SpeakGlobal Issue 7 - London Speaker Bureau by londonspeakerbureau

SPEAKGLOBAL THE INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

ISSUE 7 | 2017

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

ABDULLAH GÜL

A MODERATE VOICE RESONATING IN BOTH THE EAST AND WEST

TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK

FETISHIZING THE ECONOMY

J.B. STRAUBEL

THE CLEAN TECH INNOVATOR CHANGING OUR WORLD

YANIS

VAROUFAKIS ‘CONSTRUCTIVE DISOBEDIENCE’ PIONEER

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‘THE ONLY GLOBAL SPEAKER BUREAU’ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO 1HZ <RUN 7LPHV

From our Chairman

ondon Speaker Bureau (LSB) is the world’s leading network of speakers and advisors. It is a global resource for corporations, governments and professional associations, providing people, executive learning and C-Suite advisors across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Exclusively representing more high-profile individuals in more countries than any other agency, we work with some of the most influential people in the world, from politicians and economists to business leaders and educators. For the past decade, we have led the way in the speaker industry, uniquely developing a deeper and more impactful relationship with our corporate and government clients. Working with some of the world’s outstanding people, we give our clients the opportunity to engage in more fruitful and richer dialogue with our faculty of experts through our Executive Learning and Boardroom Advisory programs. Often led by a globally-renowned chairperson, these engagements are tailored specifically to an organization’s needs.

SPEAKGLOBAL THE INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

ISSUE 7 | 2017

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

I am delighted that London Speaker Bureau (LSB) performed so well in 2016. It is most unusual for an organization of only 100 people to operate from 33 different locations. London Speaker Bureau is truly an extraordinary global business. As Chairman it has been an honor to serve with such a diverse and experienced team and to help steer LSB through the challenges of a dynamic industry and an uncertain future environment. I am looking forward to assisting with further international development in 2017. Jeroen van der Veer Chairman Philips, ING and LSB

SPEAKGLOBAL ISSUE 7 Editor: Nadine Park Deputy Editor: Hannah Dar Special Correspondent: Art direction/design: Kevin Fitzpatrick Printed by: CPI Colour, Croydon Publisher: London and Beijing Publishing Copyright © 2017. SpeakGlobal is published by London Speaker Bureau Ltd, 1st Floor, 235 Kensington High Street, London W8 6SF. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

ABDULLAH GÜL

A MODERATE VOICE RESONATING IN BOTH THE EAST AND WEST

TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK

FETISHIZING THE ECONOMY

J.B. STRAUBEL

THE CLEAN TECH INNOVATOR CHANGING OUR WORLD

YANIS

VAROUFAKIS

SUBSCRIPTIONS SpeakGlobal is available on subscription and circulates to professionals working in the meetings and events industry. Customer enquiries, change of address and orders payable to London Speaker Bureau, Subscriptions Department, 1st Floor, 235 Kensington High Street, London W8 6SF or email hannah@londonspeakerbureau.com. Subscription records are maintained by London Speaker Bureau Ltd at the address above. POST NOTE All editorial enquiries and submissions to SpeakGlobal that require replies must be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope.

‘CONSTRUCTIVE DISOBEDIENCE’ PIONEER

www.londonspeakerbureau.com

SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

CONTENTS BOOK REVIEWS

In this issue... 6

FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF FINLAND, ALEXANDER STUBB: A very modern political figure

The Vanishing of Flight MH370

RICHARD QUEST

A riveting chronicle of a tragedy that continues to baffle everyone, from aviation experts to satellite engineers and politicians. CNN aviation correspondent Richard �uest offers a gripping and definitive account of the disappearance of Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 in March 2014. The flight carrying 239 people on board, seemingly vanishing into the night, is one of the biggest aviation mysteries of our covering the story by CNN and by 16time. Quest, was one of the leading journalists 20 coincidence, he had interviewed one of the two pilots a few weeks before the disappearance.

FORMER PRESIDENT OF TURKEY, ABDULLAH GÜL: The moderate Islamist with a voice in both East and West

J.B. STRAUBEL: The disruptive, clean tech innovator changing our world

Three Daughters of Eve

ELIF SHAFAK

MARK STEVENSON: Innovations to transform the way we organize our societies for a better future

Elif Shafak, the award-winning author of 7KH )RUW\ 5XOHV RI /RYH and 7KH $UFKLWHFWśV $SSUHQWLFH, has recently released her latest book 7KUHH 'DXJKWHUV RI (YH. It is a contemporary story of identity, politics, faith, fulfillment, women and God. It deals with some of the most urgent and universal issues in today’s world and sharply 24criticizes Turkish society and the bourgeoisie. It is a book about our internal paradoxes, our breaking points and Turkey’s unrealized potentials. Recognized as “one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Turkish and world literature”, Shafak is the most widely read female novelist in Turkey.

TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK: Fetishizing the economy

London Speaker Bureau

The Hour Between Dogenquiries@londonspeakerbureau.com and Wolf: Risk-taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust +44 (0)20 8748 9595

JOHN COATES

John Coates, a Wall Street trader turned Cambridge University neuroscientist, describes the tension and exultation of the trading floor from a biological perspective. This fascinating book reveals how risk stimulates the most primitive part of the banker’s brain and how it provokes an overwhelming fight-or-flight response, causing economic upheaval in the wider world. It explains how human 26biology contributes to the alternating cycles of irrational 30 exuberance and pessimism that destabilize banks and the global economy and how understanding the biology behind bubbles and crashes may be the key to stabilizing the markets.

ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI: He named her Malala - like father, like daughter

Happy as a Dane: 10 Secrets of the Happiest People in the World

MALENE RYDAHL

Malene Rydahl, executive coach and keynote speaker on happiness and wellbeing, explores 10 pillars of Danish life from the importance of trust to the value of downtime. For decades Denmark has ranked at the top of the world’s happiness surveys. Rydahl documents the values, habits, and attitudes that have allowed Danes to live happy and fulfilling lives. She explores how the values of trust, education, and a healthy work-life balance with purpose, to name just a few, contribute to a “happy” population and provides tips that we can all apply to our daily lives, regardless of where we live.

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YANIS VAROUFAKIS: ‘Constructive Disobedience’ Pioneer

www.londonspeakerbureau.com www.londonspeakerbureau.com

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SPEAKGLOBAL

In this issue... 8

INTER-FAITH RELATIONS Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim to attend UK Cabinet

SIMON ANHOLT Should the world be happy that you exist?

BOARDROOM ADVISORY Introducing London Speaker Bureau’s newest service

FARAH PANDITH How to win the war on terror

DESTINATION FOCUS United States of conferences

PAUL MASON

Building a post-capitalist sharing society

THE POWER OF DEMOGRAPHICS Exclusive interview with Amlan Roy

BREXIT Leading voices to guide us on the path ahead

THOMAS J. SARGENT An American history lesson for Europe

RE-THINKING CAPITALISM With Professor Mariana Mazzucato

THE BRAZILIAN BUSINESS VISIONARY Ricardo Semler

PETER HINSSEN Embedding “The Day After Tomorrow” in the DNA of your organization

RED HONG YI Six questions with the alternative artist

ANTONIA RADOS Insights into the life of a leading war correspondent

BRONISŁAW KOMOROWSKI The pro-defense and pro-European Polish statesman

IN THE NEWS

Monica Lewinsky’s TEDtalk hits 10 million views

GOING BEYOND KEYNOTES A new source of learning

LSB’S SUMMER LECTURES Richard Quest, Daisy McAndrew, Mark Stevenson and Christopher Pissarides

HOPE SCHOOL Educating Syrian refugee children

BOOK REVIEWS Speakers’ books to read in 2017

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SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

CONTENTS

AROUND OUR GLOBAL NETWORK… KATE LOSSIUS

TATJANA MARINKO TEO

Regional Director Scandinavia

Regional Director Middle East

atjana manages all clients and speakers in the Middle East region and is also responsible for all business development in Japan and South Korea. She has a deep understanding of the economies and business cultures of the countries she operates in. Prior to joining London Speaker Bureau in 2013, she spent 10 years working across the Middle East, as an economic analyst.

fter a first career in international banking and 14 years at LSB, Kate’s expertise lies in current affairs, economics, geopolitics, technology and other business related issues. Her clients span over 15 different countries and include the biggest and best-known global companies, as well as the newer smaller niche players. She is a particular specialist on her native region of Scandinavia.

What was your highlight of 2016? All the people we work with have fascinating insights and a wealth of knowledge to share. However, my personal highlight has been watching the growth of Dr. Tommy Weir, into one of our most booked speakers globally. He and I started working together four years ago. Today he is the principal commentator on leadership in the Middle East. I have also had the pleasure of bringing John Simpson to the region a number of times this year. Not only is he one of the greatest foreign correspondents in the world, he is also an absolute gentleman and one of the best conference moderators.

Which speakers have been most in demand in 2016 and which speakers have you enjoyed working with most?

What were the key areas that organizations in your region have been focusing on? In the last year the main themes have been innovation, entrepreneurship, performance and technology, but my personal favorite has been the theme of “happiness”. The UAE has taken the noteworthy step of appointing a Minister for Happiness, and this has resulted in organizations working to understand what happiness means to them and what it means for a country’s overall development. We have some fascinating speakers within this topic. One of my favorite speakers is Alexander Stubb, the former Prime Minister of Finland. Finland has a great deal to teach us about national happiness and Alexander is an absolutely brilliant communicator.

