People were absolutely raving about her presentation.
Dawn Brunn
M&A Executive Search
Keynotes
Every audience Cecily speaks to leaves with something new: a way to read change. Not inspiration that fades by Monday, but a shift in how they see.
Her keynotes address what all of us are living right now: absorbing more — more initiatives, more mandates, more reorganization — with less clarity about where it's all going. But this situation isn't something effort can overcome. The real problem is that no one has given us a way to read what's happening. Cecily does.
At the center of Change Literacy is a counterintuitive truth: the more things change, the more we must anchor to what doesn't.
Disruption isn’t chaos. It’s a pattern. Once you can read the pattern, the way forward becomes unmistakable.
That’s why audiences are still talking about her keynotes long after the event. Once the pattern clicks, the signs pointing toward "future" are always in view.
Lead Like a Futurist
Read What's Coming. Know Where to Move.
The ability to read change is the defining leadership skill of our time.
Leaders and futurists occupy the same position: they lead from the edge of change. The difference is that futurists know how to read it.
In this keynote, Cecily Sommers cracks the code on disruption. Through her Change Literacy framework, she reveals the patterns, forces, and cycles that signal where change is headed and where new opportunities are emerging.
Audiences will leave with the ability to:
• Recognize where they are in the cycle of change
• Read both ends of any trend
• Decode disruption and reveal new opportunities
• Increase alignment and effectiveness across teams
Those who can read change are the ones who lead it.
The Reinvention Spiral
The Navigation Tool for Every Transition You'll Ever Face
You're not lost. You're in the middle.
Every leader knows the middle: the moment when the old way no longer works and the new way has not fully formed yet. It appears in careers, in organizations, and in life itself. Most people move through it without a map.
The Reinvention Spiral provides that map. In this keynote, Cecily Sommers reveals the evolutionary path that all transitions follow and shows leaders how to recognize where they are within it.
Leaders learn how to identify what is ending, what is emerging, and how to guide others through the uncertainty that comes with change. The framework gives leaders language for transition, helping teams understand what is happening and move through it together.
Audiences will leave able to:
• Recognize where they are in any personal or organizational transition
• Guide teams through uncertainty with steadiness and clarity
• Support people navigating the psychological strain of continuous change
• Lead transitions without burning out themselves or their teams
Every transition has a map. Knowing where you are turns anxiety into agency.
The Future is Where We Belong
The Human Advantage in the Age of Intelligence
Belonging is not a cultural aspiration. It's a leadership discipline.
Reading change is a powerful skill. But reading change alone doesn't move an organization. What moves an organization is belonging — the human capability that allows teams to think together, act together, and adapt together under pressure.
In this keynote, Cecily Sommers draws on her research and Future of Leadership work with Google and other global organizations to reveal the hidden structure of belonging. It is the invisible architecture that determines how fast a team can move, how well it holds together, and how much of its collective intelligence actually gets used.
As AI reshapes what work looks like, this becomes the irreplaceable human advantage. Technology can replicate many things. Belonging is not one of them.
Audiences will leave able to:
• Understand belonging as a structure that can be intentionally strengthened
• Build trust and alignment across teams during rapid change
• Deepen collaboration and coordinated action
• Cultivate the human capabilities that technology cannot replace
Belonging has a structure. When it holds, organizations move as one.
Want to know which way is 'future'?
YOUR AUDIENCE IS ABOUT TO FIND OUT
Global keynote speaker, business futurist, and strategic advisor guiding executive teams in their most consequential work. One of Forbes’ Top 50 Female Futurists.
© 2026 Wherefore Co.