Dom Thurbon closed PM/ONE 2026 with a question that went beyond what delegates planned to do next: what would they take accountability for?
In his closing session, The Truth of It, Dom drew together three themes from the conference: telling the truth, understanding how people feel and taking responsibility for what happens afterwards.
His starting point was an honest conversation about the business as it stands.
Start with the conversation you need
Dom asked delegates to identify the problem their team needed to acknowledge, then consider the more truthful conversation they needed to have about it.
That meant discussing difficulties openly and constructively, with the optimism to believe something could change.
He pointed to examples across the event of speakers acknowledging problems in their businesses and making them visible to their teams. A problem, he argued, remains real whether anyone talks about it or not.
“The truth is the truth, whether or not we acknowledge it,” he said.
Dom also linked honesty to the advice clients receive. He described a rule he had taught consultants in a business he built: give good advice first, regardless of whose interests it serves.
For delegates returning to their agencies, the question was how to make that commitment part of everyday conversations.
Help the team feel progress
The second theme was the role of feelings in how people judge value and respond to change.
“Value is a feeling,” Dom said.
He challenged delegates to think about more than the information they would bring back from the conference. The energy they felt in the room also mattered, along with how they could help their teams feel they were getting somewhere.
Dom described progress as a particularly important source of motivation when the work is difficult; his question for leaders was how to connect people to a feeling that their efforts and results matter.
That made the next conversation with the team about both what needed to change and how people would recognise they were making headway.
Take responsibility for what happens next
Dom’s final theme was accountability.
He reminded delegates that the speakers could explain their approaches, but responsibility for applying those ideas sat with the people returning to their businesses.
His closing challenge was to choose something they would personally take accountability for after the event.
“My question is, what is the one thing that we will take accountability for after this event?” he said.
Actionable
- Name the business problem your team needs to acknowledge.
- Help your team recognise progress towards a shared goal.
- Choose one change you will personally take responsibility for.