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The speakers who were very in demand in my area of expertise included: José Manuel Barroso on Europe; Lord (Jonathan) Evans on political risk; David Miliband on the shape of the world; Mariana Mazzucato on the economy and government innovation policy; and Ben Hammersley on cybersecurity. Also Tim Marshall, whose wonderful book Prisoners of Geography, explains so much of what is happening in our turbulent world at the moment. These are some of my favorites. Currently, I am enjoying building new relationships with some wonderful speakers in Scandinavia, where I am originally from. Like most Nordics they all speak English perfectly and are great presenters – a skill taught young in Scandinavia (I remember having to give speeches even as a child at family events in Norway). Particularly worth watching are: Per Holknekt, the Swedish entrepreneur, who has built and rebuilt his world a few times; Claudia Olsson who is amazing on exponential technologies and what this means for your business; and Kasper Holten, the Danish Director of the British Royal Opera House, particularly on talent management. I also love Karina Hollekim, the Norwegian BASE jumper, who skis off the highest mountains and has had the strength and guts to rebuild herself after a terrible accident in the Alps. Amazing woman.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

A Very Modern Political Figure Former Prime Minister of Finland, Alexander Stubb

ealth-work balance, social media’s role in politics, and the defense of the European and Western ideal.

Alexander Stubb is frank and flamboyant, a polyglot, a progressive thinker and one of Europe’s most accessible and fittest politicians. In June 2016, he stepped down as Finland’s minister of finance (2015-16) and leader of the National Coalition Party (2014-16). During his distinguished, eight-year career in government, he served as prime minister (2014-15) and held two other key cabinet positions: minister for foreign affairs (2008-11) and minister for European affairs and foreign trade (2011-14). A former MEP, Stubb is outspokenly pro-Europe, an avid supporter of deepening European integration and a vocal defender of multiculturalism, democracy and globalization. One of the most active Twitter users among European politicians, he is renowned for being social media savvy. Alongside his political career, he is an avid sportsman and Ironman World Champion triathlete.

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SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Europe has to defend itself every day against anti-European and nationalistic forces, anti-democratic and authoritarian forces, anti-market and protectionist forces, and anti-globalization forces. What role has staying fit and healthy played in your life as a politician?

Taking exercise has been a respite from day to day pressures and has helped me to have enough energy to get through tough and stressful situations. My mantra is – one hour of exercise, gives you two hours more energy per day. In a lot of high-pressure jobs, if you want to perform at your best, you need to take care of yourself. For me, that entails three things: sleep, nutrition and exercise. The key is just to do something every day and to have a few targets and goals, which can help you to stay on track. However, I am the first to enjoy a cigar, a glass of wine or a good meal. I believe in balance.

As an avid Twitter user, what role do you feel social media plays in politics today? Do you see any potential pitfalls in this sort of accessibility?

Social media is obviously an extremely important part of politics, or anything we do today. I have always believed in transparency and I was one of the first politicians to write a blog and to open it up for public comment. One of the big problems with European politics is that it has always been behind closed doors. The upside of social media for politicians is that you can give a direct message to the public and lose the middleman - the journalist who may

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misinterpret or distort your message. The downside is that sometimes you can make very public mistakes. You have to learn your lessons along the way.

In the face of the intense debate that has erupted about the fate of the EU, do you believe the European dream is at risk?

There needs to be a stronger defense of the European ideal and the Western ideals upon which our success has been built – democracy, globalization and the market economy. Europe has to defend itself every day against anti-European and nationalistic forces, anti-democratic and authoritarian forces, anti-market and protectionist forces, and antiglobalization forces. However, I have not lost all hope in European integration, because the pendulum swings both ways. In the early 1990s, we lived in an era of hope. The Cold War had ended, and democracy and the market economy had defeated authoritarian regimes and communism hands down. Twenty-five years later, we see a reverse trend. There is a sense of despair and a focus upon looking inward, which has resulted in, for example, Brexit. The key is to stand up and defend the values that we believe in. In the end, I think that common sense will prevail. It is very difficult for me to see why we should be building barriers, in an era of information technology and globalization.

What do you think will happen with Brexit?

It is hard to say. In an ideal situation, the British people will be given a choice in 2019 – between sticking to old membership and approving a new relationship between the EU and the UK.

Earlier this year, you turned down the role of minister of foreign trade. What are your plans for the future?

I feel very privileged and thankful that I have been able to serve my country. Right now, I am content being a member of parliament and enjoying life in a different kind of way. As for what is next? I am a fatalist. So, we’ll see where life takes me.

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BARONESS SAYEEDA WARSI

Britain’s First Muslim Cabinet Minister

hy did you choose to join the Conservative Party? For me it was an active choice rather than being born into the religion of conservatism. I was a convert to the cause. My dad first came to Britain in the 1960s, he worked in the Yorkshire textile mills and joined the trade union movement and by default we became Labour. In my twenties, I began to realise the value of individual responsibility, by taking the opportunities that present and being accountable for one's actions, a belief in small government, a bigger society and the power of the free market. Naturally and instinctively my politics lay in the centreright space rather than the left.

What motivated you to write The Enemy Within and what inspired the striking title? The debate around British Muslims and Islam is often in black and white terms and yet in reality there are multiple shades of grey. Too often in politics and in the media these nuances are lost and what this book is about is introducing some context to the debate; Who are British Muslims? What do they think? How did they get here? What are their journeys? The book, The Enemy Within, was given its name because of an article written following my involvement on the national security-council and government task force post the terrorist murder of Lee Rigby. The article referred to me as “the enemy at the table”. Both my grandfathers had served in the British-Indian army, my parents had worked their way out of poverty and created jobs, not just for themselves, but for others in local communities and I was serving my country at the top table in Britain, so those comments hurt. They said to me that you don’t belong and you can’t be trusted. I feel that the best way of dealing with such insults is to field them well. Taking ownership of that insult, unpicking it and proving it wrong through data, polling, evidence and research, was the best way of responding to it, “The Enemy Within” does that. I wanted to write a book where the false distinctions of “us” and “them” were laid

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bare. I am “us” and I am “them”; an insider in both government and British Muslim communities and sometimes an outsider in both. Do you ever feel tension between your personal values and those of wider British society? No I don’t, because ultimately principles and values are universal. Where I do find tension is in the conflict between our “official” stated British values and the reality of the environment in which too many in our country live. British values as currently listed in government policy is a notion which is neither clearly defined, nor honestly underpinned, nor transparently or consistently applied and it does not stand the test of time and history. As a senior member of the Catholic Church said to me “British values have increasingly become a stick with which to beat minorities”. If we look at how political discourse is changing around gender, LGBT and other minorities’ rights, I do not think we can take it for granted that the battle for progressive liberal values has been won or that those values are forever enduring. You only have to look at the changing attitudes in the US and parts of Europe to see that challenges still remain. The language should not be about British values, but British ideals – a forward looking vision at who we want to be as a nation. All of us, whatever background we are from, whatever gender, color or religion we are, need to be part of an inclusive debate to define British ideals. This also means that each generation continues to make the case for equal worth and equal value for all that make up our nation. Right-wing populism appears to be on the rise across Europe and the rest of the world, what challenges do you think this poses for Muslim Britain? There’s a bit of meltdown happening in some Western democracies, a questioning of who we are, what we stand for and how we will define our nation’s future identity. Unfortunately there is also a gap between mainstream politics and sections of our

own societies. We must not allow that gap to be filled by people who sell populism as authentic politics. Using a public platform to make vile statements which resonate with some sections of our communities does not make one an authentic politician it just means that some politicians are comfortable in crossing the boundaries of decent behavior. It may seem now that Muslim communities in Europe are unpopular and under attack but a closer look at the rise of right wing populism shows, as it has done so already in the US, that it may start with the Muslims but will move to other minorities. It is important for all of us to stand up to this worrying form of politics. More than ever now Martin Niemoller’s poem is true and relevant and I believe that Muslims are simply the canaries in the coal mine. What are your hopes and your fears for 2017? Britain is negotiating her exit from the European Union and we are going to be a different kind of nation. I fear the uncertainty this creates but hope for a Britain which forges new and stronger relationships with the rest of Europe and further. Our relationship with the US is important but I fear it will be tested. I hope sanity eventually prevails in the new White House.

The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain by Sayeeda Warsi

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BARONESS SAYEEDA WARSI

Say what you believe and do what you say

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SIMON ANHOLT INTERVIEW

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Simon Anholt: Should the world be happy that you exist?

imon Anholt, the widely-revered creator of the Good Country movement and renowned TED speaker, argues that life on earth is increasingly dependent on collaboration and cooperation, rather than just competitiveness. A leading policy advisor to the presidents, prime ministers and monarchs of more than fifty countries over the past fifteen years, as well as to CEOs of corporations and the mayors of cities, he successfully helps to develop and implement strategies for achieving reputation and revenue flow by “doing the right things, for the right reasons.” Anholt is also the creator of the Good Country Index, a controversial ranking that for the first time measures what each country contributes to the common good of humanity, and what it takes away. In addition, he’s the man behind the Global Vote, a platform that allows everyone on earth to vote in the elections of any other country. His pioneering work is just as relevant to companies, non-profit organizations, cities, towns, schools and universities, as it is for nations. Anholt holds the key to creating “true value”, as opposed to just progress or prosperity. 10

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What inspired you to develop the Good Country Index, and the Good Country idea behind it? The Good Country exists because the only way humanity can face up to the gigantic, global, systemic challenges we now face is by mixing in a whole lot more co-operation and collaboration with our usual diet of undiluted competition. This means a change in the culture of governance and management, and the Good Country is dedicated to inspiring that change. I built the Good Country Index because I wanted to show people how much each country actually contributes to the world we live in, instead of constantly asking how well they’re serving their own businesses and citizens: should we feel glad that it exists, or is it just a burden on the planet? We live in the age of interdependence and it’s time everybody – companies, countries and society itself – started to think again about their relationship to humanity. It’s time to move on from constantly measuring performance and start to look at our active balance sheet towards the rest of the world.

