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Fresh insights to step into the future. Proven frameworks and tools to execute with clarity. Ignite a movement with customized keynotes from strategy keynote speaker Kaihan Krippendorff.

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“Kaihan shows how organizations can innovate, build, and adapt for the future.”
Reid Hoffman
Co-founder of LinkedIn and Co-author of Blitzscaling

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Keynote Topics and Outcomes

Outthink the Competition

A proven framework to navigate change, drive growth, and design defensible competitive advantages. Equips leaders to challenge assumptions, spot unseen strategic options, and take action to stay ahead of fast-moving competitors.

Elevate your level of success with a repeatable process to Outthink and outmaneuver—no matter the industry or pace of change.

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Driving Innovation from Within

Build a culture of innovation with a proven framework to turn employees into everyday innovators and sustain high levels of innovation. Drawing on Kaihan’s IN-OVATE Framework, participants learn how to remove internal barriers, unlock creativity across all levels, and convert ideas into measurable business results.

Get inspired and equipped with tools to turn strategic thinking and innovation into a culture—not a department.

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Unleashing Agile

Mindset and agility are two of the most critical muscles to survive and thrive in times of change. Get insights and proven tools that work immediately to impact outcomes. Respond faster, build and sustain momentum, focus, and resilience that endure beyond any single initiative.

Lead with confidence and transform agility from a buzzword into a measurable competitive advantage.

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Be the Disruptor, Not the Disrupted

When everyone else plays defense, the disruptors play offense. A proven framework to accelerate business success and reduce the risk of disruption. Kaihan reveals how leaders leverage the Fourth Option™ to think beyond traditional trade-offs and empower teams to challenge assumptions so they can shape the future instead of fearing it.

Gain clarity and confidence to lead disruption—rather than fall victim to it.

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Outside-In Strategy

Leaders today look beyond their industry for winning ideas, models, processes, and solutions from unexpected places that can be adapted for their own growth. Kaihan’s dynamic talk inspires leaders with curated “Outside-In-Sights” and proven tools to strengthen your future-readiness muscles, reduce risk of disruption, and win.

Sharpen critical next-era skills and capabilities to cover blind spots and see around corners—spot solutions, opportunities and threats before competitors do.

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Outlead the Competition

Develop the leadership skills and pipeline that can take your organization into the future. Unlock the frameworks, tools, and insights to lead with clarity, cohesion, and confidence. Be the leader who brings out the best in people and be the organization that attracts and retains top talent.

Become the next-era leader that empowers teams and the organization to achieve better outcomes.

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Proximity Revolution

A powerful framework to understand artificial intelligence, machine learning, renewable energy, AR/VR, 3D printing, quantum computing, personalization, ways of working and staffing, deglobalization, and customer intimacy. Kaihan delivers tools and insights to see your next competitive advantage and thrive in a world of change, technological advancement, AI, and data proliferation.

Confidently navigate into the future dominated by AI, data, and technology, where the only certainty is change.

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Winning with AI, Technology, and People

A practical framework for balancing human ingenuity and technological power. Kaihan shows how leaders can integrate AI and emerging tech without losing the human creativity, problem-solving, contextual understanding, and judgment that drives success. Boost resiliency, future-readiness and create more value with organization-wide capability to get the best out of AI, technology, and people.

Create a defensible competitive advantage using emerging technology and your people.

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2026 Trends, Technologies, and Forces

Dive into the Outthinker Future Forces Map—the most important trends, technologies, and forces of the coming year. Kaihan’s own proprietary analysis and insights from conversations with 500+ CXOs annually contribute to this fast-paced, inspiring keynote that connects global shifts, emerging tech, and strategic foresight into a call to action for bold, future-oriented leadership.

Your audience will leave informed, energized, and future-ready—with a clear view of what’s next and how to act on it today.

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5 Reasons Meeting Planners and Executives Choose Kaihan Krippendorff

1. Customized for Your Audience

Every keynote starts with your goals. Kaihan invests time to understand your industry, audience, and strategic priorities—then tailors stories, frameworks, and takeaways that make the message land.

