A Full Room, A Necessary Conversation: Ethicspace 2026

There are rooms you walk into knowing the conversation matters.

And then there are rooms that confirm it the moment you begin.

At this year’s Ethicspace 2026, hosted by the Business Ethics Alliance, I had the opportunity to lead a workshop titled:

“The Audience You Want to Reach, and the One(s) You Don’t.”

And we had a full room.

Not because storytelling is trendy, but because it’s powerful. And with that power comes responsibility.

We spent our time digging into a truth that often gets overlooked in marketing, PR, and communications:

Knowing your audience isn’t just strategic. It’s ethical.

Because telling the wrong story to the wrong audience doesn’t just miss the mark. It can shatter trust, damage credibility, and create harm that can’t easily be undone.

We talked about the real questions communicators and storytellers need to ask before they ever hit “publish”:

• Who is this story for, and who is it not for?

• What responsibility do I hold in telling it?

• Is this story meant to be amplified or protected?

• Who benefits from this narrative being shared?

• And who could be impacted by it?

Because not every story is meant for everyone.

Some stories deserve a wide stage. Others require care, context, and the right room.

That’s the work.

That’s the tension.

And that’s where ethical storytelling lives.

I’m grateful to Executive Director AnnMarie Marlier and Hamza Haqqi of the Business Ethics Alliance for creating space for conversations like this, and to everyone who showed up ready to think deeper, challenge assumptions, and engage in the kind of dialogue that makes our work better.

We believe storytelling isn’t just about being seen. It’s about being responsible with what we choose to show, and who we choose to show it to. Thank you for being in the room.

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