Why is changing the culture of governance worldwide so important? Whenever somebody becomes a CEO, a president, prime minister or mayor, they assume that their job is to fight for the best possible deal for their voters, their citizens, their employees and shareholders – even if that’s at the expense of other people’s voters, citizens, employees or shareholders. They also assume that helping their own people usually means harming others and vice versa: that nations, cities and corporations are inherently self-serving, competing entities whose interests are seldom aligned with each other. This is simply not true: industry learned from Japanese management techniques in the 1970s that combining competition and collaboration can produce better results both for individual firms and for entire industries. I am proposing we try the same thing with countries and for the past 15 years I’ve been lucky enough to have a job that has enabled me to pilot this approach with the governments of more than 50 countries. It’s time for businesses to teach countries about the benefits of co-opetition.

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SIMON ANHOLT INTERVIEW

This is about enlightened self-interest, not altruism: I’m certainly not expecting countries or companies to become self-sacrificing. The good news is that thinking wide – understanding, accepting and catering for the wider needs of the human community and the planet – if done correctly, actually helps you to make better policy than thinking narrowly. What is the Good Country’s ‘dual mandate’? Everybody in a position of authority – whether they’re running a company, a country, a university or even a village – is responsible not just for their own people, but for every man, woman, child and animal on the planet; not just for

world, whenever a country – even a small country – elects a new leader, that will have consequences for the whole of mankind and the whole planet. For this reason, I think the whole of mankind should have a say in that election. I ask the Global Voters not to worry about what each candidate might do or not do for the population of that country itself – that’s purely a matter for the domestic voters – but to consider what the candidate, once elected, might contribute to the rest of the world. The Global Vote is actually proving very popular as an educational tool in schools and universities worldwide, as it’s helping young people to feel more responsible for the world beyond their national borders.

This is about enlightened self-interest, not altruism: I’m certainly not expecting countries or companies to become self-sacrificing. their own slice of territory, but for every square mile of the earth’s surface and the atmosphere above it. That’s the new reality for the 21st century and beyond. And anybody who doesn’t like the sound of it shouldn’t have authority. The Good Country Index measures a country’s global contribution over seven key factors. Are these all equally weighted? They’re unweighted, because there’s no objective way of weighting them. Some might think that the damage caused to the planet by emitting a ton of CO2 is outweighed by the benefit caused by impounding a ton of cocaine; others might not. Many would say that no amount of Nobel prizes or food aid can make up for casualties caused in overseas conflicts, and I’d agree with them. But any attempt to make a hierarchy of these widely different behaviors would be unpardonably subjective so I leave them as they are, and invite people to look at the individual scores and make up their own minds. At a later stage, I’m hoping to help enable people to apply their own personal weighting based on their own global priorities, which will give them a personalized Good Country Index.

How can politicians, NGOs and business leaders get involved with the Good Country? The principles of the Good Country work just beautifully at the level of cities, towns, schools and universities, companies and organizations, villages and families, and even though most of my time over the past 15 years has been spent teaching those principles to world leaders, it’s essential that we all live by them. We must all learn to plan, manage and imagine with minds that telescope, not minds that microscope: we must develop the instinct to cater for and benefit from the needs of the whole planet. We must strive to be good neighbors and good ancestors. Each company, country and individual must know what they are for, what is their particular gift to the world, and why people around the world should feel glad that they exist. This is Grand Strategy: reputation and revenue flow as a natural consequence of doing the right things for the right reasons.

What do you hope to achieve with the Global Vote? I’m hoping to get people to take an active interest in the outcomes of other countries’ elections, and help make the point that in our hyper-connected SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7 SPEAK

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BOARDROOM ADVISORY

LONDON SPEAKER BUREAU’S newest service: Boardroom Advisory

Jeroen van der Veer, Chairman Philips

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Chairman Société Générale

Luca di Montezemolo, Chairman Alitalia

Marijn Dekkers, Chairman Unilever

Lord Browne, recent CEO BP

Shaukat Aziz, recent Prime Minister Pakistan

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n 2016 London Speaker Bureau (LSB) set up Boardroom Advisory. We did so because our clients around the world told us they needed more than just a speaker or moderator. Many of our corporate and government clients said they wanted expert, informed advice in a less structured environment, delivered to the very highest level of their organization. In short, they wanted a fruitful dialogue, not a one-way monologue. We also found that these clients wanted to have that dialogue with an individual who had real-world, practical experience, not with an often predictable and formulaic management consultancy. Since LSB has managed over 25,000 global keynote speeches down the years, we knew exactly where to look to find those experienced voices. We’ve started to work with 12 global chairmen who are prepared to roll up their sleeves and spend at least one full day with your top management. We stress, this is not keynote speaking but a more informal interaction in which outside expertise is shared with a board of directors and its CEO. We believe that in one day this “advisor” can have genuine influence over an organization, something a keynote speech could not possibly achieve. The aim is to promote a deeper engagement at senior level that yields positive transformation and a more successful future. The topic areas offered include leadership, strategy, governance, risk and succession planning. Other topics will be added as we move forward.

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ABDULLAH GÜL

FORMER PRESIDENT OF TURKEY Abdullah Gül: The Moderate Islamist with a Voice in the East and West

ow pivotal is Turkey to the situation in Syria? Turkey shares its longest common border with Syria. Various geographic and historical links conjoin the two countries and the two nations. As a neighboring country the stability, security and welfare of Syria is of vital importance to Turkey. Potential consequences of deterioration of territorial integrity and the political unity in Syria is a particular concern to Turkey in terms of security, economic cooperation and humanitarian relations. This is why Turkey could not have been neutral to the crisis in Syria since its very beginning. For any kind of regime, maintaining the happiness and prosperity of its people is directly related with the principles of good governance and rule of law. Turkey for a long time has pursued engagement policies towards its neighboring regions. One of the basic aims of this policy was to promote the usage of the natural and humanitarian resources of the region for the well-being of its people. This policy was also instrumental in the gradual establishment of stability in the region. Having said that, Turkey has also stood by the oppressed people when they revolted against major human right violations of the regime. Do you think Turkey will join the European Union? Turkey began negotiations with the EU for full membership in 2005. The issue here is the successful completion of the negotiations and adoption of the EU Acquis. When we accomplish this, Turkey will be a country like Norway. For me, that is the main goal. The aftermath is solely a political decision on both sides. When the EU Council declares the closure of all of the chapters and the successful adoption of the Acquis, the member countries would vote “yes” if they consider Turkey as an asset. France and Austria have already announced that Turkey’s entry into the EU, when the issue arises, will be subject to a popular vote. Either decision is respected whether it is yes or no. Moreover, Turkish people may also react differently to expectations at the time. However, in order to reach that point, successful closure of the chapters should be encouraged to give Turkey the opportunity. This process would be invaluable, not only for the security and welfare of Turkey, but also for the whole Europe.

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Can Eastern and Western values coexist? Throughout my political and intellectual life, I have always believed that co-existence of Eastern and Western values is possible. After all, values, which are referred to as Western values and its sub-values such as rule of law, accountability, credibility, transparency, are in fact, the same values rephrased with different terminology in Muslim communities. Significant, prosperous periods of Islamic communities coincides with times when these values were upheld. As seen in the past, these values can be embraced together. I do believe that it’s a challenge, yet, it is possible and necessary for the sake of the region’s future. What are your hopes for the future of Turkey? I believe that Turkey, as a globally integrated country, with its young and vibrant population certainly deserves the highest standards of democracy, rule of law and freedom. I am sure that this young and dynamic nation will further advance in this direction. Although we may have some temporary domestic issues from time to time, I have no doubt that we have the strength and faith to overcome these problems. A nation which enjoyed freedom and experienced the success of the free market will never follow a different path.

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FARAH PANDITH INTERVIEW

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Farah Pandith: How to win the war on terror

arah Pandith is a world-leading expert on the foreign policy strategies required to defeat Islamic terrorism, win the “war of ideas” and halt extremist recruitment of Muslim youth. Appointed the first-ever special representative to Muslim communities in 2009, she served under both Secretary Clinton and Secretary John Kerry. In this role, she was responsible for executing a vision for engagement with Muslims around the world. Pandith, who was appointed to Secretary of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) in 2015, believes we can win the war on terror, “but only if we have the courage to rethink, reinvent, reimagine.”

