SETH KAHAN’S

Visionary Leadership

Helping Leaders Achieve Breakthroughs that Change the World

Helping Leaders Achieve Breakthroughs that Change the World

I partner with CEOs, boards, and mission-driven organizations to tackle systemic challenges through innovation, leadership, and large-scale change

I partner with CEOs, boards, and mission-driven organizations to tackle systemic challenges through innovation, leadership, and large-scale change

I’m Seth Kahan, a leadership strategist and advisor who helps organizations tackle grand challenges and create lasting impact. Over the past 30 years, I’ve worked with leaders at the World Bank, Royal Dutch Shell, and other mission-driven enterprises—guiding CEOs and boards through defining moments of change. Together, let’s drive innovation, launch breakthrough initiatives, and harness the power of AI to shape new leadership models for an evolving world.

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How to Deal with 2025 Disruptions

In today’s unpredictable environment, leadership requires more than resilience — it demands energy, intention, clarity, and adaptability. This Disruption Playbook offers a roadmap for executives to lead with foresight and integrity amid political volatility, cultural shifts, and systemic uncertainty.

Making an Impact One Grand Challenge at a Time

Dale Cyr“Seth Kahan offers highly practical methods to successfully lead an organization through the turbulence and ambiguity of disruption.”

–Dale Cyr, MBA, CAE,
CEO and Executive Director, Inteleos

David Gammel“Organizaional excellence is not enough to create a thriving organization with impact. We have to lift our eyes and chart a course over the horizon. This is Seth’s forté.”

–David Gammel,
Executive Director, American Association of Physicists in Medicine

“Seth Kahan shows us that to foster true employee engagement, conversations and human interactions are a lot more valuable than fat budgets and formal authority.”

–Daniel H Pink
Author and thought leader.

George-Castineiras“Organizations recognize the need for change and the relative speed and accuracy that is required for effective execution. The challenge is ‘how’ to do it. People are the secret ingredient and Seth Kahan clearly offers the path to get you there.”

–George A Castineiras
Senior Vice President, Prudential Financial, Inc.

Mary Power“Seth is my Yoda!”

–Mary Power
Former CEO, Council of Better Business Bureaus

Mike Panaggio“Seth is a boundless strategic thinker and motivator.”

–Mike Panaggio
Chairman, DME Holdings, LLC

Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis“Seth Kahan, with his inspirational approach, skillful facilitation, and relentless encouragement to set daring goals, was a driving force behind the Center for Financial Planning, a successful, systemwide collaboration to advance the financial well-being of every American.”

–Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis
Former executive director, Center for Financial Planning

AACC CEO Mark J Golden“Game-changing aspirations too often crash and burn. Seth Kahan provides the practical steps to succeed.”

–Mark Golden, Former Executive Director,
National Society of Professional Engineers

Marla Weston“Seth Kahan assisted us at the American Nurses Association as we launched our Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation Grand Challenge. His steady wisdom and insights guided us from inception through launch and implementation.”

–Marla Weston
Former CEO, American Nurses Association

David-Kord-Murray“Trying to drive change within an organization can be a frustrating experience Human beings are wired for repetition and so find comfort in the status quo. But change is mandatory—in order to compete we must create—and in order to create we must lead the change. Seth Kahan lays out the principles of ‘getting change right.”

–David Kord Murray
Author of Borrowing Brilliance

Chris McEntee“Seth accelerates progress in societal Grand Challenges by creating networks of groups and uniting them behind shared goals.”

Chris McEntee,
former CEO, American Geophysical Union

Matthew E May“In this massively disruptive and mostly distracting business environment, you have but one chance to get it right, which isn’t easy. Enter Seth Kahan’s Getting Innovation Right.”

–Matthew E May
Author and advisor

Helping Leaders Move Industries Forward

I work with CEOs and executive teams who want to do more than lead organizations, they want to move entire fields forward. For over two decades, I’ve helped leaders turn bold ideas into large-scale results, guiding global transformations at the World Bank and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as national organizations including the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the American Nurses Association, the Center for Financial Planning, and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, among many others.

My work focuses on organizational transformation and executive advising—two sides of the same mission: helping leaders align people, strategy, and purpose to achieve breakthrough outcomes. I bring the perspective of someone who’s walked this terrain many times, serving as a trusted thought partner at the leadership table and a guide through the wilderness of change.

Whether the goal is to align an entire enterprise around a shared vision or strengthen the leadership capacity that drives it, I help organizations build clarity, trust, and momentum that last.

Let’s create the conditions for transformation—where people move together and real progress begins.

Proud to partner with these organizations to spark real, lasting impact:

AGU American Nurses Association Center for Financial Planning Inteleos Shell Manufacturers Alliance NASA Peace Corps Project Management Institute Stop Stigma Together

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