Pre-Conference Workshop

09:00 First Nations Leadership Masterclass

This one-day masterclass is designed specifically for Indigenous staff and future leaders to rise to greater levels of influence, responsibility, and decision-making. It will challenge your assumptions, and expand and develop your mindset, skillset and toolsets to become a more effective leader whilst navigating some of the challenges Indigenous professionals can face in the workplace.

Throughout the day, you will explore frameworks and tools, emotional intelligence, develop your unique leadership style, navigate workplace cultural challenges, learn powerful verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and exert your personal influence and build a foundation for positive influence and success.

Key Course Takeaways:

• Understand the value and importance of leadership for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Confidence you need to navigate your role and engage with multiple stakeholders
• Internalise leadership styles, qualities, and behaviours
• Develop strategic leadership skills that are effective & informed by both Indigenous culture & Western best practice
• Deepen cultural awareness & identity in the context of business leadership
• Take Away practical skills such as negotiating, problem-solving and above-the-line thinking
• Develop your unique, authentic leadership style
• Influence and engage with others with more impact and presence
• Deepen & broaden your worldview and ability to coordinate different perspectives
• Contribute to the development of Indigenous leaders and staff within your organisation

Conference Day 1

SESSION 1:
9:30 AM: Leading Minds That Perform Differently

High performing teams are not built on sameness. They are built on leaders who know how to get the best out of different ways of thinking.
This session will explore what it really means to lead minds that perform differently in today’s workplace. Moving beyond traditional leadership models, we will examine how different cognitive styles influence decision making, communication, productivity and team dynamics.

Through real world insights and practical examples, this session will challenge how performance is defined and managed, and what leaders need to do differently to unlock the full capability of their teams.

Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of how to reduce friction, improve output, and lead with greater confidence in increasingly complex and diverse environments.

Most workplaces are designed around a narrow set of working styles, often limiting those who think and operate differently.
Emily Kendall spent over a decade as an engineer across ASX200 resources organisations — including Woodside, Fortescue Future Industries and now South32. As an AuDHD engineer, she's lived that gap firsthand, and built a simple belief from it: most barriers neurodivergent people face aren't capability issues, they're design issues.

Through All Minds Belong, the consultancy she founded, Emily helps organisations embed inclusion at a system level — distinguishing outcomes from the one "right" way of reaching them, and designing work that lets different cognitive styles perform.

Attendees will leave with practical ways to reduce friction and unlock output, without asking everyone to think alike.

The assumption that alignment requires sameness is one of the biggest barriers to building high-performing teams.
Around 25% or more of today's workforce is neurodivergent — and if you think your team doesn't include any neurodivergent people, the data suggests otherwise. It's more likely they've learned it's safer to hide it. HESTA's Lizzy Keenan shares an honest, in-progress account of what happens when an organisation starts asking why, and what that costs.

Drawing on HESTA's own culture journey — learning together, adapting along the way, and building the muscle to genuinely believe in neuro-inclusivity — Lizzy unpacks what it actually takes to shift a team from expecting conformity to celebrating the full range of human potential.

Attendees will leave with a practical, unpolished look at how a real organisation is building a team that performs because of difference, not despite it. Because the goal isn't for everyone to show up the same. It's for everyone to show up as themselves.

1:00 PM Lunch

2:00 PM From Insights to Action: What lessons have we learned so far?

SESSION 4
2:20 PM: Leading Under Pressure

SESSION 5:
3:30 PM: Loud, Late and Unapologetic: Rewriting Success on Your Own Terms

Diagnosed with ADHD at 42, then autistic soon after, Em Rusciano spent decades performing "normal" before her real mind was ever seen. In this fireside chat, Em shares the story behind the headlines: masking, unmasking, raising neurodivergent kids, and building a career and a family life on her own terms.

This is not a leadership framework. It's proof that late diagnosis doesn't mean a smaller life, and that performance built on masking is performance built to burn out.
Attendees will leave Day One with a genuinely uplifting, funny, and disarmingly honest reminder of what's possible when people stop hiding how they think.

4:20 PM Closing Reflections and Insights to Action

4:40 PM Close of Day one & Networking Drinks

Conference Day 1

SESSION 1:
9:10 AM: Rethinking Productivity

Traditional measures of productivity do not always capture how people actually deliver value at work.