Terrorist attacks have grown more frequent and widespread in recent years. Are we losing the war on terror? At present, yes, we are losing, and I find that tragic. Intractable problems confront us today, but after spending more than a decade working in government and visiting hundreds of Muslim communities around the world, I know that stopping extremist recruitment isn’t one of them. With the right policies and dedication, we could contain this threat in relatively short order, and relatively cheaply. We have responded to extremism primarily by attempting to stop groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS using military means. By contrast, our approach to stopping recruitment has been incomplete, fragmented, underfunded, misguided, and ineffectual. We’ve contented ourselves with small-scale and “one-off” campaigns, and we haven’t built the infrastructure we need to fight and win the “war of ideas.” Military action is important - we need to hit extremist groups hard. But ISIS, Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab, and others are specifically targeting Muslim youth for their armies. If we can stop or slow recruiting, we can defang and ultimately defeat the extremist threat. We haven’t even begun to try. What makes Muslim youth so vulnerable to extremist ideology? Since 9/11, Muslim youth have experienced an identity crisis. Imagine growing up a digital native and seeing negative images of your co-religionists,

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culture, and heritage everywhere you look in the global media. That’s what Muslim youth have experienced. Unlike their parents, these youth have come to believe that America and the West are “at war with Islam,” and that their own, personal identity is all that matters. In this context, religious practice and the traditional way of life espoused by their families, teachers, and imams seem inadequate and outdated to them. This prevailing focus on and uncertainty about identity, global in scope, is unprecedented in modern Islamic history. It also colors how these kids see everything. The media constantly reinforces an “us and them” mentality, as do peer groups and daily behaviors. Like other millennials, Muslim youth live online, so they migrate there seeking insight into religious identity as well as a chance to meet like-minded “friends.” Unfortunately, extremists lie in wait, offering easy answers and proactively using the latest trends and techniques to connect to these young people. Most Muslim youth see through extremist ideology but, sadly, a small percentage don’t. What should Western governments do to combat violent extremism? First, take a grassroots approach. We need to engage daily with local Muslim communities around the world. We need to solicit their ideas, and further, we need to play the role of ethnographers, looking for broader trends in the emotional and intellectual lives of Muslim youth.

Second, scale up our support of “influencers.” Muslim youth don’t care what governments say. But they do listen to “credible,” peer voices within Muslim communities. During my time in government, I pioneered a number of successful programs to galvanize such influencers. Sadly, no funding or other resources existed to expand these programs. Such programs could make a massive difference if we brought them to scale. Government should see itself as the convener, facilitator, and funder of credible voices, not as the sole bulwark against extremist ideology. Third, be more entrepreneurial. Extremism is a fast moving, dynamic threat. Governments must become fast moving and dynamic, too. We must seek out great ideas and experiment with them. We must take creative risks. We must look for ideas and partners in unfamiliar places. Government talks all the time about being “entrepreneurial.” Yet it lumbers around like an elephant. Let’s change that. Fourth, get tough with our allies and partners. Saudi money has funded the global spread of Wahhabism, a brand of Islam that continues to inspire extremist groups and their ideology. In local communities, Wahhabism has displaced indigenous forms of Islam, destroying the religion’s traditional diversity. Today, that lack of diversity plays into extremist narratives about the one, true, “authentic” Islam they purportedly represent. To win the war of ideas, we have to stop Wahhabism’s global hijacking of Islam.

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FARAH PANDITH INTERVIEW

We need to open up policymaking, in every sense of the word: “open-sourcing” solutions from the community; opening up our strategic approach to encompass many academic and professional disciplines; “opening the aperture” to see extremism holistically and organically, in its full nuance and complexity; and making policymaking more “openended,” so that it can keep maturing as global issues change and move. That means pressuring our allies and partners to cut off financial and cultural lifelines to Wahhabi ideology. Do governments today have an overarching strategy to combat extremist ideology? They don’t - and this needs to change. We need to unite disparate global government bureaucracies relevant to the ideological battle behind a single, comprehensive strategy. In framing this strategy, we need to break with existing practice and consult with an array of experts, including psychologists, ethnographers, technologists, social media experts, cultural activists, communication specialists, historians, theologians, and so on. We also need to change our underlying, theoretical approach to this issue. Instead of traditional “hard power” (military force) or “soft power” (attempts to change behavior through influence, coercion, and persuasion), we need to practice an updated form of soft power that I call open power. We need to open up policymaking, in every sense of the word: “open-sourcing” solutions from the community; opening up our strategic approach to encompass many academic and professional disciplines; “opening the aperture” to see extremism holistically and organically, in its full nuance and complexity; and making policymaking more “openended,” so that it can keep maturing as global issues change and move. Again, we can extinguish the appeal of extremism in our time. But only if we have the courage to rethink, reinvent, reimagine.

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Farah Pandith. Credit: Women in the World

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J.B. STRAUBEL: The Disruptive, Clean Tech Innovator Changing Our World

effrey Brian (J.B.) Straubel is the world’s expert in battery technology and the Chief Technical Officer at pioneering electric car company Tesla Motors in Silicon Valley. He is leading the world’s transition to sustainable transportation and solving the massive global challenge of renewable energy storage. Straubel, one of the greatest clean tech innovators of our time, looks at technology as a long-term trend. The key he believes is to “do something that is obvious, before it is obvious”. Thirteen years ago, before it became obvious, Straubel took consumer electronic lithium ion (Liion) batteries and pulled them into the automotive sector at Tesla, completely disrupting the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Tesla’s goal has always been to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by developing mass-market electric cars. However, in the early days of the company, the challenge for Straubel was to string thousands of small Li-ion batteries together, make a car battery pack and make it safe and affordable. These batteries were too new a technology in 2003 to make a cheap mass-market car yet. So, early on, Tesla had to create a niche. The common perception was that electric cars were golf cars, so they set about proving with the Tesla roadster, that they could make a sleek, sexy, fast car which could compete with gasoline race cars in terms of acceleration and torque. It was based on the Lotus

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Elise, hit 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and squeezed 245 miles, from a 950-pound battery. Straubel did not stop with the roadster - he kept innovating. The Model S was built from scratch and the whole concept of ‘what a car is’ was turned on its head and every assumption thrown away. By placing all the car’s weight (the battery pack) at the bottom of the car, he ended up designing the first car that will not flip over. Mounted inside the battery pack, the cells were interconnected and interwoven with liquid cooling systems to prevent fires (traditionally a big problem with Li-ion batteries). Then, he revolutionized the concept of all-wheel driving systems, resulting in unparalleled traction control. The Model S turned out to be the safest car on the road. Breaking through barriers to innovate faster and better has been Straubel’s strength. Rather than using knobs, switches and dials for the controls for the Model S, he challenged this. He installed a touchscreen – a far more intuitive way to drive an electric vehicle. This also means that Tesla can use software and wirelessly update it, change and improve the function of the car, over years of car ownership. By disrupting incumbent thinking, Straubel created the fastest 4-door car in history, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 2.5 seconds. The Model S has great handling, autopilot technology and a range of almost 300 miles.

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J.B. STRAUBEL

We look at what is possible with physics, science and technology and then we base our product decisions on that. Straubel also totally revolutionized electric charge time. Superchargers can now top up a battery to about 80% of capacity in 30 minutes. Tesla’s ever-expanding number of stations, make up the largest fast-charging network across North America, Europe and Asia. The barriers to EV mass adoption are dropping fast. “The improvement in battery technology is increasing all the time, year on year,” Straubel says. Between 2010-15, the average cost dropped by 65 per cent. By 2022, it is widely predicted that EVs will be cheaper to own than regular cars. The amount of electricity that will be needed to charge the one million cars Tesla plan to have on the road by 2020 is massive. So, they have built their own gigafactory. By vertically integrating the supply of Li-ion batteries and scaling it up, they can drive down the cost much faster than anyone has predicted before. By 2020 the gigafactory is set to produce as many Li-ion batteries as the entire world used in 2013. They will need a lot of these factories to eliminate the use of petrol-powered cars, but Straubel is confident this is coming. Tesla’s domestic and commercial battery packs for renewable energy storage may solve one of the world’s most pressing energy problems. Straubel says, “The economics in many cases have already crossed a threshold where battery packs can effectively store renewables on a very big scale”. As batteries improve in terms of safety and the amount of energy they can store, this will allow new

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electrically powered products to be produced. “In the foreseeable future, electric airplanes become an interesting and pretty compelling proposition.” Straubel and his team won’t stop innovating until they make a car that is adopted by millions of people. A goal that is far closer than ever before. In March 2016, Tesla announced the launch of the Model 3, their first mass-market vehicle, priced at $35,000 (less than half the price of the Model S), with autonomous driving software, delivering a minimum of 215 miles range and set to be on the road by the end of 2017. At Tesla, Straubel says, “We look at what is possible with physics, science and technology and then we base our product decisions on that.” By constantly tearing up what he just did and looking to the future - not reasoning from what has been done before - Straubel is changing our world for the better.

