EXPOSURE

THERAPY

An educational community for strategic minds.

Strategy is everything.

It’s how you build a brand, win a market, move in the world, and live meaningfully. It’s also a demanding lifelong practice.

Exposure Therapy is an active gathering of innovative people who move the practice of strategy forward.

It’s all centered on a highly curated, high-touch Slack community with powerful programming and original content created by us, for you.

We expose ourselves to provocative new ideas, bring in smart new voices, actively train ourselves to be better strategic thinkers, meet for immersive and connective dinners, and grow in both our personal and professional lives.

Exposure Therapy is where we explore the most important thinking in strategy, brand, culture and futurism today. You will continually get better at your craft.

Where else would you get to do all of this cool stuff? →

  • We’re bringing our wide network of thinkers, authors, strategists, researchers and creatives to you in intimate conversations, to discuss the most provocative questions in their fields.

    These roundtables are designed to go off the beaten path, where you can ask the kinds of deep, action-oriented questions that rarely get asked in other venues. Get inside the minds of people that are solving big problems and creating new futures.

  • The heart of this community is shared exploration, and our organized community discussions give everyone a chance to spend time with each other and our team, going deep on monthly topics and any other ideas that captivate our members. You will walk away with new ideas, new insights you can work with right away, and a new understanding of how brand, culture and markets are evolving.

  • Our absolute favorite part is spending time with you in person. Our dinners in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco aren’t just meetings in restaurants. They’re themed gatherings with fun surprises, thoughtful activities for creativity and introspection, and most importantly, they’re designed to make deep, intimate connections between members. These highly intentional events are the highlight of our Exposure Therapy community. They’re not to be missed.

    Any member is welcome to any party in LA, NYC and SF, regardless of what city they’re located in.

  • If we’re known for anything it’s our strategic research, and now we’re sharing it with you. Our original research makes sense of culture, reveals how consumers are being conditioned by the market, and will provide you with novel (and very actionable) perspectives on the underlying forces behind waves of new innovation.

    Our insights will help any person, in any role, at any company, understand where the strategic opportunities of the next 3-5 years will emerge.

  • Our team reserves a handful of hours every month for 1-on-1s with members to consult on their specific challenges. If you’ve been struggling with a strategy project, need some immediate brand insights, need a quick overview of market forces in a specific niche, want to run product strategy by peers, are looking for general advice in your work, or any other strategic or branding need, we’re here to support you.

  • Every application includes a personal interview with our team so we can get to know you in a meaningful way. The more we learn about you, the more we can provide personal intros to other members of the community that we think would be great for you to know.

    We connect people who can help each other with specific challenges, who share obsessions and interests, who can benefit from each other’s points of view, who will inspire each other, who are doing the same things in wildly different ways, who we know will form a bond.

    Our connections are intentional and our hope is to enrich you with friendships you may have never found outside of Exposure Therapy.

  • Every video, discussion, worksheet, exercise, resource, transcript and recording is organized and archived for our members to return to whenever they want. If you can’t make it to any of our roundtables, events, or other online gatherings, rest assured you can always access our valuable content.

    Our deep archives are an ever-growing asset for all members of the community.

  • This is a deep, year-long education that goes far beyond anything you could ever get in a course.

    It’s not a glorified group chat.

    It’s not a members club for vanity networking (although we do have awesome dinner parties).

    It’s not a cookie cutter x-week course that makes you feel good but doesn’t actually teach you how to think.

    This is where you get to actually grow your brain and uplevel your skills. Where you get to immerse yourself in original research, develop net-new ideas, and learn directly from incredible thought leaders that will make you a measurably better strategist. Where the intellectually isolated finally find their people.

    We add new members every month. Come join us.

How it works:

$3,000 annual membership

Applications considered on a monthly basis

Each month we’ll expose you to a big idea that is either strategically or culturally relevant.

Then we go deep. You’ll have a chance to join expert roundtables and community discussions, explore shared ideas, and see our original research focused on that topic. Our goal is to explore from every possible angle.

The topics are exciting and far-ranging, from “Positioning & Storytelling” and “Personal Branding” to “Modern Riches” and “Eternal Youth”.

Individually, they will help you understand the landscape.

Together, they help you understand how the world works.

The whole point of Exposure Therapy is to be open to unexpected insights. Even if a topic isn't immediately relevant to your field, there are fundamental human truths and insights within it that are… and that’s usually where game-changing perspectives come from.