  • Deep pre-event discovery and customization
  • Industry-specific research and examples
  • Clear connection to your event theme and objectives

2. Practical Tools, Real ROI

No fluff—just actionable insight. Backed by two decades of research and experience advising Fortune 500 companies, Kaihan translates complex strategy and innovation ideas into tools your audience can use immediately.

  • Proven frameworks like IDEAS and 9Ps
  • Research-based yet simple and applicable
  • Drives measurable post-event impact

3. Inspiring and Engaging Experience

Kaihan doesn’t just inform—he captivates. Expect memorable stories, sharp visuals, humor, and audience interaction that turn insight into energy and energy into action.

  • Dynamic stage presence and storytelling
  • Visually stunning presentations
  • Rated among top speakers for engagement

4. Proven with Leaders at Every Level

From the boardroom to the frontline, Kaihan has inspired executives and teams in over 400 organizations—including Microsoft, Disney, Mastercard, and KPMG—to think differently and act boldly.

  • Trusted by Fortune 500 and global enterprises
  • Equally relevant for senior leaders and teams
  • Deep cross-industry experience

5. Easy, Professional Partnership

Kaihan and his team make your job effortless. Responsive, flexible, and focused on your success—no diva demands, just a seamless experience from first call to final standing ovation.

  • Clear communication and quick turnaround
  • Collaborative event-planning process
  • Committed to helping you deliver a world-class event

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More than a keynote speaker, Kaihan is your partner in creating an unforgettable event. He inspires action, sparks fresh thinking, and leaves audiences ready to lead change with practical tools and powerful ideas.

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Outthink the Competition: Proven tools and future-ready insights to win the future

We live in an accelerated age of technology, disruption, volatility, and uncertainty. It demands that we lead our teams and organizations in radically new ways. Success depends not only on our own ability to think and act strategically, but on our ability to enable our team to think boldly, think differently, share ideas, and act.  

Next-era leaders and teams need practical tools, structures, and frameworks that liberate them to achieve better business outcomes and problem-solve using AI, technology, contextual knowledge, and their own human creativity. Companies that activate this Outthinker Mindset are proven to be 6X more likely to recruit and retain top talent and 3X more likely to outperform financially – faster revenue growth, higher profit margins, greater business value. 

Top 20 globally recognized management thinker, best-selling author, podcast host, and Founder of Outthinker, Kaihan Krippendorff helps you Outthink the Competition with his proven 5-step framework and toolset that can be applied immediately to move to the next level of success.  

Participants will leave with: 

  • Insights into emerging strategic technology, trends, and approaches being used by top companies leading their markets 
  • The Outthinker IDEAS Process: A proven framework for strategic thinking and driving growth that reduces risk and creates optionality.  
  • Actionable strategies for future readiness  
  • Clarity, confidence, and energy to move forward 

Driving Innovation from Within

Drive growth, agility and resilience by turning employees into intrapreneurs

In our accelerated world of technology and disruption, the benefits of turning employees into innovators are well documented. Companies that treat their people as “Intrapreneurs” are building a competitive advantage that infuses innovation, adaptability, and future-readiness into their DNA.  

Kaihan Krippendorff’s research debunks the story of the disruptive startup and shows that 70% of society’s most transformative innovations were conceived within large established organizations. Active Intrapreneur networks are 3X more likely to be in the top quintile of financial performance and enjoy a 6X advantage in their ability to recruit and retain top talent. 

In this high-impact keynote, top 20 ranked innovation expert, podcast host, and Founder of Outthinker, Kaihan Krippendorff shows how leaders can build capacity for enterprise-wide transformation and smart innovation. Using his proven IN-OVATE framework, Kaihan offers a playbook for intrapreneurs to navigate barriers, overcome resistance, and take the initiative to drive transformation without quitting their job.   

Participants will leave with: 

  • The IN-OVATE Framework-proven tools to identify and overcome the seven blockers of innovation
  • Five mindsets and habits of successful Intrapreneurs
  • How to take “smart risks” and test ideas within the context of a large organization with resource and time constraints 
  • How to lead and create organizational support structures that encourage innovation
  • Inspiration, energy, and intent to innovate even if “innovation” is not a part of their title

Unleashing Agile

In a world marked by accelerated change, disruption, and volatility, leaders must be able to rapidly observe, analyze, and connect information to seize opportunity and defend against possible threats to their business. Mental agility and agile adaptation are now a non-negotiable part of the business skill set.  

