LAST UPDATED: February 12, 2026 at 10:51AM
If you need to accelerate your sales pipeline and generate leads for your business with custom content tailored to what customers need at each stage of the purchasing journey, Braden Kelley can create an inbound content marketing strategy for you or populate your current strategy with commissioned content (including white papers, webinars, or articles) – please contact us.
“As a frequent visitor to Innovation Excellence and fan of his work, I immediately thought of Braden to develop a compelling series of thought-provoking content on the intersection of open innovation and talent management. Through both a webinar and a follow-on white paper, Braden did not disappoint. His content was fresh, original, and provided practical guidance for OI and HR leader alike, and the feedback from readers was very positive. I look forward to engaging with Braden again on future programs.”
- Steve Bonadio, Head of Marketing & Product Marketing, InnoCentive, Inc.
Customer Experience Flipbooks
Customer Experience Audit 101
This body of work shows how to systematically examine journeys, touchpoints, and friction points from the customer’s perspective — revealing what’s actually happening versus what teams think is happening. The flipbook distills these insights into a clear, step-by-step guide that makes auditing customer experience feel achievable, not overwhelming. With real-world examples and actionable tools, it helps teams turn insight into improvement instead of reports that gather dust. If you want to improve retention, reduce churn, and design experiences customers remember for the right reasons, this flipbook is the place to start.
Click to access the “Customer Experience Audit 101” flipbook
Top 10 Reasons to Conduct a Customer Experience Audit
In the current business landscape, the traditional boundaries of competition have dissolved. Pricing is transparent, product features are rapidly emulated, and global logistics have leveled the playing field for distribution. What remains as the final, most defensible frontier is Customer Experience (CX).
However, many organizations operate on assumptions rather than evidence, relying on outdated journey maps that don’t account for the rise of generative AI, omnichannel complexity, and the heightened emotional expectations of the modern consumer. A Customer Experience Audit is not merely a “health check”; it is a rigorous diagnostic process designed to uncover the “silent killers” of conversion and loyalty.
In this flipbook we explore the ten most compelling reasons to initiate this audit, backed by the latest industry data.
Click to access the “Top 10 Reasons to Conduct a CX Audit” flipbook
Five Lies Leaders Tell Themselves About CX
Most organizations believe they know their customers – but many are navigating with outdated assumptions, not real insight. They assume that because the machine is running, it must be well oiled. But as a champion of Customer Experience Audits, I have seen far too many organizations fail not because they lacked a great product, but because they lacked the courage to look in the mirror and choose instead to believe one or more of these lies:
- Lie #1: “We Already Know Our Customers”
- Lie #2: “Digital Analytics Tell the Whole Story”
- Lie #3: “We’ll Hear About It If It’s Broken”
- Lie #4: “It’s Too Expensive and Time-Consuming”
- Lie #5: “Our NPS Score is Great”
Click to access the “Five Lies Leaders Tell Themselves About CX” flipbook
The Executives’ Guide to Customer Experience AI
This flipbook demystifies how artificial intelligence can meaningfully improve customer experiences — without losing the human touch that customers value most. Rather than chasing hype or shiny tools, this guide shows leaders where AI actually creates value across the customer journey, how to avoid common missteps, and how to align technology with trust, empathy, and business outcomes. The flipbook translates complex concepts into executive-level clarity, blending strategic insight with practical examples that make AI feel actionable, not intimidating. If you want to use AI to deepen relationships, reduce friction, and lead customer experience with confidence, this flipbook is an essential read.
Click to access the “The Executives’ Guide to Customer Experience AI” flipbook
5 Essential Customer Experience Tools to Master
Cut through the noise of dashboards, buzzwords, and disconnected metrics to focus on what actually improves customer experiences. This work highlights the core tools every team needs to truly understand customers, uncover friction, and design interactions that build trust and loyalty. The flipbook translates these tools into clear, practical guidance — showing not just what they are, but how and when to use them for maximum impact. If you want to move from guessing about customer needs to confidently designing experiences that keep people coming back, this flipbook is a must-download.
Click to access the “5 Essential Customer Experience Tools to Master” flipbook
5 Purposes of Customer Personas
My 5 Purposes of Customer Personas challenge the common mistake of treating personas as static documents instead of strategic tools. This work clarifies why personas exist in the first place — and how they should be used to align teams, guide decisions, and design experiences that genuinely reflect customer needs and motivations. The flipbook brings each purpose to life with practical guidance, showing how well-crafted personas can move from wall art to real-world impact. If you want personas that actually influence strategy, innovation, and customer experience, this flipbook will change how you use them.
