I’m excited to be a keynote speaker at CultureCon in Madison, Wisconsin. CultureCon is a top organizational culture conference that you should considering attending if you are passionate about workplace culture and the powerful impact it has on organizational growth and results. Here is my story about why I wanted to be a part of CultureCon.

I bought my ticket to attend Mini CultureCon (a smaller version of the bigger CulturCon in June) and encouraged a friend of mine to buy a ticket and join me. This friend wasn’t in HR, involved in Organizational Development, or a manager at his company. He just cared about his organization. This was the first kind of conference like this he had been to. He just wanted to grab dinner that night so I was surprised when he bought his ticket to give this new kind of conference a chance. We sat in the back and I saw him take notes and pictures on his phone. We talked about what we were learning in between the speakers. We both talked to many excellent people later that night, extended our networks and met new collaborators and friends.

At Mini CultureCon We got to put the magnifying glass on our organizations’ cultures and get inspired. Then, the biggest thing. My friend told me he got so motivated as a result of Mini CultureCon that he made appointments with senior leaders at his company to talk about what he learned at the conference, discuss what their culture was like, share how motivated he was to help affect change, and strategize what they could do about it. He got inspired. He got encouraged…just from being there. He took a small but courageous action. When I heard about what he did AFTER just the Mini CultureCon I knew I wanted to be a part of CultureCon at a deeper level. I want to help people gain the kind of insight, inspiration, motivation, and courage to take action that my friend gained…and I did too.

A mindset for innovation contributes to a culture of innovation. Regardless or your role, experience, etc. you can find the courage to take action to be a leader in your organization to elevate the culture of innovation that will be needed to not only survive but thrive as an organization for the future.


Here are my first thoughts for what I can focus my keynote on. It would be great to hear from you about what you might like to learn from my time with the group.

CultureCon Culture of Innovation Keynote Description

Enact your Innovative Mindset to Grow a Culture of Innovation

SKILLS: See the most critical skills for our changing world and how you’ve already been leveraging them when you’ve learned and done new things.
MINDSET: Access the attitude that will help you to keep learning, growing, & taking innovative action to make a difference for your organization.
PROCESS: Learn the simple Innovation Step-by-Step approach and methods to use for challenges in your work and life. Put the process to use for your culture of innovation challenge.
ACTION: Begin your own innovation project for the purpose of learning, developing skill, and creating something new that can impact others and yourself. Start with an acorn sized action that could grow.

As a part of this keynote, participants will be engaged with something new and different each 15 minutes such as a different kind of activity with a different dynamic. We will engage in storytelling, pair activities, group activities, and individual reflection. Participants will be connected to actions they can take after the keynote to innovate in and for their organizations.

I resonated with the idea for CultureCon when I first heard it from Zach! I loved Mini CultureCon and feel like I can help to inspire attendees into action to innovate the culture in their organization for the better. Just leave a comment or send me a message about what you’d like to learn or do at CultureCon to help you help others with an innovative mindset and culture of innovation.
-Darin Eich, Ph.D.