We help you predict the future so you can own it.

See our full 2024 calendar of topics below.

(2025 topics to be announced this summer.)

“Night of Abundance”

Month: March 2024
Dinner Topic: Modern Riches
Location: Los Angeles

“Supper For Your Second Life”

Month: May 2024
Dinner Topic: Eternal Youth
Location: Los Angeles

“Emotional Alchemy For The Bravehearted”

Month: August 2024
Dinner Topic: Matters of the Heart
Location: New York

Strategic Topics

  • Special Spaces

    October 2024

    We’re colliding and drifting apart in new ways, as the physical and digital spaces of our lives rapidly evolve. Nearly every brand in every category is affected by how and where we’re gathering, why and when we’re staying home, and what personal space even means anymore.

    Our special spaces are becoming more polarized, more customized, and far more interpersonal. Space is the last bastion of control. Brands that create the physical/ digital spaces that hold us will probably be the ones that win.

  • Personal Branding

    November 2024

    The future of B2C and B2B is personal brands, but building a personal brand is very different than building a business brand.

    We’ve built a lot of personal brands and will share our tools and exercises with you. We’ll also bring in experts who will cover personal branding from different perspectives including PR, thought leadership and social media. Use this month to not only develop personal brands for your company, but more importantly, a personal brand for yourself.

  • Amusement of Everything

    December 2024

    Everything is collapsing into entertainment. There is no category that remains untouched by gamification, social media, VR/ AR or content. The nature of entertainment is becoming the nature of business.

    We’ll explore best-in-category examples of entertainment as brand strategy, develop the rules of engagement for brands in any industry that want to tap into this narrative, and predict where the culture of entertainment + business will be in 3-5 years.

    — LA Members Dinner Party: “The Final Bet”—

  • Creativity

    January 2025

    We’re moving from an intelligence-based economy to a creativity-based one, and that requires a dramatic shift in how we show up in the world. Our work and our personal lives will demand that we take bigger creative risks if we want to contribute to society. 

    We’ll be kicking off the year by learning how to be the kind of creative that bends reality. We’ll experience what it means to be creative in the new economy, and how to be vulnerable enough to make something honest and provocative.

  • Body Culture

    February 2025

    Our bodies are the lens through which we experience the world. How we relate to our physical selves - the new permissions gained and boundaries being broken - can tell us a lot about what we value and how we will behave in the future. 

    Understanding how we inhabit our flesh and blood is especially crucial as the world becomes more digitized. Our bodies are both worshiped and despised. We desperately want to connect with our bodies but also transcend them. Body culture is our central struggle, and understanding it can unlock a world of insight.

  • How To Change Someone's Mind

    March 2025

    Everything is a negotiation. Marketing, sales, leadership, management and nearly any other endeavor rests on your ability to make people see things the way you do. Changing someone’s mind is often the biggest barrier to success. It requires understanding both the science and the psychology behind decision-making. 

    We’ll break down the anatomy of persuasion, the strategic elements of negotiation, and the emotional levers that can unlock change. 

  • Our Moral Compasses

    April 2025

    In a world increasingly defined by moralization and ethical dilemmas, the frameworks we use to navigate our choices are more consequential than ever. Our values shape everything—from the products we buy to the brands we align with—and understanding the constellation of new moral frameworks that are emerging in society will help us understand ourselves, our markets and our users.

    We’ll uncover how new perspectives are reshaping our collective sense of right and wrong, influencing every category of culture and business. Stay ahead of cultural shifts and build strategies that resonate in a morally charged world.

    — LA Members Dinner Party: “Vices and Spices” —

  • Writing

    May 2025

    What does it take to communicate and connect effectively in today’s attention economy? We’ll explore both the art and science of powerful writing for work, creation, relationship, and all facets of life. 

    This month is about going beyond the obvious as we dive into unconventional strategies and techniques that push the boundaries of what effective writing looks like and explore the extremes of language. It’s time to push your writing skills further than they’ve ever gone before.

  • Infinite Play

    June 2025

    Adults are reclaiming play and bringing it back into the domain of adulthood. As we redefine how we spend unproductive time, a new relationship with leisure, hobbies, and even travel is emerging. This cultural shift is reshaping how we measure the value of our time and how we connect with others.


    We’ll explore how this revival of play is influencing business, culture, and personal fulfillment. By understanding the impact of infinite play, strategists and leaders can tap into new opportunities to engage audiences and rethink our personal value systems.