Click to access the “5 Purposes of Customer Personas” flipbook
How to Create Personas That Matter
This flipbook goes beyond templates and demographics to show how personas can become powerful decision-making tools. Instead of creating profiles that look good but go unused, this work reveals how to ground personas in real insight, human motivation, and practical relevance so teams actually trust and apply them. It breaks the process into clear, approachable steps, helping organizations build personas that inform strategy, shape design choices, and keep the customer’s voice present long after the research ends. If you’re ready to stop creating personas that sit on a shelf and start creating ones that drive action, this flipbook is an essential download.
Click to access the “How to Create Personas That Matter” flipbook
7 Characteristics of a Great Customer Experience
This flipbook cuts through vague promises and lofty slogans to define what customers actually feel, notice, and remember. This work distills customer experience excellence into seven clear, human-centered characteristics that help organizations evaluate where they’re truly delivering — and where they’re unintentionally creating friction. If you want to design experiences that build trust, loyalty, and advocacy instead of indifference, this flipbook makes it easy for teams to translate intention into action.
Click to access the “7 Characteristics of a Great Customer Experience” flipbook
7 Steps to a Better Customer Experience
Turn the aspiration of “being customer-centric” into a clear, actionable path forward. Rather than relying on intuition or isolated improvements, this framework lays out a practical sequence for understanding customers, removing friction, and intentionally designing experiences that earn loyalty. The flipbook brings each step to life with straightforward explanations, real-world perspective, and visual clarity that make it easy to see what to do next. If you’re ready to move from good intentions to consistently better customer experiences, this is the guide you’ll want at your side.
Click to access the “7 Steps to a Better Customer Experience” flipbook
Where People Go Wrong With Journey Maps
Tackle one of the most common — and costly — mistakes in customer experience work: creating beautiful journey maps that never lead to meaningful change. This work exposes the traps teams fall into, from oversimplifying reality to treating maps as artifacts instead of action tools. It breaks down these missteps with clarity and candor, showing how to turn journey maps into living instruments for insight, alignment, and improvement. If you want journey mapping to drive better decisions instead of decorating walls, this flipbook is a must-read.
Click to access the “Where People Go Wrong With Journey Maps” flipbook
3 Sources of Customer Research ROI
Reframe research from a cost center into a powerful engine of measurable business value. Instead of asking whether research is “worth it,” this work shows how insight creates return through better decisions, reduced risk, and more effective experiences. The work clearly explains where ROI actually comes from — helping leaders connect customer understanding to revenue growth, cost savings, and stronger loyalty. If you want to justify research investment with confidence and turn insight into impact, this flipbook makes the case in a clear, compelling way.
Click to access the “3 Sources of Customer Research ROI” flipbook
Change Flipbooks
Your Digital Transformation Starting Point
This flipbook is a reality check for leaders who know they need to transform — but aren’t sure where to begin. Instead of leading with technology for technology’s sake, this work re-frames digital transformation as a human-centered journey that aligns strategy, culture, capabilities, and customer needs before tools ever enter the conversation. The flipbook distills hard-earned lessons into a clear, accessible starting point that helps organizations avoid costly false starts and momentum-killing confusion. If you want digital transformation to drive real value instead of digital theater, this flipbook shows you how to take the first step with clarity and confidence.
Click to access the “Your Digital Transformation Starting Point” flipbook
PCC Change Readiness Framework
My PCC Change Readiness Framework is a practical wake-up call for leaders who sense that change is coming — but aren’t confident their organization is truly ready for it. By focusing on Purpose, Capability, and Capacity, the framework cuts through the noise and exposes the real reasons transformations stall, fatigue sets in, or great strategies quietly fail. It doesn’t just diagnose readiness; it shows you where belief is missing, skills are underdeveloped, or energy is already spent before change even begins. This flipbook brings the framework to life with clear visuals, plain language, and actionable insights that help you move from change ambition to change execution. If you want to stop guessing and start building readiness that actually sticks, this is where to begin.
Click to access the “PCC Change Readiness Framework” flipbook
Eight Change Mindsets to Harness for Success
This flipbook explores the often-invisible beliefs that determine whether change efforts thrive or quietly fail. Instead of focusing only on plans, processes, and tools, this work reveals how the mindsets leaders and teams bring to change shape behavior, resilience, and results. The flipbook brings each mindset to life with clear explanations and practical examples, helping readers recognize what’s holding them back and what they need to cultivate to move forward. If you want change to feel less exhausting and more empowering — something people lean into rather than resist — this flipbook offers a powerful place to start.
Click to access the “Eight Change Mindsets to Harness for Success” flipbook
The Eleven Change Roles
The Eleven Change Roles reveal why so many change efforts struggle — not because people resist change, but because the right roles aren’t clearly defined or fully supported. This framework maps the critical roles required to move change from intention to adoption, helping leaders and teams understand who needs to do what, when, and why. The flipbook brings these roles to life with practical examples and clear visuals that make it easy to spot gaps, reduce friction, and strengthen accountability across the organization. If you want change to spread faster, stick longer, and feel more human, this flipbook shows you how to make it happen.