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DESTINATION FOCUS

DESTINATION FOCUS United States of Conferences By Caroline Hunt, Director, LSB America

According to Credit Suisse’s annual report Global Wealth there are some 15.7 million “millionaires” in the USA

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hen London Speaker Bureau burst open its doors for business in the USA two years ago, we had already built a mature business with over ninety-five people in 16 offices around the globe. Launching in another English-speaking country would not cause a moment’s hesitation. And, of course, it hasn’t - we are made of sterner stuff than that but we did discover that the country is considerably different in many ways to the rest of the world. America is all about doing business and innovating – since landing on the moon in 1969, the US has excelled at pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Home of the Apple Macintosh, Google’s Driverless Car, iRobot’s vacuum cleaner Roomba and now Tesla’s solar roofs that look like, well actual roofs. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) there are 27 million entrepreneurs in the United States. The country is focused on expanding trade, domestic energy production, improving infrastructure, modernizing the regulatory process, making essential changes to entitlements, fixing the flaws in Obamacare and is enjoying high levels of employment. And according to Credit Suisse’s annual report Global Wealth there are some 15.7 million ‘millionaires’ in the USA, more per capita than anywhere else in the world. It is also focused on updating and revitalizing capital markets, passing immigration reform and improving education and training, which in turn will expand opportunity, address inequality and create more jobs. America is no longer an insular country. The derisory old myth that only 3.5% of US citizens hold current passports is far from true; passport holders now make up about 47% of

the population. And, indeed, London Speaker Bureau is seeing a significant interest from US-based corporations and associations who are looking for non-American speakers and advisors. The US’s can-do attitude to business and innovation is reflected in many of the world’s largest commercial events, which take place in the US. The legendary SXSW event, which takes over Austin, Texas, for nine days, is influential and important enough to have the recent First Lady as their keynote. The original TED (Technology Education Design) Conference, which was born in Monterey, California back in 1984 spawned dozens of lookalikes, a welcome plagiarism that has enlivened the entire conference industry. Many conferences now promote a more relaxed approach with shorter, more concise presentations and, finally, the end of Death by PowerPoint. London Speaker Bureau is enjoying being part of the dynamism of the USA, and there is much to learn from our American cousins about how the wheels of US business turn. Their unrelenting yes-we-can ethos can be quite infectious. We are having fun. Please contact us for a list of LSB’s most in demand speakers and advisors in the US.

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LEADING DIGITAL SPEAKERS

GROUNDBREAKING DIGITAL SPEAKERS: Helping solve global challenges One of the signs of success for me in Digital Health will be the growing emergence of patients as innovators. The pace of change will only quicken, and I’m excited to be part of a global community that wants to impact the lives of 7.4 billion people.

FinTech Dan Cobley is the former managing director of Google UK & Ireland and managing partner at Blenheim Chalcot, where he oversees the venture capital firm’s FinTech portfolio. A popular TedX speaker, he has been rated as one of the most influential digital people by both Wired magazine and the Evening Standard.

I think all the stars are in place for entrepreneurs and therefore, this is going to be the decade of entrepreneurs. By encouraging start-ups, India can create more and more jobs with more and more income, more and more disposable income.

Digital Nation Toomas Hendrik Ilves is the former president of Estonia (2006-16) and architect of the world’s first startup nation “e-Estonia” a democratically transparent 21st-century networked society and one of Europe’s success stories of the past decade. Ilves has pioneered a model of digital governance for the country, offering cutting-edge government e-services in voting, banking, healthcare, transportation and education. He has completely transformed the interaction between government and citizens, quickly making bureaucracy a thing of the past and increasing efficiency. Citizens’ information – from healthcare records to tax filings, to educational qualifications to real estate documents – is stored in a seamlessly integrated national database. Everyone – from government to police to tax authorities to the citizens themselves – is transparent. Ilves sees this accountable system, which is based on “trust” and “data integrity”, as being the essential foundations of a social contract for our networked age.

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Maneesh Juneja

Digital Health Maneesh Juneja, a leading Digital Health Futurist and TedX speaker was ranked seventh Most Influential Person in Digital Health in 2016. Juneja’s bold thinking and expertise on the technology that will make healthcare more efficient, cheaper and more accessible in the future, has ignited debate on both sides of the Atlantic.

Banks are increasingly seeing that the kind of innovation they need to keep their customers happy is best delivered through partnerships with FinTechs. Dan Cobley

Narayana Murthy

Digital Start-ups Narayana Murthy is the founder-chairman of Infosys Technologies, the multibillion-dollar software and IT services firm. The “Father of Indian IT”, he is a visionary leader who has shaped the world of business and finance. As a software engineer, he began Infosys in 1981 and transformed it into a global powerhouse in consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions.

Leadership, a willingness to take political risks as well as a realization that uptake would be quickest with the government offering far better services through digitization, all added up to Estonia’s lead today. Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Marcus East

eCommerce Marcus East is the recent global digital director at Marks & Spencer and former Apple ecommerce executive and digital expert. A dynamic technology leader and electronic commerce specialist with a 20-year track record of success in both corporate and entrepreneurial environments, East has driven the adoption of Agile in major organizations like Comic Relief and Apple. With a passion for the use of technology to drive positive social change, he is heavily involved in “Social Tech”.

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MARK STEVENSON INTERVIEW

Exclusive Interview with Mark Stevenson: Europe’s foremost futurologist

n an immensely inspiring journey across the globe, Mark Stevenson has discovered extraordinary pioneers of cutting edge innovations that can solve the world’s most pressing dilemmas and transform the way we organize our societies. Stevenson is one of the world’s most respected thinkers on future technological and societal trends, the bestselling author of An Optimist’s Tour of the Future (2011) and a top advisor to organizations on adapting to the trends and complexities we will face in an ever-transforming world. In his new book, We Do Things Differently (2017), Stevenson takes “impossible” off the table and proves that bold changes can be achieved, whether it be with regards to rebooting our energy system, radically changing our governance system or getting patients involved in healthcare. Using transformative examples of innovation he has discovered, he provides us with a detailed roadmap to the possibilities of a better future and “a more equitable, humane and sustainable world.”

What is preventing our societal systems from innovating and adapting to modern challenges? They suffer from inertia essentially. Today, when alternative systems are proposed, which are better for society or the planet, they are dismissed because change and innovation often call into question people’s salaries and skill sets. The other reason is that everyone is “doing a good job”. In other words, everyone can point to a positive influence to justify the way they do their job, rather than admitting if they changed the way the system worked, then they would have a much bigger positive impact. The energy system can say they are fuelling society, while simultaneously ignoring climate change. The agribusiness and agrochemical industries can say they are feeding the world, but ignore the fact that intensive farming is highly unsustainable. The world we have was built on economies of scale but the world of the future will most likely be built on economies of distribution - using technology and new decentralized methods of organization, such as urban farming and community power.

than the government spending it for them. I also traveled to the “failed city” of Detroit, which is successfully transforming its communities through collective farming and gardening. In England, I spent time with a man who has invented an amazing, sustainable refrigeration technology that runs on liquid air. In India, I met the pioneers behind an open-sourced and crowd-sourced system for discovering new types of drugs. Instead of spending US$2.6 billion to create a drug (which means the poor die), they spend less than US$20 million, (which means the poor can now afford it). I also visited a school in Lincoln which, through radical collaboration, transformed itself in two years from the worst school in the country to the best school in the country, without changing a single member of staff. In northern India, I looked at sustainable methods of farming that help to raise poor farmers out of poverty and give the same yields as large scale agricultural methods, without the need for expensive and unsustainable inputs or irrigation. I met energy-Internet software developers who are creating cheap and stable energy systems. I also traveled to a small town in Austria that powers itself entirely from renewable energy, cutting their carbon emissions by two-thirds, halving the price of their energy and transforming their local economy. I met many other amazing pioneers and it took me all over the world. What makes these pioneers different? What motivates them? They are people who are not from within the field in which they are innovating. As a result, they look at things differently and approach problems freshly. Overall, I think their guiding motivation is justice. What do we need to do to drive the changes to our systems worldwide? We need a shift in culture. We need collaborative, creative spaces and co-inspiration networks. We need to show people that there are innovative solutions to our modern challenges and that the future can be better.

Where did your journey to discover innovative system models for the future take you? In Brazil, I found a system of participatory governance, where citizens work together on projects and spend the government’s money, rather

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MARK STEVENSON INTERVIEW

Book Launch:

We Do Things Differently by Mark Stevenson On 24 January 2017, London Speaker Bureau (LSB) hosted the launch of Mark Stevenson’s new book which took place at the Royal Insitution in Mayfair, London. Stevenson gave a speech sharing teasers from the book, insight into what he is currently working on, and a characteristically optimistic glimpse into the future. He touched on both current and future trends which will shape the world and our lives, including innovations such as the use of liquid air as fuel! ITV News’ former Economics Editor and Chief Political Correspondent Daisy McAndrew then moderated a Q&A with Stevenson, who answered questions from a thoroughly engaged audience. Stevenson left the audience with an emphasis on the critical importance of sustainability, innovation and happiness, declaring: “The future is a mirror… and if you don’t look into that mirror and see a world of sustainability and compassion and humanity and justice, then why are we getting up in the morning?”

