Braden Kelley
Innovation Keynote Speaker • Bestselling Author • Futurist • LinkedIn Top Voice
Braden Kelley is the creator of the Human-Centered Change™ methodology, the Change Planning Canvas™, and the FutureHacking™ strategic foresight framework. A two-time bestselling author and LinkedIn Top Voice, he has been helping organizations build sustainable innovation cultures and navigate complex change since 1996 — working with clients across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.
Named by Harvard Business Review as a next-generation innovation thought leader worth watching, Braden brings practitioner credibility that few consultants in his field can match — he hasn’t just studied innovation and change, he has built the tools organizations use to do it.
Education
MBA — London Business School
Military Service
United States Navy Veteran
Certification
Certified Design Thinking Professional (CDTP)
Recognition
LinkedIn Top Voice • Named by HBR
Original Frameworks & Methodologies
Braden is one of the few innovation and change practitioners who has built and published his own original frameworks — tools now used by organizations worldwide, available in multiple languages, and aligned with the ACMP Standard for Change Management.
Human-Centered Change™ Methodology
A complete visual and collaborative system for planning and executing organizational change — including the Change Planning Canvas™ and 70+ tools in the Change Planning Toolkit™, used in physical and digital formats worldwide.
FutureHacking™
A structured strategic foresight methodology for scanning weak signals, building future scenarios, and positioning organizations to shape the future rather than merely respond to it.
Nine Innovation Roles
A framework for building balanced innovation teams by identifying nine distinct roles — from Revolutionary to Evangelist — that every effective innovation effort requires. Available in five languages with free workshop tools.
Eight I’s of Infinite Innovation
A continuous innovation framework built around eight interconnected elements — from Inspiration to Infinity — designed to make innovation a perpetual organizational capability rather than a periodic event.
Customer Experience Audit
A systematic, human-centered evaluation of what customers, employees, or partners actually experience across every touchpoint. Going beyond journey mapping, the audit walks the moments that matter firsthand to benchmark against competitors and deliver an improvement roadmap ranked by revenue impact.
Innovation Maturity Assessment
A free diagnostic tool based on Braden’s proprietary model to identify where your organization stands on the innovation maturity curve. By evaluating culture, process, leadership, and capability, it uncovers hidden roadblocks to deliver a personalized score and a concrete improvement roadmap.
Books
Charting Change: A Visual Toolkit for Making Change Stick (Second Edition)
Palgrave Macmillan
The definitive practitioner’s guide to human-centered change management. Introduces the Change Planning Canvas™ and the full Change Planning Toolkit™ — the visual, collaborative system now used by organizations on every continent to plan, execute, and sustain organizational change.
Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire
John Wiley & Sons
A five-star rated guide to building sustainable innovation cultures. Introduces the Nine Innovation Roles framework and provides leaders with practical tools for removing the barriers that prevent organizations from innovating consistently.
Published Writing & Media
Braden has published 650+ articles across leading publications and has been commissioned to write white papers for global innovation organizations including Innocentive, Planview, and Imaginatik.
Wired
The Atlantic
CIO.com
European Business Review
CEOWORLD Magazine
Social Media Today
ProjectManagement.com
CustomerThink
Entrepreneur.com
Texas Enterprise
Oracle
Board Memberships & Affiliations
- Board of Advisors — Global Innovation Institute (GInI) — the world’s leading certification, accreditation, and membership organization in the field of innovation
- Board of Advisors — Tombolo Institute at Bellevue College — overseeing executive education programs in Customer Experience and Design Thinking
- Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) — Braden’s Human-Centered Change™ methodology is designed to align with the ACMP Standard for Change Management
Core Areas of Expertise
Work With Braden
Whether you need an innovation keynote speaker, a change management workshop, a customer experience audit, or a strategic foresight facilitator — Braden brings the frameworks, the tools, and the practitioner credibility to make it matter.