Speaking & Podcasts
Conversations on how people connect.
I speak, facilitate, and join podcast conversations on the things I spend my days building — communities, hospitality businesses, and experiences worth remembering. No keynote-machine; just honest talks grounded in the work.
Mike Mudrey is Executive Director at World 50 and Managing Partner of The 601 Group.
His twenty-five-year career began in operations and supply chain leadership and now spans two worlds at once — leading peer communities for senior executives at World 50 and building experience-driven hospitality brands of his own. He talks about what connects them: why people gather, how trust is designed, and what it takes to turn an ordinary gathering into something people actually remember. Research shows that people who create together connect more deeply — not as a metaphor, but neurologically — and Mike's immersive culinary facilitation experiences are built on exactly that idea.
Topics
Talks are shaped to the room — these are the themes I return to most.
Community Building
Designing the conditions for trust, candor, and belonging — from executive peer groups to a dinner table.
Hospitality
What great hospitality actually is, and why it's a discipline every leader can learn from.
Leadership
Lessons from a career spent observing how the best organizations — and people — are built.
Entrepreneurship
The honest, unglamorous reality of building experience-driven businesses from the ground up.
Experience Design
How memory is made — and why the details before and after the main event matter most.
Building While Leading Others
What it takes to lead a community and build a company at the same time, and what each teaches the other.
Appearances & formats
Hospitality, Leadership & the Science of Human Connection
A talk on why people gather and what makes an experience worth remembering — for leadership offsites, conferences, and hospitality audiences.
Immersive Culinary Team Experiences
Hands-on sessions hosted at The Local Epicurean — designed to turn a team event into genuine connection. Teams that create together connect deeper.
Guest Conversations
Available for interviews on community, hospitality, entrepreneurship, and building businesses while leading others. Invite Mike →
Speaking inquiry
Tell me a little about your event or team and I'll be in touch.