We Do Things Differently: The Outsiders Rebooting Our World

MARK STEVENSON

Our systems are failing. Old models – for education, healthcare, government, food production, energy supply – are creaking under the weight of modern challenges. As the world’s population heads towards 10 billion, it is clear we need new approaches. Here, acclaimed writer and futurist Mark Stevenson sets out to find them, across four continents. From Brazilian favelas and rural India to one of the toughest housing estates in Britain, Stevenson travels the world to find remarkable innovators who are pioneering new ways to make our world more sustainable and democratize access to resources and knowledge. In Boston, he learns how patients are helping each other find the best treatments by using the medical equivalent of a dating website; in Jharkhand, he meets rural farmers who are exceeding the yields of the Green Revolution with SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

techniques inspired by a Jesuit priest; in the small Austrian town of Güssing, he finds a community that made itself completely independent from the big energy suppliers by turning bark that used to just rot on the forest floor into electricity; in Detroit, he sees how urban farming and a community-run food system has turned a city on the brink of collapse into a food capital; and in Lincoln, he finds a school – the Hartsholme Academy – that an ex night-club manager turned into a beacon of educational excellence by asking the students to mark each other’s work. Populated by extraordinary characters and inspiring ideas across all fields, from participatory budgeting to the Enernet, We Do Things Differently paints an enthralling picture of what can be done to address the world’s most pressing dilemmas and offers a much-needed dose of down-to-earth optimism. It is a window on (and a roadmap to) a different and better future.

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PAUL MASON

PAUL MASON:

We need to build a post-capitalist sharing society

aul Mason, author of Postcapitalism (2015) and culture and digital editor at Channel 4, argues that capitalism has “reached its limits”, but we now have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable global economy. In order to do so, Mason says, we need to nurture that part of the economy, where free, shared and socially produced things are replacing money and market forces. The information technology revolution, has the potential to reshape utterly our familiar notions of work, production and value and to destroy an economy based on markets and private ownership – in fact, he contends, it is already doing so. The award-winning journalist argues that neoliberalism has become a machine for creating austerity. Furthermore, “Capitalism can no longer adapt to technological change.” Goods and services that no longer respond to the dictates of neoliberalism are appearing, from parallel currencies and time banks, to cooperatives and selfmanaged online spaces. Vast numbers of people are discovering new forms of ownership, lending, and doing business that are distinct from, and contrary to, the current system of state-backed corporate capitalism. Technology is destroying existing economic relationships and enabling new ones to take their place. Mason says that capitalism can’t survive if its primary resources are available at little cost and with an almost limitless shelf life. This tension between knowledge (which is limitless) and ownership (which is limited) represents the basic contradiction of capitalism, he contends. Chaos may ensue, he warns. For only if we take advantage of the technological revolution we are living through and create a post-capitalist sharing society to replace a predatory one, let prices fall and de-link work from wages, can we save the world from disaster. Mason believes we must promote the rapid transition towards an automated economy. He wants, “The state to do more to tame private finance and individuals to do more to bypass it.” He proposes that we set up and join credit unions, create new local currencies in our communities and urge politicians to implement regulation in parliament. That combination, of acting locally to rebuild economic security, while keeping pressure on lawmakers, is crucial, he believes. Mason urges us to recognize that technology has connected us by networks in unusually powerful ways and that together we can use that power to build a more equal and just world.

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The state to do more to tame private finance and individuals to do more to bypass it.

Postcapitalism: A guide to our Future (2015) by Paul Mason

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AMLAN ROY INTERVIEW

THE POWER OF DEMOGRAPHICS

Exclusive Interview with Amlan Roy

emographics is not just a simplistic, homogenous predictive tool, but is, in fact, far more complex and useful than most of us understand. It can help us to forecast future scenarios, explains Amlan Roy, a leading global macro researcher. A renowned expert in explaining how demographics affects economic growth, inflation and asset prices, he debunks common misconceptions and provides pragmatic solutions for investors. The former managing director and head of global demographics and pensions research for Credit Suisse in London, he uses pioneering academic research to engage a broad range of real world clients and investors across 38 different countries, from mutual fund managers to macro hedge funds, government treasuries to central banks, and insurance companies to pension funds. Roy speaks at more than 70 global conferences on a vast range of demographic-related topics, from stock and bond prices to real estate and commodity prices. He is also senior research associate with the London School of Economics’ Financial Markets Group.

Consumption and lifestyle preferences all depend on a very complex set of factors, which include family background, gender, health, education, skills and geography. In addition, your behavior and psyche are formed based on your personal experiences. All these variables influence your consumption and how you work. So, we are not homogenous or super-clones who behave superrationally and that needs to be understood by investors, economists and policymakers. Demographics is not predictable. It’s not about the long term. It’s about how you and I change day-to-day. And we change day-to-day because of technology, fashions, fads and so on. All these factors affect how we behave, consume and spend. To me, demographics is about 7.4 billion people who are changing, both as consumers and workers. Viewing demographics as being just about age is over-simplifying it. This has led to major economic blunders. For example, pension funds and insurance companies have been erroneous in thinking that all retirees are the same. Demographics is in fact the hidden key to understanding economic growth, asset prices and capital flows and to forecasting future scenarios in economics, socio-economics, geopolitics and the environment. If consumers are changing, which sectors will become important for investors in the future? Investment in pharmaceuticals and biotech is very important, both in countries with ageing populations and also in developing countries. The world needs drugs for tuberculosis, malaria, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, meningitis and so on. We also need better, more transparent and affordable financial services – insurance for our older generations and radically different pensions. Leisure and luxury will also be key – as the rich keep getting richer globally. Investment in both infrastructure and natural resource sectors will continue to be important, as well as investment in emerging markets and their consumers.

Many consider demographics to be just about age. What else should investors, economists and policymakers be considering? Demographics is not age-related, not long term and not predictable. It is about people as consumers and workers and it affects the income statements and balance sheets of individuals, families, corporations and countries. SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

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TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK INTERVIEW

Exclusive Interview with Tomáš Sedláček: What do fetishes have to do with economics?

he “fetishizing” of economics has resulted in a perpetual cycle of unfulfilled desire and debt and a “post coitum depression”, says Tomáš Sedláček. He is the Czech economist and bestselling author of The Economics of Good and Evil (2011), internationally renowned for challenging assumptions and radically rethinking and humanizing economics. Chief macroeconomic strategist at ČSOB and former economic advisor to President Vaclav Havel, he describes economics as a cultural phenomenon which cannot be free of ethics. What is wrong with our economic values today? There are a huge number of values in economics, some of which are bad - such as egoism, the belief that the markets are self-governing and that consumerism will deliver us into the “promised land”. In the absence of higher, traditional values in society - such as a belief in human decency, humility and openness - economic values dominate. I am of course an economist and I have nothing against economics, capital markets or wealth. However, the problem occurs when economic values are the only values you see. Even the biggest virtue, if overdone, becomes a vice. We have fetishized the economy, to the point that we expect it to do everything for us. We expected it to solve problems of inequality, to give our lives meaning and even some kind of spirituality. These are things the economy will never do. There is a crisis of faith in capitalism in the West. Is there a serious risk of being too dissatisfied with the system? Yes. This is why I call it a post coitum depression crisis. Capitalism gave us everything that we could have possibly imagined and now we are depressed as a result. A very common trigger for clinical depressions in medicine is the fulfilment of dreams, leaving the patient with no reason to go on living. We believe there is some god of economics that guides us into the future – the un-orchestrated orchestrator, as I call it. We blame the system. However, we don’t know what we want capitalism to be replaced with. We should decide we want a fairer system, based on equality and stability. Then as a society, work on making it so. However, there is a perpetual obsession with growth – everyone wants more and more. Everyone complains capitalism, the EU or the economy didn’t give us enough, but what if the opposite is true? What if the EU gave us everything

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that it promised – which was peace and trade? The problem with Europe is that we have no new dreams to dream. This is the perfect definition of a post coitum depression. You have said we are treating our economy for depression, but that it is actually in a state of manic depression. How should we be medicating? Anti-depressants are not sufficient. You need to prescribe mood stabilizers. The moment our economies become manic, we need budget surpluses, not deficits, with which we slow down the economy a little bit, in order to pay back our debts. We must have a safety net, in case of another crisis. This means low or negative budget debt, in order to give the government some space to maneuver. In terms of monetary policy, this means higher interest rates, to slow down the manic investment sprees, which are also accompanying these manic periods. Philosophically speaking, we should come to terms with the fact that the total wealth in Western society is sufficient. The economy has given us far more than we could have imagined 10 years ago. We have tensions in society because we are not distributing wealth fairly. We blame the economy, rather than blaming our societies and ourselves. Is redemption possible? Can we really get off the treadmill and find the harmony of equilibrium? I think that, for the first time in mankind’s history, we have openly realized that the winning strategy that we used in the past – aggression towards our neighbors and our planet - is no longer feasible. After years of hard labor, we could finally get back to what we had pre-industrialization, as John Maynard Keynes predicted in Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. Technology, robots and AI, will work in our stead. Human labor will become extremely lightweight, pleasant and creative and also much more individualized. What role will the economy play in this Utopia? When everyone is affluent and no longer has to obsess about their survival, we can do away with the economy. It will have fulfilled its role and we can focus on the pleasures of other values. There is pleasure in wealth, but we are now at a point where we have over-grazed it. The economy has been proven to be an inefficient way to make people happy.

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TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK INTERVIEW

We have fetishized the economy, to the point that we expect it to do everything for us.

