2026 Cultures of Belonging Walkshop
The Lake Geneva Shoreline Walkshop brings the experience closer to home: walking the gentle trails around the famous shoreline while engaging in the challenging conversations that lasting organizational change requires. Over two days, the rhythm of walking together will create space for honest dialogue about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging—conversations that are difficult to have across a conference table.
Using Cultures of Belonging as our guide, we will explore how to build organizations where people don't just show up, but truly belong. The accessible terrain allows executives from all fitness levels to participate fully in both the physical journey and the equally important work of examining our assumptions, biases, and leadership practices.
The Lake Geneva Shoreline Walkshop at a glance
Trail Difficulty: Easy
For the first time in 2026, our community will visit a more regional, domestic location for a more accessible hiking experience. We will have the opportunity to explore the famous Lake Geneva shoreline public walking trail (26 miles in all), taking in the natural beauty and fall colors surrounding the lake.
October 1-4, 2026: 3 nights accommodation in lake side resort and spa
2 days of hiking around the lake’s famous shoreline path (approximately 26 miles)
14 Leaders who will challenge their assumptions, biases and leadership practices while accomplishing this experience together
October 1 - 4, 2026
Price Includes:
Stay in a lakeside resort + spa hotel (3 nights)
Breakfast every day is included
2 Lunches and 3 dinners included at highly rated local restaurants in town
Transfers around the lake in private boat charters
Facilitator for the event (the author herself!)
A copy of the book and all associated training materials and workbooks
A 1:1 coaching session with the author after the Walkshop
Gain access to the Global Walkshop community (online portal and forum). The learning and engagement doesn’t stop when you’re off the trail - it’s just that start of your engagement with this community of executives, designers, authors, speakers, and hikers.
Price does not include:
Airfare and transport to and from Lake Geneva will be your responsibility.
Alcoholic beverages are not included in the price of this Walkshop.
Facilitation Approach
On this Walkshop, we will be examining the systems and practices that either foster or prevent belonging in our organizations, understanding how our own experiences shape our leadership approach to inclusion, and learning to create environments where diverse teams thrive. Participants will leave with:
Greater self-awareness about how their identity and experiences influence their leadership
Practical tools from Cultures of Belonging including healing circles, the Ladder of Inference, and bias interventions
A personalized DEIB action plan aligned with their organizational context
Strategies for building psychological safety and trust across difference
Skills for navigating resistance to diversity and inclusion initiatives
Connections with fellow leaders committed to this work
Here is the discussion guide of how we will explore these topics
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Thursday, Oct 1 2026
We begin our journey at the opening dinner by exploring what it truly means to belong—and what happens when we don't. Each participant will share a personal story of belonging (or exclusion) that shaped how they lead today. This isn't an icebreaker; it's an invitation to bring our full selves to the work ahead.
We'll introduce the core framework from Cultures of Belonging—the three elements that anchor inclusive organizations:
Vision (Why): Who do we aspire to be as an organization?
Values (How): What principles guide our behavior and decisions?
Mission (What): What do we actually do, and for whom?
We'll explore the question: Is your organization ready for DEIB work? And perhaps more importantly—are you?
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Friday, October 2 2026
Our first day of hiking focuses on seeing clearly—both what's happening in our organizations and what's happening inside ourselves. We'll walk through the concept of the Ladder of Inference, a tool that reveals how we selectively choose data, make meaning from it, and take action based on assumptions we don't even realize we're making.
Key topics we'll explore:
The Ladder of Inference: Where are you climbing too quickly in your leadership? What data are you ignoring?
Common biases in leadership: Halo effect, horn effect, confirmation bias, and how they show up beyond hiring
The four protective practices: Recruiting, Retention, Promotion, Protection—where is your organization weakest?
Healing vs. punishment: Introduction to healing circles and restorative approaches to conflict
At evening dinner, we'll synthesize what surfaced during the day. Each person will share one assumption they're committing to test when they return to work—and how they'll go about testing it.
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Saturday, October 3 2026
Our second day shifts from awareness to action. Now that we can see more clearly, what will we actually do differently? We'll explore how to translate DEIB principles into tangible practices—from how we write job descriptions to how we respond when someone resists inclusion efforts.