In this interactive and practical keynote, globally recognized strategy expert and best-selling author Kaihan Krippendorff shares a proven framework and tools for unleashing agile problem-solving and strategic thinking in everyday work. Inspiring stories handpicked for your event bring to life a playbook of the top five strategies being used today by agile disruptors to beat the competition. 

Make agility a part of your organizational DNA so you can respond faster to change, seamlessly shift focus to the right priority for now, efficiently build and sustain momentum, and boost resilience that endures beyond any single initiative. 

Participants will leave with: 

  • A framework for agile thinking and analysis that can be used by anyone in any role
  • Increased ability to connect seemingly unrelated information to recognize opportunities and potential risks
  • A playbook of the top five strategies used by agile disruptors today to beat the competition 
  • A boost of energy and confidence to tackle their work

Be the Disruptor, Not the Disrupted

We are experiencing a historic acceleration in the pace of change in our world. Artificial intelligence, digitization, robotics, 3D printing, climate change, political instability, deglobalization, and the rise of purpose-driven enterprises are reconfiguring how every conceivable industry operates. These changes are dividing us into two camps: the “Disruptors” and the “Disrupted”.  

Kaihan Krippendorff, Founder of Outthinker, author, and podcast host has spent decades studying patterns of disruption. Thinkers50 and Global Gurus have recognized him as a top 20 management thinker globally for his strategic analysis of why some companies thrive, others fall behind, and the emerging approaches companies can use to create competitive advantage and transform continually.  

Don’t underestimate the cost of standing still. Choose to Be the Disruptor with this engaging and practical keynote. Learn a proven design-thinking process to spark disruptive ideas and drive immediate results. Through entertaining stories of innovation — both successes and failures— your audience will leave inspired and armed with actionable tactics they can use right away.

Participants will leave with: 

  • A framework for agile thinking and analysis that can be applied to any situation
  • An understanding of emerging trends and disruptors shaping the future of their industry and competitive ecosystem
  • A proven framework to generate and evaluate strategic options and innovations 
  • The Outthinker Playbook: the top five strategies being used by disruptors today
  • A tool to avoid killing off “crazy” (valuable) ideas and turn them into winning moves

Outside-In Strategy

Expanding Your Strategic Aperture

The greatest competitive threats — and the boldest growth opportunities — rarely come from your industry peers. They increasingly come from unexpected players applying ideas, new business models, and technologies outside your industry.  

Leaders excelling in today’s fast-moving world broaden their aperture, scanning across industries for patterns and practices that can be adapted to reduce their risk of disruption, cover blindspots, create efficiency, and unlock new growth. They use Outside-In Strategy.  

Give your team a booster shot of Outside-In Strategic thinking with author, podcast host, and Founder of Outthinker, Kaihan Krippendorff.  Drawing from decades of tracking and analysis of outperformers and 500+ annual conversations with CXOs from across industries – Kaihan will guide your team through a curated selection of strategic approaches, business models, and mindsets from outside your industry — the very ideas reshaping the global business landscape — to help you mitigate risk, solve problems, drive growth, and unlock efficiencies that impact on your top and bottom line. Put Outside-In thinking into action with a proven process, tools, and frameworks developed with practitioners in mind.

Participants will leave with: 

  • A framework for agile thinking and analysis that can be used by anyone in any role
  • Increased ability to connect seemingly unrelated information to recognize opportunities and potential risks
  • A playbook of the top five strategies used by agile disruptors today to beat the competition 
  • A boost of energy and confidence to tackle their work

Outlead the Competition

Mindsets and Leadership for the Next-Era

Today’s business environment rewards leaders who can think strategically, act with agility, and inspire their people to do the same. While many organizations focus on technology and innovation, the real differentiator is leadership — the ability to align, empower, and mobilize teams to act decisively amid uncertainty. 

