Keynotes & Workshops · Ulcca Joshi Hansen

The keynote

Hope Is a Muscle^™

One throughline, shaped to your room. Hope isn't a mood that arrives once the evidence lines up. It's a discipline, and disciplines can be trained. Ulcca makes that case, and gives an audience something to do with it on Monday.

What the room walks out with

Why the capacities we were taught to treat as soft are now the ones that decide whether an organisation makes it through
A way to name what's actually happening to them, instead of reading it as personal failure
The difference between optimism and trained imagination, and why only one of them holds under pressure
Something specific to practise, not just a feeling to leave with

Every audience is different. Ulcca builds from your theme, your sector and the moment your people are actually in, rather than delivering a fixed set. Send the brief and she'll come back with a shape.

Workshops & facilitated sessions

Four themes. They work alone, and they work in order.

Where a keynote opens a room, these go deeper with a group that has work to do. Name what's ending. Clear the conditions to think. Rebuild the capacity to imagine. Then act where you actually have leverage.

01 Grieve→ 02 Clear→ 03 Imagine→ 04 Act

01GRIEVE

You're Not Failing to Adapt

The exhaustion isn't a failure to keep up. It's grief for something genuinely ending.

The Two Loops model: why decline and emergence happen at once
Permission to name what's ending, without rushing to fix it
The first real question for designing what comes next

Best forOrganisations mid-restructure, merger or strategic reset

02CLEAR

Getting Your Attention Back

Your people aren't failing to think. They're thinking inside environments built to stop them.

Fragmented attention as a design problem, so a design solution
The two modes of attention, in language they can use on Monday
The conditions worth protecting, at work and at home

Best forTeams drowning in tools, notifications and meeting load

03IMAGINE

Trained Imagination

Picturing a better future is a trainable skill, not a mood, and it can be rebuilt.

Hope as practice rather than temperament
Why optimism and trained imagination are not the same thing
Something to do on the days it fails

Best forTeams carrying the weight of a difficult year

04ACT

Small Acts, Dynamic Systems

You control less than you fear, and considerably more than you think.

The three spheres: control, influence, concern
Why the machine metaphor keeps failing living organisations
A clear read on where their own leverage actually sits

Best forAll-staff gatherings and leaders without formal authority

Every theme runs as a workshop or a facilitated session. Half or full day · Single session or the full arc · Framed around where your organisation actually is

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What organisers say

The response in the room.

"

Ulcca is an insightful and powerful presenter and her ability to frame and lead a panel discussion is among the best I have seen at any conference. She also hosted a live question and answer session with our keynote speaker, Isabel Wilkerson. She was well received by an audience of 4,000, and she was easy to work with, authentic and personable.

Munir ShivjiExecutive Director, American Montessori Society

"

Dr. Hansen brought her depth of expertise and insight to a brilliant presentation that captivated our audience and left them inspired, which is exactly what one hopes for in a keynote. She took us on a journey, weaving together history, philosophy, science and educational thought.

Wendy Shenk-EvansExecutive Director, Montessori Public Policy Institute

"

She hit the right notes for us in combining what she knows and brings to the table, and still was able to ensure that her message was relevant to our group and tied to our conference theme. What a joy to work with, and what a great asset to our event.

Peter MasonVP Communications, Colorado League of Charter Schools

Booking

Start a conversation about what comes next.

For speaking, advisory and workshop inquiries, share your event date, your audience, and what you're hoping people walk away with. It helps Ulcca respond quickly and well.