Click to access the “The Eleven Change Roles” flipbook
Five Keys to Change Success
The Five Keys to Change Success distill what truly separates change initiatives that succeed from those that quietly stall out. Rather than overwhelming leaders with theory, this framework focuses on the few critical elements that consistently drive alignment, commitment, and momentum. The flipbook brings these five keys to life with clear explanations and visual clarity that make it easy to see where change efforts break down — and how to get them back on track.
Click to access the “Five Keys to Change Success” flipbook
Futurology Flipbooks
4 Simple Steps to Becoming Your Own Futurist
The starting point for becoming your own futurist is of course to first understand what futurology (or a futurist) is. My Futurehacking™ methodology is a bold invitation to stop reacting to the future and start shaping it. Instead of treating foresight as an abstract exercise, Futurehacking™ turns emerging trends, weak signals, and uncertainty into practical inputs for smarter decisions today. It helps leaders and teams escape short-term thinking, challenge hidden assumptions, and design strategies that remain resilient no matter how the future unfolds. This flipbook introduces the methodology in clear, approachable steps — showing how to explore multiple futures, stress-test ideas, and uncover opportunity before disruption strikes. If you’re tired of being surprised by change and ready to use the future as a competitive advantage, start with this flipbook.
Click to access the “4 Simple Steps to Becoming Your Own Futurist” flipbook
Innovation Flipbooks
Your 10 Step Innovation Quickstart Guide
Designed for leaders and teams who are tired of talking about innovation and ready to start doing it, this practical guide cuts through complexity and shows how to move from intent to action with a clear, proven sequence that builds momentum fast — without requiring a massive budget or a cultural overhaul first. Each step removes common barriers, clarifies priorities, and helps teams avoid the traps that cause innovation efforts to stall or fade. The flipbook brings the guide to life with crisp visuals and real-world perspective, making it easy to follow, share, and apply immediately. If you want to jumpstart innovation with confidence instead of confusion, this is the roadmap you’ve been looking for.
Click to access the “Your 10 Step Innovation Quickstart Guide” flipbook
Ten Reasons to Hire an Innovation Speaker
Many leaders hesitate to bring in an innovation speaker, worried it might be seen as a “nice-to-have” expense, a fleeting motivational moment, or something that won’t produce measurable results. Yet the truth is that a skilled innovation speaker can do far more than inspire — they can shift mindsets, uncover hidden barriers, and accelerate innovation across the organization. This Ten Reasons to Hire an Innovation Speaker flipbook addresses these concerns head-on, clearly detailing the numerous benefits of bringing in a speaker who can challenge assumptions, spark collaboration, and turn abstract ideas into actionable strategies. Hiring the right speaker is an investment in lasting organizational impact, not just a moment of inspiration.
Click to access the “Ten Reasons to Hire an Innovation Speaker” flipbook
The Nine Innovation Roles
The Nine Innovation Roles reveal a powerful truth most organizations overlook: innovation doesn’t fail because of a lack of ideas — it fails because people don’t know how to contribute. This framework clarifies the distinct roles required to move innovation from insight to impact, helping individuals see where they create the most value and how their strengths fit into a larger system. Instead of relying on a few “creative types,” the Nine Innovation Roles make innovation a shared, repeatable discipline that teams can actually execute. The flipbook brings each role to life, helping you spot gaps, reduce friction, and build a more balanced innovation engine. If you want innovation to feel less mysterious and more achievable, this is a must-read (more at 9roles.com).
Click to access the “Nine Innovation Roles” flipbook
Innovation should be spelled with TWO v’s
This flipbook re-frames how organizations define success, emphasizing Value and Veracity as the true markers of meaningful innovation. It’s not enough to generate ideas or move fast — innovations must deliver real value to customers and stakeholders, and the claims, data, and assumptions behind them must be truthful and reliable. The flipbook shows how teams can prioritize outcomes that matter and make decisions they can trust. If you want your innovation efforts to be both impactful and credible, this flipbook is an essential guide.
Click to access the “Innovation should be spelled with TWO v’s” flipbook
Eight I’s of Infinite Innovation
My Eight I’s of Infinite Innovation offer a powerful shift from one-off breakthroughs to building innovation as a lasting capability. Instead of treating innovation as a project with a finish line, this framework shows how organizations can create a continuous cycle of insight, imagination, and impact that never runs out of momentum. The flipbook brings each of the Eight I’s to life with clear explanations and visual clarity that make the system easy to understand and apply. If you want innovation to stop feeling episodic and start becoming a renewable source of growth and relevance, this flipbook is your guide.
Click to access the “Eight I’s of Infinite Innovation” flipbook
If you need to accelerate your sales pipeline and generate leads for your business with custom content tailored to what customers need at each stage of the purchasing journey, Braden Kelley can create an inbound content marketing strategy for you or populate your current strategy with commissioned content (including white papers, webinars, or articles) – please contact us.