Full Name
Tamsen Webster
Job Title
Founder & Chief Learning Officer
Company
Message Design Institute
Speaker Bio
Part message designer, part English-to-English translator, and now part doctoral student, Tamsen Webster helps leaders craft their case for large-scale change. A sought-after speaker and consultant, she’s spent more than 25 years developing the field and practice of persuasive message design, with a particular focus on the principles and processes that build buy-in that lasts.

In addition to her work in and for major organizations such as Harvard Medical School, Fidelity Investments, and Klaviyo, she built and delivers the message design curriculum for Elemental Impact, a leading investor in impact startups. She’s a judge and mentor for the Harvard Innovation Labs and a professional advisor at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. She’s also spent over 10 years as the Idea Strategist for one of only nine legacy-level TEDx events and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar in 2022. She's the author of two best-selling books, Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible, and Say What They Can't Unhear: The 9 Principles of Lasting Change which was named one of the top 10 management books of the year by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper.

Tamsen was a reluctant marathoner… twice; is a champion ballroom dancer (in her mind); and learned everything she knows about messages, people, and change as a Weight Watchers leader. True story.

She lives in Boston with her husband, two sons, and her two brindle Greyhounds, Hazel and Walnut.
Tamsen Webster