Melissa Boggs is a Hidden Cultures expert, keynote speaker, and executive coach who helps organizations find and change the unwritten rules that keep good teams stuck. She is the CEO & Chief Storyteller of Wild Hearts at Work, LLC, a professional speaking, coaching, and organizational development firm based in Denver.

With nearly 20 years of experience in organizational culture and agile leadership, Melissa has guided teams and leaders through change from the inside, including as Co-CEO of Scrum Alliance, the global nonprofit membership association for the agile community. She holds an MBA and the Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC) credential, and was among the first women to earn it. She is a trained graphic facilitator and Liberating Structures facilitator, certified in Training from the Back of the Room, and serves as President-Elect of NSA Colorado.

Her talks blend real stories, humor, and hands-on audience discovery, and she has spoken for audiences from Cape Town to Columbus.

In-Person

Virtual

How Comms Pros Can Prevent 'Organizational Gaslighting' - Ragan Communications

Organizational Gaslighting - Reworked

Exhaustion Is Not a Status Symbol - Reworked

Are Your Culture-Building Initiatives Actually Hurting Your Culture? - Reworked

In the Media: Podcast Appearances, Articles & Interviews

Hidden Cultures expert and keynote speaker on culture, courage, and leadership

Melissa Boggs

Strong visuals and slide deck

Thoughtful & Conversational

Keynote

Fireside chat / moderated conversation

Panel participation

Workshop / breakout session

Host / emcee

Culture & Connection

Thought Leadership

30 min

45 min

60 min

90 min

Insights + Action

Workplace Culture

Leadership

Change

Communication & Connection

The People Side of Business

Inspiration

Motivation

Personal Growth

Female Motivation and Empowerment

Innovation

Mental Health/Well Being

Human Resources

Health & Wellness

Productivity

Smart people, sound strategy, real effort, and results that still refuse to move. Decisions stall, good ideas fade in the meeting, and the same problems return no matter how many times they get solved. Most leaders reach for more training, a new tool, or another reorg, and the stuck feeling stays put. After nearly 20 years inside organizations, Melissa has seen what keeps good ones stuck: hidden cultures, the unspoken rules and unexamined assumptions that shape what people do, say, and hold back.These patterns are hard to see from the inside because everyone is following them and no one chose them. They tend to feel like personal frustrations, a difficult colleague or a team that just won't change, when they are usually the predictable result of rules no one has ever said out loud. Once people can name them, they can finally do something about them.Through story, humor, and hands-on audience participation, Melissa gives leaders and teams shared language for what has been going unspoken and a way to tell where their own organization is stuck. Attendees work through real workplace scenarios together, and the session is built around what each person can actually influence, from the front line to the C-suite. People leave with a clearer view of their organization and a practical next step they can take right away, whatever their role.Audiences leave with:<ul><li>Language to name what has been going unspoken in their own organization</li><li>A clearer read on where their team or organization is stuck</li><li>One practical move they can take right away, whatever their role</li></ul>Best for: Leadership conferences, association annual meetings, project management, healthcare, hospitality, and organizations in the middle of change.

Hidden Cultures: Why Good Organizations Stay Stuck

Every conference fills people with good ideas, and most of them never leave the building. The gap between what people learn and what they actually do rarely comes from a lack of motivation. It comes from a story running quietly underneath: a hidden internal narrative about what will happen if you speak up, try the thing, ask for more, or go first. These narratives are convincing, often invisible to the person carrying them, and they hold people still long before any outside barrier gets the chance.Melissa laces up roller skates and skates live on stage to show what courage takes in real time. Drawing on nearly 20 years of helping people and organizations get unstuck, she gives audiences a way to spot the story that keeps them cautious, question whether it is telling the truth, and start moving anyway. Part personal story, part live demonstration, and entirely participatory, this high-energy session sends people home ready to act on what they learned.Audiences leave with:<ul><li>Recognition of the internal story that keeps them cautious</li><li>A felt understanding that courage is built through small, imperfect movement</li><li>A first step they are willing to take when they go back to their everyday lives</li></ul>Best for: Opening and closing keynotes, women's leadership events, kickoffs, and conferences that want an energizing, memorable session.Logistics note: Requires a minimum 12' x 8' smooth, non-carpeted floor, confirmed 30 days before the event. No podium.

From Cautious to Courageous: Turning Big Ideas into Big Action

Somewhere along the way, busy became a badge of honor. Full calendars signal importance, unused vacation signals loyalty, and exhaustion has become something people wear proudly. Ask a room how they are and the most common answer is "busy," delivered with a hint of pride. Meanwhile, the cost keeps climbing in disengagement, turnover, and good people running out of energy for the work they care about most.Most organizations respond with wellness perks and reminders to take breaks, and the problem stays put. Melissa shows audiences that burnout has a source beyond a shortage of resilience: the invisible rules about productivity, rest, and what dedication is supposed to look like. Nobody wrote these rules down, and even well-meaning policies can quietly reinforce them, which is why people follow them without ever choosing to.Speaking to individuals who are running on empty and to leaders whose cultures are producing it, Melissa gives audiences a fresh lens for seeing the unspoken expectations around them and practical starting points for changing them. Honest, funny, and immediately useful, this session helps people leave with permission to work differently and a plan for building workplaces where sustainable performance is possible.Audiences leave with:<ul><li>A new lens on burnout as a culture problem, and a way to stop treating it as personal failure</li><li>Named patterns that create and reward overwork</li><li>Practical first steps for changing the unspoken rules behind exhaustion</li></ul>Best for: HR and people conferences, healthcare, nonprofit, legal, financial services, technology, and leadership summits focused on culture and wellbeing.

Exhaustion Is Not a Status Symbol

Melissa's closing keynote "From Cautious to Courageous: A Live Rollerskating Journey (That Will Move You)" was exactly the keynote I was looking for to close Agile2024! A mix of insights, motivation, and live performance, this keynote inspired people to take action, made them get up and dance, helped them dream about more audacious ways to navigate their careers. As a conference chair, I was thrilled to see how well Melissa's keynote helped re-enforce the overall message of the conference, and helped close it on the high note. I strongly recommend Melissa Boggs as a keynote speaker for your next conference!

Dana Pylayeva - Agile2024 Conference Chair

We have asked Melissa to speak at the Business Agility Conference twice - the only speaker to have been invited to speak a second time. In both talks she engaged the audience with insights, personal experiences, and thought-leadership. She always delights the audience and brings a level of humanity to business-topics that is rarely seen. I would recommend her for any event.

Evan Leybourn - Business Agility Conference

As the Chair of our HR industry group, I reached out to Melissa to give a keynote speech in hopes to take a fresh look at the inter-relationship between business needs and employee needs. She hit it out of the park! In our industry, we talk at length about the 'future of HR', but her perspective was provided a different lens for this conversation. She included her personal story as well as details around approaches other industries/business are implementing. Melissa is an accomplished speaker with an authenticity that allows her to make connections with her audience.

Amanda Johnson - Energy27

I knew when digging through keynote speaker suggestions that a "roller skating keynote" was something that would really stick with people. Melissa's calm demeanor and captive storytelling are only a small part of the journey you will take with her, and it's worth every minute as you shape what your own journey into courage looks like. I LOVED that Melissa shared her skills in a way that wowed us over and over, and got us all in on the roller rink party before the morning was over. SO MANY THANKS to Melissa and her incredible story!

Melissa Boggs

About

Photos

Videos