in business movement through five Pinnacle Dinners™
Proof
The work doesn’t stop at applause.
Kristi’s work is built to create movement: a leadership conversation that finally becomes honest, a relationship that becomes opportunity, an expert who becomes visible, a room that keeps producing value after everyone leaves.
generated through LinkedIn in one year through native content and relationship-led conversion
people assessed through Authentic Authority™
reported compensation increase for a senior financial-services leader after five sessions
years of leadership experience, including a Fortune 250 institution
Three applications · What happened next
Human insight becomes useful business practice.
On a stage, inside a leadership team, and around a purposeful table. Each example connects the work to business results and what followed.
01 / NC TECH · September 29, 2026
Human judgment in an AI-powered workplace
3 engagements in 3 hours · Books sold out
- The situation
- Kristi delivered the opening keynote for 300+ attendees at the NC TECH Summit for Women in Tech, connecting AI with human judgment, trust, and decision-making.
- What Lighthouse did
- Kristi used Authentic Authority™ and practical decision questions to connect trust and leadership styles with human judgment, decision ownership, and the people affected by a decision. Archetype stickers gave participants a visible way to start the conversation.
- The result
- Within three hours of the keynote, Kristi was hired for a leadership retreat, a workshop, and a keynote. Every book she brought to the summit sold, and the opening keynote received a standing ovation.
- After the room
- The keynote led directly to three new engagements. Authentic Authority™ gave participants a shared language to take into their teams and continued conversations after the session.
Read the feedback
“And it was awesome how every other speaker referenced you throughout the day!”
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Read the feedback
“They realized a lot more about who they are and how they see the world.”
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02 / Confidential enterprise leadership engagement · September 2026
Hiring decisions with $2.3M in savings
$2.3M saved through hiring decisions · Under 8 hours
- The situation
- A private enterprise leadership engagement brought a senior team together around priorities, decision-making, communication, and cross-functional work.
- What Lighthouse did
- Lighthouse facilitated leadership working sessions and applied Authentic Authority™ to leadership and hiring decisions: who needs to act, what helps them trust a decision, and what the situation requires beyond a leader’s default approach.
- The result
- Less than eight hours of work together helped the client save $2.3 million through hiring decisions.
- After the room
- The engagement grew into six-figure ongoing client work, continuing the leadership, decision-making, accountability, and communication support.
03 / Rare Rooms™ · Cultural, philanthropic, and business applications
A conversation becomes a result and a next step
$20,000 raised · Ongoing client work · A new co-host partnership
- The situation
- Rare Rooms™ bring carefully selected people together around a clear purpose, with attention to what can happen during the room and afterward.
- What Lighthouse did
- Kristi helped an advisory client create the Washington National Opera Rare Room™ at Field & Main. The work connected the people, purpose, conversation, and ask. Pinnacle Powered™ brings the Rare Rooms™ method inside an organization.
- The result
- The WNO Rare Room™ brought together 30 guests and raised $20,000 in support of Washington National Opera. It also led to ongoing work through the advisory client relationship. In a separate Pinnacle Dinner example, Drew Burdick, Founder of StealthX, attended as a guest and became Kristi’s partner and Operator Dinner co-host.
- After the room
- The collaboration continued with The Voice at the Table™ on October 8 in Tysons. Across five Pinnacle Dinners™, $5 million in business movement demonstrates the broader commercial application of the method.
Current strategic work
The scope is already bigger than the stage.
- GABACommercialization and relationship-conversion strategy across Africa and Caribbean institutional, investment, founder, agriculture, and market-access relationships
- Elevate DigitalA broader strategy spanning private prospect rooms, live enterprise activations, responsible AI, transformation, and 2027 commercial follow-through
- StealthX × LighthouseThe first Operator Dinner was called “an absolute slam dunk.” The second Charlotte room with Drew Burdick is confirmed for October 29, 2026.
- Confidential enterprise engagementA multi-day executive alignment and leadership experience for a senior team in Baltimore
Proof from the Studio
People stay in the conversation.
At BetterStory Studio™, leaders and founders test language out loud, hear how it lands, and continue the conversation with the people in the room.
Explore BetterStory Studio
Bestselling book
Leadership people can actually feel.
UNICORN Leader™ addresses innovation in the modern workplace through recognition, experimentation, learning, and practical leadership tools.
Also available as an audience book package for select engagements.
The Last Straw
Full-strength Kristi.
The conversations get candid, occasionally spicy, and consistently useful. The Last Straw goes deeper into leadership, work, trust, relationships, and what happens when we stop polishing the answer.
Watch The Last Straw on YouTubeSelected stages + communities
Different industries. Shared stakes. Stronger movement.
NC TECHT200SHRM DCSHRM PeninsulaAnderson Area SHRMWomen in Payments LATAMNWIR RaleighCREW New MexicoBRC CPE SymposiumVCHA AnnualMASCBaby Bathwater
Recognition
The kind that follows the work.
- 50 Most Influential Women in CharlotteMecklenburg Times · 2025
- Women of InfluenceGlobeSt · 2025
- National Leadership in Action AwardNational recognition
- Career Mastered National AwardNational recognition
For the moment you’re moving into.
Let’s make it move.
Bring Kristi in when the stakes are high and your leaders are ready to build confidence, cohesion, trust, and follow-through around what comes next.