Culture is a story we share.
But culture isn’t easy to talk about. That’s because culture operates below the surface. It’s not an offering; it’s a shared experience that is deeply rooted in how people feel about an organization and its leadership, and whether those feelings drive motivation, connection and meaning.
Organizations that are serious about culture need a way to take the culture conversation deeper. And at the same time, make it fun, real, and human.Â
That’s the work we are doing at CultureTalk.
As you get to know us, you’ll learn the red thread running through everything we talk about is storytelling.
Story is a powerfully simple mechanism for getting people to lean in and align around ideas. As the business world looks for new ways to make work more human, storytelling is as human as it gets. Both our brains and our hearts are wired to connect when we share a story.
Founders Story
CultureTalk was founded by Theresa Agresta and Cynthia Agresta Forstmann.
1
We are two sisters from a family of 10 children.
Growing up in a large family taught us about the importance of groups. Our parents ran the family like a small business, delegating roles and responsibilities and holding team meetings to discuss important family decisions.
Our mother once shared, “I never thought about myself as raising children, I was focused on raising a family.”
2
Before CultureTalk, we co-founded a brand agency called Allegory.
Over 15 years we helped organizations and leaders build meaningful brands. We did that by measuring the culture in an organization and letting the brand story emerge from the culture. It was a powerful and impactful process that had clients asking us to come back again and again.They wanted to use their story to recruit and hire, onboard and engage, merge and shift, lead and grow.
3
We built a process for making ‘culture’ tangible.
Through our work at Allegory, we got to ‘unlock the code’ of a company’s DNA, it’s heart and soul and translate it into a story that leaders could build momentum around. We got to see first-hand the way the story moves people, the way it ignites teams.
4
We built CultureTalk, an evolution for Archetypes in business.
We knew that this intuitive storytelling framework – called Archetypes – was bigger than branding. That’s why we founded CultureTalk. The CultureTalk Platform includes two assessment tools that measure Archetype patterns in individuals and groups, and a library of tools and training materials designed to activate these story profiles.Â
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Consultants, executives, team leaders, students, and researchers from all over the world have relied on our content as they learned about organizational culture. CultureTalk’s work with Archetypes has paved the way for meaningful conversations about workplace culture for tens of thousands of companies.
5
We’re training an international network of Partners.
Through our signature Certification program, we have trained coaches, consultants, and in-house teams around the world. These licensed practitioners are leveraging the CultureTalk toolset and Archetype framework to develop leaders, teams, brands, and workplace cultures.
6
We are co-creating cutting edge business applications with the Archetype frameworkÂ
– building bridges between individual employees and organizational systems, tapping into authenticity and psychological safety through shared human story, and deepening conversations around purpose, potential, connection and belonging that meet the demands of modern workplaces.
Our
Purpose
We believe human potential and organizational success are inextricably intertwined.Â
CultureTalk provides a new framework of understanding that fuels personal growth and organizational fulfillment. Using the power inherent in Archetypes, CultureTalk opens doors to a more conscious and positive way of interacting and communicating, helping people realize their greatest potential and organizations carry out their unique missions.
Hire us
To Speak
We love talking about workplace culture! Does your group need new energy and ideas around developing talent, engaging teams, and elevating workplace culture? We’d love to customize one of our signature talks or workshops:
Make Culture Work: 5 Principles for Turning Culture into a Tangible Business Tool
Navigating Uncertainty: Let Culture Be Your Guide
Become the Change: How to Help Teams Adapt and Build Resilience
The Culture-Talent Connection
And more