Key topics we'll explore:
Purpose statements that matter: Crafting Vision, Values, Mission statements that actually drive belonging (not just sound good in slide decks)
Role clarity as equity: How vague expectations create inequity and how clear job descriptions create safety
DEIB action planning: Moving from good intentions to concrete initiatives (short-term, mid-term, long-term)
Managing resistance with empathy: Practicing responses to pushback that build trust rather than defensiveness
At evening dinner, each person will share the one DEIB initiative they're committing to lead. We'll pair up as accountability partners for 90-day check-ins and celebrate the commitments we're making together.
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Sunday, October 4 2026
We close our time together by naming what we're taking with us—and what we're leaving behind. This isn't just reflection; it's commitment. Each participant will articulate their 90-day roadmap:
One personal practice you'll implement (e.g., using the Ladder of Inference before making assumptions)
One organizational system you'll change (e.g., revising job descriptions, launching healing circles)
One difficult conversation you've been avoiding that you'll initiate
We'll also reflect on how walking together changed the nature of our conversations—and how this group will stay connected as we do this work in our respective organizations.
Each person will write their primary commitment on a stone to take home as a tangible reminder of the work ahead.
Meet the facilitator
Alida Miranda-Wolff is an Amazon-bestselling nonfiction author of two books with HarperCollins Leadership whose writing has been featured in Salon, Hippocampus, Writer’s Digest, and Books by Women.
Alida is a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging practitioner and worker’s rights activist committed to teaching love and cultivating belonging. She hosts Care Work with Alida Miranda-Wolff, a podcast about what it means to offer care for a living. In 2021, Alida received The University of Chicago’s Early Career Achievement Award. She lives in Chicago with an actual menagerie: one husband, one threenager, two rabbits, and four cats. When she’s not working, reading, writing, or parenting, Alida is wild gardening, interior designing, and conducting obsessive research about random topics.
As seen in:
Lake Geneva Hiking Schedule
The trail itself offers a powerful metaphor for the work we'll be doing. The Geneva Lake Shore Path exists because of an easement established by the Potawatomi people—a legal right-of-way that survived colonization, survived the arrival of Chicago's industrial barons who built estates here in the 1870s, and survives today as one of the only public paths in America that crosses entirely through private property. As we walk past multi-million dollar mansions, through carefully manicured grounds, and along shoreline shaped by both glaciers and wealth, we're literally walking a path that asks: Who has access? Whose rights were here first? How do we honor what came before while navigating what exists now? These are the same questions we'll be asking about our organizations: Who belongs? Who's been excluded? What structures need to be preserved, and which need to change?
October 1, 2026 Thursday night (Opening dinner, Fontana)
7pm: Welcome dinner the hotel
We gather Thursday evening in a private space at The Abbey Resort in Fontana, stepping away from our daily demands into an environment designed for reflection and renewal. Over dinner in this intimate setting, we'll begin the work of building trust within our cohort—creating the foundation for the vulnerable conversations ahead. We will meet the author, introduce the topic, and get to know each other. This isn't just a networking dinner or a keynote presentation. It's an invitation to show up as whole people, to share the experiences that shaped how we lead, and to prepare ourselves for two days of walking, talking, and wrestling with what it truly means to create cultures where everyone belongs.
October 2, 2026 Friday (Fontana → Williams Bay → Lake Geneva City)
Distance: 13 miles
Friday morning begins with a grounding session at The Abbey before we step out the front door and onto the lakeside trail that will carry us through the day's conversations. As we walk toward Williams Bay, we'll explore the Ladder of Inference—examining how our biases shape what we see, what we ignore, and the conclusions we draw before we even realize we're making them.
We'll pause for lunch in Williams Bay, gathering as a group to deepen the conversation over a meal before returning to the trail. The afternoon walk takes us toward Lake Geneva city, where we'll shift our focus to the four protective practices that either foster or prevent belonging: Recruiting, Retention, Promotion, and Protection.
After completing the first half of the lake's famous shoreside trail, we'll gather for dinner in Lake Geneva before a private boat returns us to The Abbey—giving us time to reflect on the water as the day's insights settle.