    — NYC Members Dinner Party: “A Feast For Your Inner Child” —

  • Rejection & Resilience

    July 2025

    You can’t be what you’re meant to be without a hefty dose of rejection and resilience. Time to finally accept it. We’ll explore and practice ways to love the rejection and become more resilient people because of it.

    We’ll explore practical techniques to build resilience, reframe failure, and thrive despite setbacks. Expert speakers and hands-on exercises will equip you to get comfortable with rejection and use it as a productive force, no matter how much you might hate it.

  • The Evolution of Trust

    August 2025

    Who we trust and why we trust them has changed. Meanwhile brands, leaders, and individuals are all grappling with how to build meaningful credibility in this environment. How do we build trust when we don’t know who or what to believe, and optimism about the future is running low?

    We’ll unpack the changing landscape of trust and find the levers that matter to building credibility in the age of crumbling rules. We’ll also learn about how our trust issues are shaping culture and what is likely to come after our current era of dis-belief.

  • Understanding People

    September 2025

    Understanding people is the key to unlocking better decisions. Whether you’re building a brand, leading a team, or simply trying to live a more fulfilling life, the ability to truly see and understand others is one of the most valuable skills you can develop.

    This month, we’ll break down practical tools and techniques for gaining deep insights into human behavior. From improving user research to forging better personal relationships, you’ll learn how to connect quickly to make others feel seen, and generate insights that drive real value—both in business and in life.

    — LA Members Dinner Party: “Tell Me Who You Really Are” —

  • Death & Grief

    October 2025

    The rituals and narratives that once helped us make sense of death and grief are fading, leaving a vacuum in how we find meaning. Understanding how people navigate loss offers a powerful look into the broader shifts in what we hold sacred, and societal structure as a whole.

    This month, let’s really get into the many losses we have experienced both collectively and personally. We’ll learn how the meaning of death is changing, how the practices of our grief are evolving, and the new rituals making pageantry out of loss.

  • Humor

    November 2025

    Humor is more than just entertainment—it’s the build-up and release of tension that draws people in, builds charisma, and enhances storytelling. Mastering humor can elevate your communication and make for a better life, both personally and professionally.

    We’ll dive into how humor can unlock difficult topics and create disarming connections. You’ll learn practical techniques to harness humor as a tool for influence, storytelling, and connection, helping you stand out in today’s content-driven world.

    NYC Members Dinner Party: “Wit and Whiskey” —

  • What We Eat

    December 2025

    Food has reached new heights. It’s a statement of values and, for many, a near-spiritual experience. As food culture pushes to new extremes, from hyper-sustainability to the rise of meal-based rituals, what we put into our bodies is becoming a form of personal expression.

    We’ll explore the shifting norms around food and how dining is redefining community. Our speakers and special guests will help us understand the future of food and how brands can tap into this deeply emotional and personal space.

PREVIOUS TOPICS

Your coworkers may already be members of Exposure Therapy

Exposure Therapy members come form a wide array of organizations, from small teams and freelancers to leaders at the world's top corporations.


Over 60% of our members are in leadership roles (including C-suite, VPs, directors or founders). Nearly everyone is in a strategy, marketing, branding, or creative role, but we also accept people in tangential roles that are tapped into strategy and culture (like advertising, cultural anthropologists, researchers, talent management, social media strategists, VCs and so on).

Affiliations for identification only.

  • Exposure Therapy is where strategists learn new things that can change everything.

    We are a global community of brand strategists, marketers, CEOs, CMOs, futurists, culture & behavior thinkers, VCs, and people doing exciting things in branding and the strategic front.

    We love strategy because it helps us understand ourselves just as much as it helps us understand the world. Not many people feel that, but if you do, you should be here with us.

The difference between this community and others is that we ask you to engage your heart and mind with the group.

We welcome anyone from any background who is doing things in branding or the strategic front, but require every member to follow our three principles.

  1. Commit To Exploration
    Skip the small talk, ask the big questions, and take intellectual risks. Approach this community from a place of deep, humble curiosity.

  2. Evolve Yourself
    Come with the intention of growing yourself personally and professionally. Be open to being changed.

  3. Elevate The Group
    Support and benefit one another. Be positive, have fun, play, celebrate.

Rules of

Engagement:

  • A strategic mind comes from constant exposure to new ideas.

