Keynote Speaker • Author • Culture Architect
A Fable About Culture, Trust, and the Question Every Customer Is Afraid to Ask
Customers don't buy the best option. They buy the safest option.
The Question No One Says Out Loud
"What if I get this wrong?"
Every customer, every client, every buyer is quietly asking the same question. Not "What's the best option?" but "Which choice won't hurt me?"
The opposite of great service isn't terrible service — it's forgettable service. And forgettable is where trust goes to die.
"Will this product actually work?"
"Is this worth the price I'm paying?"
"Will I look smart — or foolish — for choosing this?"
The Framework
Six interlocking behaviors that create unshakable culture. Like nature's honeycomb — strength through shape, connection, and consistency.
"Culture isn't built by adding behaviors. It's built by connecting them."
Helpful
The instinctive question: "How can I add the most value right now?" Acting before being asked.
Kind
Truth delivered with care. Not nice — kind. Nice is passive. Kind is active. Kind is harder.
Aware
Seeing what others miss. Reading the room. Self-aware and situationally tuned.
Buoyant
Carrying your own weather. Not drowning — and not pulling others under with you.
Secure
No fear of honesty. Security doesn't mean no consequences — it means trust is the default.
Empowered
The permission to be unreasonably thoughtful. The four spokes need a hub to turn.
"You cannot market your way to trust.
You have to earn it from the inside out."
The Practice
The discipline of noticing, anticipating, and acting on customer needs long before they ever ask.
It's not about grand gestures. It's about consistent, unreasonable thoughtfulness — the kind of attention that makes people feel seen.
A posture, not a task. Every person, every interaction, every moment — ready before the need arrives.
The RTS Ladder
Waiting to be asked.
Meeting the industry norm. Nothing more.
Anticipating needs. Preventing problems before they surface.
Creating meaningful, personal, unexpected moments that linger.
Repeatable, ritualized experiences that become your brand's fingerprint.
"The small things ARE the big things."
The Book
When Claire Weston trades her corporate corner office for a struggling Alaska fishing lodge, she discovers that the same principles that save a business can save a life — and that being promoted away from your purpose is its own kind of crisis.
In the tradition of Patrick Lencioni and The Goal, this leadership fable embeds every framework — the Culture Honeycomb, the Culture Wheel, Ridiculously Thoughtful Service — inside a story you won't want to put down.
The Diagnostic
A 50-point assessment across 10 categories. Where does your organization stand?
Work With Darryl
Every business is the hospitality business — or it will be out of business. These sessions give your team the language, frameworks, and urgency to act on that truth.
A high-energy, story-driven talk that reframes how your audience thinks about trust, culture, and the customer experience.
An immersive, hands-on session where your leadership team builds their culture blueprint using every framework in the system.
Walk away with a clear score, a gap analysis, and a 30-day action plan to move from where you are to where you want to be.
About the Author
Darryl Bosshardt's career has taken an unusual path — from directing programs at Boy Scout summer camps, where he first learned that a seasonal staff of young people could deliver extraordinary experiences if the right conditions were in place, to selling Baldwin pianos, to managing Pybus Point Lodge, a remote wilderness lodge in Southeast Alaska where every element of the Culture Honeycomb was pressure-tested with real guests who had traveled thousands of miles to be there.
Along the way, he advised small businesses and government contractors through the U.S. Small Business Development Center and PTAC programs, and spent years in leadership at Redmond Inc., a Utah-based manufacturer widely recognized for its distinctive organizational culture.
He holds an MBA from Western Governors University and a B.S. from Southern Utah University. He's a former volunteer EMT and a hobby beekeeper — the honeycomb was personal before it was a framework.
Darryl has shared these ideas from a lot of stages — trade show keynotes, university lectures, executive peer groups like Vistage and EO, and as a guest on numerous podcasts exploring culture, leadership, and what it actually takes to earn trust.
He believes the best leadership lessons happen in wild places — and that the small things are always the big things.
"When you win trust, you reduce marketing spend.
When you eliminate risk, you increase referrals.
When you become the safe choice, you become the obvious choice."
Let's Talk
Whether it's a keynote, a workshop, or a conversation about your culture — it starts here.
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