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ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI INTERVIEW

Ziauddin Yousafzai He named her Malala - like father, like daughter

hat do you think inspired you to develop your feminist outlook and beliefs? I was born in a small village in the North West of Pakistan called Bar Kana, into a family of one brother and five sisters. My mother was illiterate, she never went to school, and my father was a clerk in the mosque. I grew up in a village where women’s freedom was very limited, they were very confined to homes though my mother was very fond of my education. But the education of the three sisters who lived under the same roof as me was not considered by either of my parents. Later in life I did my master’s degree in English literature and became involved in politics. Education changed my mindset and approach, as well as my patriarchal thinking. During this time I wrote a poem entitled “A Promise”. It was a pledge to the women of my community that I will stand with you and break the shackles and chains that confine them. My education inspired me, and my mother’s love for education inspired me, although she never thought of her own education or my sisters’. Though for me, even before I was married and had children, I thought that once I marry and I’m a father of a daughter, I will educate her fully, cherish my dream and let it materialize into what my father could not do for my sisters. Do you think that the paradigm of patriarchal, honor societies can ever be fully changed? People often ask me what I did. But I say, don’t ask me what I did, ask me what I did not do. I didn’t clip Malala’s wings, and that made her different from other girls. Otherwise, every girl is Malala if her wings are not clipped. The Taliban are an organized militant, extremist force who don’t believe in women’s empowerment and education. They have attacked children, teachers, schools, but apart from them, in patriarchal society in general, when it comes to women’s rights and education, you will find a Talib in every second or third person. By mentality, there is a lot of Talibanization. They are not militant Taliban but when it comes to women’s rights, a sleeping Talib is there. It is patriarchy, not Islam. Culturally they have kept women confined to four walls. When Malala started her activism, I was criticized by many people, including some relatives. I have found many difficulties within patriarchal society, apart from the Taliban. It is very important as Ghandi said long ago, “Be the change you want to see yourself.” It begins from you, if you want to change, you have to start from yourself. If you don’t bring the change within yourself and your family, it is paradoxical to expect it to happen.

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Because you stand firm on the idea that the key to emancipating women is education, do you think that the same is true for terrorism? Yes, but quality education. Education is such a broad term, even boys who are parroting religious books claim to be getting education. The most important thing is an education system which encourages creativity and develops critical thinking. If children aren’t capable of critical thinking, and they are blind followers, this is indoctrination not education. It’s the duty of the governments of every state to keep a vigilant eye on the curriculum and what children are being taught in classrooms. Often people say that education can’t help because there are youth in America and the UK who have joined terrorist forces. Individuals can go astray, one in 10,000 say. You cannot guarantee that every single person will be a good citizen after education, but you can’t indoctrinate an entire community if they are educated. Education protects a community as a whole. When the Taliban used to talk about their brand of education, I used to tell them, what will you use instead of thermometers? What will you replace stethoscopes with? Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human. We all own education, it is not one color or one faith. What are the objectives of the Malala Fund? It has three main objectives: advocacy, investment on the ground and amplifying the voices of other girls. In terms of advocacy for girls’ education, Malala marks each of her birthdays by focusing on an area in the world where girls’ education is in crisis. On her eighteenth birthday Malala went to Lebanon to open a girls school in the Bekaa Valley. Syrian refugees’ education is very important to us and is still on our agenda. Projects on the ground include a project in Nigeria where the Malala Fund has given scholarships to girls who were abducted by Boko Haram – these girls will be graduating next year. And with the money that Malala won for the Nobel Peace Prize, we are building a state-of-the-art school in the district of Shangla, which has a population of 700,000 people. Hopefully after 12 years, these girls will be leaders of their community. Finally, amplifying the voices of other girls. We are searching for education activists working for girls’ education. For instance, Malala invited five girls to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Three girls from Pakistan, one from Nigeria and one from Syria; and she did the same when she visited the UN. This objective is important as one Malala is not enough.

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My hope is that there will be more girls’ education and education in general will be a priority in the global agenda and the agenda of nations.

What are your hopes and your fears for 2017? My hope is that there will be more girls’ education and education in general will be a priority in the global agenda and the agenda of nations. My fear is that when I see the conflicts across the world, I think that the world leaders aren’t going to act to fix these wars and conflicts. We know what peace means. Peace is the most precious thing in one’s life – in the lives of individuals, communities and nations. New matters and new strategies are being adopted by terrorists to reach their targets and spread fear and terror among people. If there is not an effectual strategy by states and world leaders, and if they are just seeking their own agendas, hegemonies and fighting proxy wars against each other, humanity will suffer. It’s like a fire that spreads,

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you can’t contain it in a particular area. For example, when there was fighting in Afghanistan, people in Pakistan didn’t think it would spill in to Pakistan, but it spilled. To the point that the fighting was actually worse in Pakistan. Pakistan has now approved a national action plan to fight against terrorism. There are 20 points within the plan which aim to combat terrorism and eliminate it in the long term. Unfortunately these 20 points do not include education. We have demanded from the government that education should be incorporated to eliminate terrorism from the minds and hearts of the people.

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BREXIT

BREXIT Leading voices to guide us on the path ahead José Manuel Barroso

Theo Waigel

Nigel Farage

“Europe could have done more to stop Britain leaving the EU,” José Manuel Barroso told Bloomberg in November 2016. The former European Commission president (2004-14) and prime minister of Portugal (2002-04), stressed however, that responsibility for Brexit lies in London and is the result of 20 years of Brussels-bashing. As recently appointed chairman of Goldman Sachs International, he advises the US bank on Brexit and has said he will try to “mitigate the negative effects” of the UK’s decision. Acknowledging that we will “see turbulence for some time,” he says, “I think it’s important now to be constructive,” and work towards the best possible agreement.

Theo Waigel is the former German Federal minister of finance (1989-98) and former chairman of the Christian Social Union (1989-99). The “father of the Euro”, he played a key role in European monetary union. Commenting on the referendum result, he told Berliner Zeitung, that he believes that the consequences of Brexit are more manageable for the EU than for Great Britain itself. “Europe has so far mastered all crises. It must also master them now.” In an interview for the Hanns Siedel Foundation, he said it is “currently impossible to predict whether a reversal of the Brexit decision could crystallize in Great Britain,” but that only, “a great statesman or an influential stateswoman would be able to move the British once again to a possibly different decision.”

The great disruptor of British and European politics, Nigel Farage is one of the most influential politicians of the past decade. The recent leader of United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), he led the party for the past 15 years and has been a member of the European Parliament for South East England since 1999. Farage built UKIP up from nothing to become established as the UK’s third largest party and succeeded in his overriding ambition – to see the UK vote to leave the European Union.

Sir Peter Westmacott Michael Gove “A referendum result as clear as we saw on 23 June can only be overturned by another referendum… On 23 June voters said they wanted to leave. But they weren’t told what they would be getting in its place and the government doesn’t yet know,” wrote Sir Peter Westmacott in The Huffington Post in October 2016. The Distinguished Ambassadorial Fellow at the Atlantic Council, former British ambassador to the United States (2012-16), France (2007-12), and Turkey (2002-06), noted that there were “clearly rapids ahead”. However, he added: “One thing unites us in an admirably British way – our common determination, whatever we think of the result of the referendum, to make the best of it for our country.”

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Leading Brexiteer Michael Gove, the former Justice Secretary (2015-16) and former Secretary of State for Education (2010-14) is a member of the newly formed Brexit parliamentary committee, designed to oversee the government’s work on exiting the EU. Gove is currently writing a book about how Britain can make a success of Brexit. It looks at the importance of media freedom, science, mission-driven public investment, planning reform and smart industrial strategy.

Sir Craig Oliver Sir Craig Oliver was the Director of Communications for former Prime Minister David Cameron (201016). In his new book, Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of the EU Referendum (2016), he outlines the shifting loyalties and disloyalties of the key political figures during the Brexit saga. He says: “The vote on whether the UK should remain in or leave the EU had been a slow train coming for a generation. It happened to arrive in the station on David Cameron’s watch. When it came there was a bloody battle that will spark debates about the nature of politics, campaigning, media and the power of lies for generations to come.”

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THOMAS J SARGENT

THOMAS J. SARGENT: Nobel Laureate for Economics’ American history lesson for Europe

homas J. Sargent is the 2011 Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics and W.R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at New York University. He irrevocably transformed macroeconomic theory and was one of the leaders in the rational expectations revolution of the 1970s, that states that people respond strategically to changes in fiscal and monetary policy and not passively, as previous models assumed. Ideas he largely formed in the ‘70s and ‘80s shape the thinking of our global financial institutions today. Sargent pioneered the development and application of new techniques, creating precise econometric methods to test and refine rational expectations theory. Sargent’s macroeconomic theory textbook is the gold standard for economic courses around the world and he has published numerous pathbreaking contributions in a variety of fields in macroeconomics, monetary economics, time series economics and labor market analysis. The revolutionary rational expectations theory he created in the ‘70s recognized that people look to the future, anticipate how governments and markets will act, and then behave accordingly in ways they believe will improve their lives. Sargent’s theory showed that policymakers couldn’t manipulate the economy by systematically “tricking” people with policy surprises. Central banks, for example, can’t permanently lower unemployment by easing monetary policy, because people will (rationally) anticipate higher future inflation and will (strategically) insist on higher wages for their labor and higher interest rates for their capital. His Nobel lecture United States then, Europe Now, draws comparisons between the current fiscal crisis in Europe to a pair of case studies in the early history of the United States. Refusal to bail out the states in the 1840s was a pivotal point in sustaining a federal system in the United States. It led the states to discipline themselves by rearranging their constitutions in ways designed to allow them to retain freedom and responsibility for taxing and spending within their borders. What Sargent shows is that perhaps Europeans should reflect on the moment in history when Americans preserved their own federal system by not using bailouts. As the Nobel Laureate has written, “The concept of equilibrium ties our hands by asserting that if you want to change outcomes, then you have to reform institutions. This is subversive. Nevertheless, that is what economic theory teaches.”