    We’ve created a space where you’ll always be exposed to new cultural insights, will understand the future of markets and human behavior, and can 10x your strategic abilities.

    It’s exposure for your strategic mind, and therapy for your strategic soul.

We’re the team behind Concept Bureau and we’ve spent years developing our practice of strategic thinking. Now we want to share it with our beautiful community.

Our mission is to elevate the strategy of the people who shape the future.

We promise to immerse you in the bleeding edge of culture, technology, and human psychology.

Below are your Exposure Therapy guides, and if you’ve been a reader of Concept Bureau’s insights, you may already know who we are.

We’re in this community with you, every day, getting better at what we do.

We hope you join us.

Who We Are:

Want to get to know us better first?

Sign up for our Concept Bureau newsletter and we'll mail you 2-3 times a month with a well-researched, thought-provoking, actionable article that will unlock the world of strategy for your brand.

We promise it will be one of your favorite emails to receive.

Being a true strategist means cultivating a fearless mind. It requires the constant pursuit of knowledge, discovering the inputs that fuel our culture and behaviors, and grasping the forces that govern the future of markets.

When you’re engaged in all of those fronts, you get one huge advantage:

The ability to bend reality toward your doorstep.

Strategy is how you thrive.

If you’re reading this and you know us at Concept Bureau, you probably already feel this in your bones, but you also probably don’t feel like you get the exposure and connection you need.

If you did, you’d be unstoppable.

What you need is Exposure Therapy.

Strategy is everything.

FAQs

  • The annual fee for Exposure Therapy is $3,000. You can read more about cost and details in How It Works.

    Many of our members have their employers cover the annual fee. If you're interested in that, reach out to us at hi@theconceptbureau.com and we can send you more information that you can forward to your employer.

  • Many of our members have their employers cover the annual fee.

    Our program is a fantastic educational resource for brand strategists and C-level executives in any category.

    If you're interested in having your employer cover your membership fee, reach out to us at hi@theconceptbureau.com and we can send you more information that you can forward to your employer.

  • Anyone who is doing interesting things in the brand strategy or strategy world, from any category or industry is welcome to apply. That being said, Exposure Therapy may be most relevant for brand strategists, brand owners, marketers, CEOs, CMOs, founders, researchers or anyone from academic research backgrounds who is applying it to business (think cultural anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, behavioralists, etc.), futurists, and anyone immersed and/ or studying culture.

    If this community has piqued your interest, that’s a decent signal. We encourage you to apply or email us with questions at hi@theconceptbureau.com.

  • We ask you to engage your heart and mind with the group. That will look different for everyone, and the time needed for you to do that is up to you, but we will give you plenty of opportunities to do so. You need to do enough to feel that you are connected with other members and have a sense of belonging here. When you do, everyone else will feel it, too.

    We ask that every member follows our three principles:

    1.) Commit To Exploration: Skip the small talk, ask the big questions, and take intellectual risks. Approach this community from a place of deep, humble curiosity.

    2.) Evolve Yourself: Come with the intention of growing yourself personally and professionally. Be open to being changed.

    3.) Elevate The Group: Support and benefit one another. Be positive, have fun, play, celebrate.

  • The whole point of Exposure Therapy is to be open to unexpected insights. Even if a topic isn't immediately relevant to your field, there are fundamental human truths and insights within it that are (there always are, and usually a lot of them).

    It’s those unexpected insights from tangential spaces that usually lead to business breakthroughs.

    We spent a lot of time organizing the topics to make sure the insights they reveal are applicable to anyone and everyone. We promise that taken together or individually, each month’s deep dives will be fruitful for you.

  • We're building the community slowly to help engender a certain vibe and make sure the culture stays scalable, so if you're not accepted to this month’s cohort and you think you'd be a great fit, it's likely because of that.

    Don't worry about it. We keep all applications for consideration in future cohorts so there's no need to reapply, but if you feel the info on your form has changed in any significant way, please feel free to send in a new one.

  • It’s easy! Just fill out this form!

  • We do not offer refunds, as membership grants immediate access to exclusive content and community benefits. If you choose to cancel, your membership will remain active until the end of your current billing period and you won’t be charged for the next cycle. You can cancel your subscription anytime by logging into your Stripe account and managing your subscription settings. Alternatively, you can contact us at hi@theconceptbureau.com for assistance.

  • Awesome. Please email us at hi@theconceptbureau.com and we’ll be happy to help you out.