John van der Linden brings over 37 years of global innovation leadership across Europe, the US, and China—translating complexity into clear, actionable direction for leaders under pressure.

As former Global Open Innovation Manager at Procter & Gamble, he developed a reputation for seeing what others miss: the hidden connections between emerging insights, strategic choices, and untapped opportunity. His work helps leadership teams move beyond short-term fixes and choose paths that create lasting value and real momentum.

Today, as co-founder of UnfoldingInto and Becoming-aware John works at the heart of leadership teams navigating uncertainty. He helps them cut through noise, align around what truly matters, and turn ambition into disciplined progress. His approach is both pragmatic and deeply human—building trust quickly and using it as a catalyst for action. Not just better conversations, but real movement.

John serves as President of the Board at Amphistar, a Belgian deep-tech company pioneering biosurfactants from waste streams, and has supported the raise of over €25 million in European innovation funding.

He also advises Foodpairing, an AI-driven flavor scale-up, and invests in early-stage ventures through NXT and 9.5 Ventures.

He is a trusted partner to organizations through his work with FranklinCovey Benelux, and a Research Fellow with both The Conference Board and the Strategic Doing Institute.

John’s keynotes are known to shift how leaders think, decide, and act—immediately. If your audience is dealing with uncertainty, transformation, or simply “too much going on”…this is not a comfortable talk, but it’s the one they’ll still be talking about months later.