October 3, 2026 Saturday (Lake Geneva City → Linn → Fontana)
Distance: 13 miles
Saturday morning, we gather briefly at The Abbey before a private boat shuttles us back to where we left the trail in Lake Geneva city. Our goal: complete the second half of the lake's shoreline path and return to The Abbey on foot, closing the circle we began yesterday.
The morning's walk explores how to translate DEIB principles into tangible action—from crafting purpose statements that actually guide decisions to writing job descriptions that create clarity and equity. The afternoon focuses on your personal roadmap: What's the one initiative you're committing to? How will you respond when people resist?
We'll arrive back at The Abbey by late afternoon, having completed the full shoreline loop. That evening, we'll gather for a final celebration dinner at an exceptional lakeside restaurant overlooking the water—reflecting on the journey and the work ahead.
October 4, 2026 Sunday Closing and checkout
9:30am - 11:00am Closing conversation
11:00am Checkout and return home
Sunday morning, our closing circle shifts from conversation to commitment. This isn't just reflection—it's accountability. Each leader will share the specific action they're taking in the next 90 days, and we'll establish accountability partnerships to ensure these commitments don't fade when we return to the demands of our roles. Each person will leave with a stone inscribed with their commitment, a physical reminder of the promise made and the community holding them to it.
After the Walkshop: Structured 1:1 coaching
To support the work beyond Lake Geneva, each participant receives a full resource package: a copy of Cultures of Belonging, complete access to all workbooks and templates, and a structured one-on-one coaching session with author Alida Miranda-Wolff. This personalized coaching allows you to bring your organization's specific challenges to an expert who can help you navigate resistance, prioritize initiatives, and translate the concepts we explored on the trail into actionable strategies for your context. Participants will leave with:
Cultures of Belonging book
Private 1:1 coaching session with Alida Miranda-Wolff
All companion workbooks and implementation tools:
DEIB Action Planning Template
Purpose Statement Worksheet (Vision, Values, Mission)
Job Description Framework
Blueprint for Leading Healing Circles
Ladder of Inference Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
What's included in my ticket purchase?
Stay in a lakeside resort + spa (all hotel rooms are included. Any spa / massage package is optional and not included)
All meals are also included (Breakfast every day is included at the hotel, lunches included for each of the two hiking days, and the welcome dinner, Friday dinner, and closing dinner on Saturday are included). Alcoholic beverages are not included, but can be purchased at any dinner.
A copy of the book and all associated training materials and workbooks
A 1:1 coaching session with the author after the Walkshop
Gain access to the Global Walkshop community (online portal and community forums). The learning and engagement doesn’t stop when you’re off the trail - it’s just that start of your engagement with this community of executives, designers, authors, speakers, and hikers.
Airfare and transport to and from Lake Geneva will be your responsibility.
What will we be eating along the way?
Breakfasts will be supplied by our hotel every day. We will have designated places to stop, eat lunch, and take bathroom breaks in the middle of each day’s hike. Dinners will be included and will be in highly rated restaurants in town (not picnic styles on the trail). You are free to order what you want for food and drinks (but alcoholic benerages are not included).
Will I have private rooms for sleeping?
Yes - everyone will have a private bedroom. No sharing or roommates on this Walkshop.
What should I pack for the trip?
Day pack that can get wet and survive
Bring some water for the hike
Journal
Good pens
Snacks
Extra socks
Spare plastic bags (keep things dry)
Sunscreen and sunglasses
Band-Aids (in case you get blisters)
What will the weather be like?
Early October brings Lake Geneva's most spectacular season. The air is crisp and clear, with morning temperatures in the 50s that invite a light jacket—quickly shed as the day warms to the mid-60s. The lake reflects autumn's first serious color show: maples and oaks along the shoreline blazing gold and crimson against the still-green understory. The trail is yours—summer tourists gone, winter not yet arrived. The light has that particular fall clarity, low and golden, stretching shadows long across the water. It's the kind of weather that makes you want to walk: cool enough to stay energized, warm enough to linger over lunch outdoors, perfect for the kind of sustained conversation that requires both physical comfort and mental presence.
How should I train / prepare for the hike?
Everyone should start an exercise routine several months before our trip and start increasing the amount of physical activity they experience in a typical day in anticipation of the experience.
Cultures of Belonging Walkshop
Lake Geneva Shore Path - 2026