This session will explore how different thinking styles approach focus, output and performance, and why a one size fits all model often falls short. We will examine how leaders can rethink expectations, redefine productivity and create environments where individuals can perform at their best.

Attendees will gain practical insights into how to better align work, expectations and outcomes to drive more consistent and sustainable performance across their teams.

Many of the most valuable ideas come from people who approach problems in different ways.

This session will explore how cognitive diversity contributes to innovation, creativity and better problem solving. We will look at how leaders can create the conditions for new ideas to emerge, be heard and be acted on, rather than unintentionally filtering them out.

Attendees will walk away with a clearer understanding of how to harness different perspectives to drive innovation and unlock new opportunities within their teams and organisations.

When leadership capability does not match team complexity, the impact is often hidden but significant.

This session will explore the real cost of misalignment, from lost productivity and disengagement through to turnover and missed opportunities. We will examine how small gaps in understanding can compound over time and affect overall performance.

Attendees will gain insight into where these challenges show up in their own teams and what practical steps can be taken to reduce risk and improve outcomes.

SESSION 4
12:30 PM: AI, Focus and Cognitive Strengths

SESSION 5:
2:40 PM: Building Teams That Actually Work

Strong teams are not defined by alignment alone, but by how effectively they work through difference.

This session will bring together the key themes of the summit, focusing on practical strategies to improve collaboration, reduce friction and strengthen team performance. We will explore what successful teams do differently and how leaders can embed these behaviours into everyday work.

Attendees will leave with clear, actionable approaches to build teams that are more effective, more resilient and better equipped to perform in complex environments.

3:30 PM Bringing it all together: Final From Insights to Action

4:00 PM Conference Close

Post-Conference Workshop

09:00 Neurodivergent Leadership Masterclass

This one day practical workshop is designed specifically for neurodivergent leaders and professionals who want to perform at a higher level without compromising how they think and work.

Too often, leadership expectations are built around a narrow definition of performance. This session challenges that model and focuses on how you can lead, work and succeed by leveraging your natural strengths rather than masking them.

Throughout the day, you will explore practical tools, strategies and frameworks to better manage energy, improve focus, navigate workplace expectations and build a leadership style that is both authentic and effective.

Key Course Takeaways:

• Reframe your neurodivergence as a strength and understand how it shapes your leadership style
• Build practical strategies to manage energy, focus and avoid burnout
• Learn how to structure work and workflows to improve productivity and consistency
• Develop a clear and professional way to communicate your working style and preferences
• Strengthen your confidence to lead without masking or over adapting
• Walk away with a clear, practical plan to improve your performance immediately

• Put advice and information into appropriate language for the receiver

Post-Conference Workshop 2

9:00 Building a Neuroinclusive Organisation That Performs

Organisations are increasingly recognising the value of neurodiversity, but many struggle to translate this into consistent performance across teams.

This half day workshop focuses on how to embed neuroinclusion into the way your organisation operates, not as an initiative, but as a driver of productivity, engagement and results. Moving beyond awareness, you will explore how leadership capability, team design and workplace practices can either unlock or limit performance.

Throughout the session, you will gain practical frameworks to better support different ways of thinking across recruitment, onboarding, communication and day to day operations, while improving overall business outcomes.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• Build a clear understanding of what a neuroinclusive organisation looks like in practice
• Identify gaps in your current leadership capability, systems and processes
• Learn how to embed neuroinclusive practices across the employee lifecycle
• Improve team performance by designing roles, workflows and environments more effectively
• Strengthen leadership capability to support different thinking styles at scale
• Develop a practical roadmap to implement change within your organisation

Post-Conference Workshop 3

1:30 Reducing Friction in Teams and Communication

Many of the challenges within teams are not caused by lack of capability, but by differences in how people think, communicate and approach their work.

This practical workshop explores how leaders can reduce friction, improve communication and create more effective team dynamics across cognitively diverse environments. By understanding where misalignment occurs, you can address common breakdowns that impact performance, collaboration and engagement.

Throughout the session, you will explore practical strategies to improve clarity, reduce misunderstandings and create stronger, more productive working relationships.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• Understand how different thinking and communication styles create friction within teams
• Identify common breakdowns that impact collaboration and performance
• Learn practical techniques to improve clarity and reduce misunderstandings
• Strengthen your ability to communicate effectively across diverse teams
• Improve team dynamics without forcing uniformity or over standardisation
• Apply simple, actionable strategies to improve day to day team performance