bring a live challenge your team is facing right now, work the mechanics in the room, and walk out with the foundation of a narrative built to brave it. Consider these 60 minutes a mini adventure that just may lead to a big one.
Participants will leave ready to:
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Recognize why a clearly communicated change can still fail to win people over: Why the story employees are experiencing may contradict the one leadership believes it is telling.
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Uncover the stories causing resistance: Distinguish between old myths that need an update vs. truths you can’t afford to ignore.
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Lead change without having to sell certainty: Build a shared ground plan that gives people a role in discovering what’s worth pursuing, what stands in the way, and what needs to be said out loud for change to be successful.
Speaker Bio:
C.J. Casciotta is the founder of Reculture, a brand and IP development studio. For more than 15 years, he’s helped Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, and public leaders navigate the moment their current story no longer fits their future, with clients ranging from Lululemon and Delta Air Lines to Sesame Street and the United Nations Foundation.
He's the author of Get Weird and The Forgotten Art of Being Ordinary, two books about resisting conformity, remaining human, and navigating a culture that is constantly trying to write our story for us. Whether he’s writing, giving a talk, or pivoting a brand, his work explores how the stories worth retelling stay alive in new hands...recognizable at their core, but never finished.