In this high-impact keynote, author, podcaster, and Founder of Outthinker, Kaihan Krippendorff shares how the most forward-thinking companies are developing leaders who continuously learn, adapt, and out-lead the competition. This inspiring talk crafted just for your audience draws insights from across Kaihan’s best-selling books (including Outthink the Competition, Driving Innovation from Within, and Proximity), latest Harvard Business Review articles, and new research.

Participants will leave with: 

  • Understanding of how leadership mindsets are evolving for next-era high-performing organizations.
  • A framework for leading through ambiguity, unlocking team potential, and translating strategy into action.
  • Spark leadership at all levels of the organization that drive better business outcomes.
  • They will leave energized and equipped to foster a culture of accountability, empowerment, and growth.

Proximity Revolution

Leading Beyond Disruption

In a world of constant disruption, technological change, and megatrend turbulence, how do we transform the way we lead and work? How do we see through the noise and make sense of what is important to our business?  

The answer is Proximity – a simple yet powerful idea that helps leaders turn chaos into clarity.  

Based on the groundbreaking new best-selling book, Proximity, which was hailed by Malcolm Gladwell’s Next Big Idea Club as a must-read and Thinkers50 as one of the most important new ideas in business this year, Kaihan will guide the audience on a journey of understanding to make sense of disruptors like artificial intelligence, machine learning, data proliferation, renewable energy, virtual reality, quantum computing, IoT, 3D printing, and new ways of working. 

This high-impact keynote arms leaders with a Proximity Roadmap to navigate the future with a fresh mindset and the practical tools they need to take bold action and thrive.

Participants will learn: 

  • How to understand the business impact of megatrends and disruptors like generative AI, 3D printing, precision agriculture, dark factories, and renewable energy—and how to harness them for growth and resiliency.
  • How to build a Proximity Roadmap—three steps to winning the future.
  • How to prepare their organization and people with the mindsets needed to lead through change.
  • How to map out where to rethink growth plans, innovation and investments, operations, and customer expectations.

Winning with AI, Technology, and People

Leading in the Age of Intelligent Systems

“Technology doesn’t replace people — it amplifies those who know how to lead and think differently.” 

Artificial intelligence and automation are reshaping every industry, redefining how we work, make decisions, and compete. Yet amid all the hype around data, platforms, and algorithms, one truth remains: people are the differentiator. From the boardroom to the front line, success in this new era depends on our ability to integrate technology’s power with human creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking.  

In this forward-looking keynote, globally recognized business thinker, podcaster, and author Kaihan Krippendorff, offers insights and proven tools that you can use to make sense of AI and emerging technologies from both a top management perspective and a personal, day-to-day lens. 

Participants will leave with: 

  • Understanding of how AI, data, and automation are transforming their own business
  • A proven framework and tools that leverage and pull the best from both people and technology
  • A sense of agency and mindset of urgency/desire to accelerate use of AI and technology in their work
  • Insights of how to build teams and cultures that use technology to create efficiency and better business outcomes

2026 Trends, Technologies, and Forces

Threats and opportunities defining the year ahead

Change is and will always be the only constant in business. As the pace of change accelerates more each day, businesses need to look ahead and create options to ensure their survival. Leaders must monitor and embrace AI, APIs automation, platform thinking, and intelligent predictive data systems while simultaneously managing regulatory shifts, global uncertainty, talent transformations, and sustainability imperatives.  

In this trends keynote, futurist Kaihan Krippendorff outlines the critical trends, technologies, and strategic opportunities that will mark the coming years of business. Drawing on insights gathered from Chief Strategy Officers (CSOs) across diverse industries, decades of trend tracking, and ongoing research, Kaihan challenges leaders to not just sense the future but to shape it—calling for organizations to rethink how they allocate attention, build capability, create their next competitive advantage, and orchestrate partnerships.

Participants will leave with: 

  • Understanding of key trends that will shape the future
  • Clarity of the big picture and implications for your business
  • A framework to identify immediate opportunities and get ahead of change
  • Inspired and energized to lead in an era defined by complexity and ambiguity