Led by John Parke
What Participants Will Do

Using their DiSC communication style, participants join a diverse Cultivate Circle that serves as their learning community throughout the experience. Through facilitated discussion and connection activities, participants begin building relationships with peers who will support, challenge, and learn alongside them throughout Cultivate.

Why It Matters

Leadership development rarely happens in isolation. Meaningful growth occurs when individuals have opportunities to learn from different perspectives, test ideas, and receive feedback from others.

Why This Experience Happens Here

Before participants can engage in meaningful discussions, leadership challenges, and collaborative learning experiences, they need a community. Cultivate Circles establish the foundation for the relationships, accountability, and peer learning that will continue throughout the program.

Participants Leave With

A trusted network of peers and a stronger sense of connection that supports learning throughout the Cultivate experience.

Led by Jason Burke
What Participants Will Do

Jason uses his leadership story to help participants discover theirs.  Drawing from building a food industry startup into a nationally recognized brand, he explores lessons related to growth, resilience, leadership, and navigating uncertainty. Through facilitated roundtable discussions, participants then connect those lessons to their own experiences and leadership aspirations.

Why It Matters

Many emerging leaders underestimate their ability to influence outcomes and create meaningful impact. Leadership is often viewed as something that comes later in a career rather than something that can be developed today. Leadership is earned through daily actions—not titles.

Why This Experience Happens Here

After participants establish their Cultivate Circles, the program shifts from connection to possibility. Jason's story challenges participants to think differently about leadership before they begin building the practical skills needed to lead others.

Participants Leave With

A broader perspective on leadership, increased confidence in their own potential, and a mindset focused on growth and continuous development.

Led by Emma Hossack
What Participants Will Do

Participants engage in evolving leadership scenarios that require communication, collaboration, prioritization, and decision-making under pressure. Using insights from their DiSC profile, they explore how different communication styles respond when conditions become challenging.

Why It Matters

Leadership rarely happens under ideal circumstances. Emerging leaders are often asked to navigate changing priorities, limited information, operational pressures, and competing viewpoints while maintaining team alignment and performance.

Why This Experience Happens Here

Before participants can effectively influence others, navigate difficult conversations, or lead through complexity, they must first understand how they show up under pressure. This experience establishes the self-awareness foundation for the remainder of the program.

Participants Leave With

Greater self-awareness, stronger emotional intelligence, and practical strategies for adapting their communication and leadership approach when conditions become challenging.

Led by Amy Goodson
What Participants Will Do

Participants explore practical frameworks for delivering feedback, addressing performance concerns, managing conflict, and holding others accountable. Through discussion and applied exercises, they practice one of leadership's most important responsibilities: having conversations that matter.

Why It Matters

Many leaders avoid difficult conversations because they fear conflict, damaging relationships, or saying the wrong thing. Unfortunately, avoiding these conversations often creates larger challenges for teams and organizations.

Why This Experience Happens Here

After participants better understand their own communication tendencies, they are ready to apply that awareness to one of the most challenging aspects of leadership—navigating difficult conversations with confidence and effectiveness.

Participants Leave With

Practical tools for addressing challenges directly, delivering feedback effectively, and strengthening accountability while maintaining trust and respect.

Led by Leslie Minchin
What Participants Will Do

Participants explore how trust, credibility, relationships, and communication contribute to influence. Through discussion and practical exercises, they learn strategies for gaining buy-in, overcoming resistance, and driving results regardless of title or position.

Why It Matters

Organizations need people who can build alignment, collaborate across functions, and move initiatives forward without relying on formal authority. Influence is one of the most valuable skills emerging leaders can develop.

Why This Experience Happens Here

Strong communication creates the foundation for influence. This session builds naturally upon the concepts introduced through DiSC and difficult conversations by helping participants understand how credibility and relationships create leadership impact.

Participants Leave With

Practical strategies for building influence, gaining buy-in, and creating positive outcomes regardless of position or title.

Hosted by FPSA
What Participants Will Do

Participants will gather at RD1 Distillery for an evening of networking, conversation, and connection with fellow Cultivate attendees. The reception provides an opportunity to continue discussions from the day's leadership experiences while getting to know peers from across the food and beverage industry in a relaxed and engaging setting.

Why It Matters

Leadership development is accelerated through relationships. Some of the most valuable insights come from conversations with peers who are navigating similar opportunities and challenges. The connections formed during Cultivate often become a lasting source of support, perspective, and professional growth.

Why This Experience Happens Here

After a day focused on self-awareness, communication, and influence, participants have an opportunity to deepen relationships and strengthen their Cultivate Circle before moving into the operational experiences and leadership challenges on Day Two. The reception helps transform a group of attendees into a community of peers invested in one another's success.

Participants Leave With

Stronger relationships, expanded professional networks, and a deeper sense of connection to the individuals who will continue sharing the Cultivate journey alongside them.

Led by John Parke & Donald Woolridge
What Participants Will Do

Participants visit a working food production operation and observe the environment through a leadership lens. Following the experience, they return to their Cultivate Circles to compare observations, discuss differing perspectives, and identify leadership lessons from what they observed.

Why It Matters

Leadership is not only about observation—it is also about interpretation. Different experiences, communication styles, and assumptions often lead people to see the same environment differently.

Why This Experience Happens Here

Participants have spent Day One building leadership skills and strengthening self-awareness. Before applying those skills themselves, they first observe leadership, teamwork, communication, and operational excellence in action while learning from multiple perspectives.

Participants Leave With

Stronger observation skills, broader perspectives, and a deeper understanding of how leadership shows up in everyday operational environments.

Led by Donald Woolridge
What Participants Will Do

Participants apply everything they have learned throughout Cultivate in an immersive operational leadership simulation. Working in teams, they navigate evolving operational challenges involving communication, workforce constraints, competing priorities, customer expectations, and organizational performance.

Why It Matters

Leadership capability is built through application. Understanding leadership concepts is valuable, but true growth occurs when participants are required to use those concepts in realistic situations.

Why This Experience Happens Here

This is the culmination of the Cultivate experience. Participants bring together everything they have learned about self-awareness, communication, influence, observation, collaboration, and decision-making in a realistic operational environment.

Participants Leave With

Greater confidence leading through ambiguity, collaborating across differing perspectives, and making decisions when perfect information is unavailable.

Led by John Parke
What Participants Will Do

Participants identify key leadership insights from the Cultivate experience, establish personal leadership commitments, and develop an action plan for continued growth after returning to work.

Why It Matters

Learning only creates value when it leads to action. The most successful leaders intentionally apply new skills, seek accountability, and commit to continuous improvement.

Why This Experience Happens Here

Leadership development doesn't end when Cultivate concludes. This final experience helps participants transform insights into action and create a practical plan for continued growth after the event.

Participants Leave With

A personalized leadership action plan, clear next steps for development, and the confidence to immediately apply what they have learned within their organizations.