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One of the most magnificent economists of today, Sargent has in recent years questioned the assumptions of his models, even creatively destroying the theories he helped to create, and he has been at the vanguard of the efforts to go beyond them.

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Yanis Varoufakis The Big Interview 30

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

G The great paradox of the EU is that it is a wholly anti-democratic union of democratic member-states

reece has somewhat faded from international news in the last year. As it stands, is the Greek economy set to continue on its wheel of perpetual, unpayable loans? The Greek state, like any other insolvent entity that is pretending to be solvent by means of new loans, is at the mercy of its creditors. At discrete intervals the creditors must throw more good money after bad, in the form of new loan tranches, to pretend that the Greek government is honoring its debts to them. In effect, the creditors are paying themselves while piling up new unpayable debts upon the Greek state. Each time a new large sum needs to be approved by the creditors’ parliaments or boards of directors (e.g. the IMF’s) Greece returns to the news. And as long as this pretense continues, Greece will be sinking further into indignity and depression while the TV crews are periodically visiting Athens to report on the next “new” crisis. With the recent election of Trump, Brexit and the political scene across Europe, right-wing populism appears to be on the rise. How can the left react? By understanding, at long last, that history is not on its side and that the only real beneficiaries of this phase of capitalism’s crisis are the xenophobic, nationalist right – just like in the 1930s. If I am right, the left must rise to the occasion by attempting to forge an alliance with progressives, liberals, greens, etc., who share a common critical stance towards both (a) the so-called liberal establishment (whose reckless stewardship of global and European capitalism has resulted in the crisis and inequality that has turned so many people to the right), and (b) the NationalistInternational that is triumphing everywhere. Given the potential rise of far-right governments in countries such as France and Austria, if there is a Frexit, will the European Union collapse? Undoubtedly, the economic and monetary union that we created in Europe over many decades was never designed to sustain the shockwave of the 2008 global financial collapse and its aftermath. The inane handling of the ensuing crisis by Europe’s establishment is deconstructing the EU. How this deconstruction will unfold is impossible to predict. Suffice to say that there are many ways in which the EU can disintegrate. One is Brexit-style, i.e. with countries holding referenda and exiting. Another is through a death by a thousand cuts, i.e. countries refusing to honor collective agreements (for example, Hungary’s recalcitrance viz. the refugee policy of the European Commission), until the EU is nothing more than an empty shirt.

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

Your petition is to democratize the EU, how is it currently undemocratic? The great paradox of the EU is that it is a wholly anti-democratic union of democratic member-states. Germany, France, Greece, all our member-states have functioning democratic institutions – elections, parliaments, local and national governments that are accountable to the electorate. However, especially after the formation of the Eurozone, most of the important decisions are made elsewhere – in Brussels and Frankfurt. There, decision-making takes place behind closed doors, largely by shadowy cabinets that European citizens are not even aware of, without any mechanism for accountability and transparency. After a Eurogroup or EU Council meeting, democratically elected leaders return home and, hiding behind their relative unimportance, tell their parliament or people: It was the best I could achieve. In short, European democracy has died the moment decision-making was taken out of realms in which democracy lives (e.g. national parliaments) and pushed into the democracy-free zones of EU institutions. This situation is, in reality, what lies at the heart of Europe’s disintegration. The conclusion is simple: either the EU must be dismantled or its institutions must be radically democratized. DiEM25 is the movement that strives for the latter. How does DiEM25 aim to change the EU and its decision making process specifically? Saving the EU is not an easy project. We are facing a terrible contradiction: on the one hand, the EU will only be saved in the long run if it develops into a fully democratic federation with a large (and thus macro-economically significant) federal budget, a fully fledged banking union and a new democratic constitution that will replace all existing treaties. On the other hand, the euro crisis has unleashed centrifugal forces that have turned Europeans off the idea of “more Europe”, of more power to Brussels, of greater centralization. This is why DiEM25 is arguing against “more Europe” and steps towards the centralization of our present misery. Instead, DiEM25 has just published its “European New Deal” policy paper that proposes crucial changes that can be implemented tomorrow morning to stabilize and civilize Europe without further centralization, without new treaties and by means of existing institutions. Once stabilization has been achieved in this manner, hope will return for a Europe worth fighting for. Then and only then will we be able, as European peoples, to have the discussion we have not had: what kind of democratic federation we want, if we want it.

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What hopes do you hold for 2017? I hope that the Nationalist International will be stopped in its tracks in 2017. But for this to happen a progressive Europeanism must rise up to challenge the current establishment by means of what, at DiEM25, we call constructive disobedience: putting forward moderate commonsense but at once radical proposals for stabilizing Europe and bringing its people closer together, while determined to disobey the current directives of Brussels and Frankfurt which are based on the failed analyses and policies that are causing the disintegration of Europe and are feeding the Nationalist International.

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MARIANA MAZZUCATO

he state has a crucial role to play in making economies more prosperous and successful, not least by nurturing innovation, argues Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, UCL, and Director of the Institute of Innovation & Public Purpose. The author of The Entrepreneurial State (2011), co-editor of Rethinking Capitalism (2016), she has a powerful voice among many of today’s leading economic policymakers. For Mazzucato, government policy should not be just about fixing problems, or fixing market failures, but should focus on shaping and co-creating markets. “Growth has a direction as well as a rate and the aim of industrial-innovation policy must be to help set a transformational direction,” she says. Mission-oriented public policies can “tilt the playing field towards the achievement of societal challenges, from climate change goals to ones focussed on care,” whether the aim is to increase productivity or to create a green energy transition. She argues that some of the greatest technological changes – from the internet to GPS – have emerged from investments made by a decentralised network of mission-oriented public organisations, aimed at solving societal and technological challenges. Government spending needs less emphasis placed on the annual deficit and more on investment for long-term growth. “It was private debt not public debt that caused the financial crisis,” Mazzucato says, and it is the failure to invest in areas that lead to long-term growth (capacity building, increases in productivity and innovation) that cause the denominator of the critical debt-to-GDP ratio to stagnate, hence the ratio to rise. Mazzucato suggests that one of the biggest threats to jobs is not the robots but the financialization of our companies. Record levels of corporate hoarding, and the increasing use of sharebuybacks to boost stock options, are steering money towards shareholders at the expense of investment in skill formation and R&D threatening the future of innovation and employment. By increasing business expectations about growth areas, mission-oriented investments encourage private sector investment, she says. Unlike indirect measures such as tax credits, these policies “create animal spirits, rather than assume them”. They also allow greater synergy between macroeconomic stimulus, financial market reform and innovation. And, Mazzucato believes, “They will provide a new direction and vision to transform production, distribution and consumption in more sustainable ways.” Private and public sectors must find a way to share not only the risks but also the rewards.

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Mariana Mazzucato: Rethinking Capitalism with Sound Industrial-Innovation Policy

The economy we have is the economy we choose to build. It is time to make different choices, and show that capitalism can be remade, towards a fairer, greener, stronger and more innovative economy. For, as Mazzucato says: “The economy we have is the economy we choose to build. It is time to make different choices, and show that capitalism can be remade, towards a fairer, greener, stronger and more innovative economy.” Her new book published by Penguin, The Value of Everything, will be out in September 2017.

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RICARDO SEMLER

RICARDO SEMLER: Is it time to run your company without rules?

icardo Semler, the Brazilian business visionary, CEO and President of Semco, believes corporations should give up control and encourage gratification through work. This is how the bestselling author of Maverick (1993) and The Seven-Day Weekend (2003), transformed his company from a struggling equipment supplier to a democratic and resilient company, with a consistent annual growth rate of 27% and annual revenue of US$400 million (up from US$4 million in 1982). After assuming control of Semco from his father in 1980, Semler began a decades-long quest to create a “corporate democracy” and the world’s most radically different company. He decided to give everyone the freedom to start doing their work, in a way they saw fit. He allowed employees to design their own jobs, define their own pay levels and decide how many hours they would work. Meetings were made voluntary and two seats at board meetings were made open to the first employees to arrive. Today at Semco your peers hold you accountable for your work. So, if you pay yourself unfairly, you could be looking for a new job. Team consensus acts as the regulatory mechanism. Every six months a team chooses whether their manager retains his job or not. If redundancies need to be made, who is laid off is also decided democratically. Semler believes that people have enormous potential when they understand what they are supposed to do and how it fits into the grander scheme. Therefore, all company information is made public, from individual salaries to the profitability of different departments. He discovered that devolving power to his employees and empowering them with information, encouraged them to be more responsible, productive and loyal. His radical approach attracts the best talent and Semco has an annual employee turnover rate of less than 2% in 34 years, compared to 20% plus at most other companies.

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If we were to start from scratch, would we design organization X the way we have done? In addition to letting go of control, Semler believes in helping employees to achieve the ultimate work-life balance. “The purpose of work is not to make money”… but to help workers “feel good about life,” he says. He encourages this through programs like “retire-a-little”, which allows employees to buy back their Wednesdays for 10% of their salary and “use that time for active pursuits when their bodies can handle it”. The inspiring, corporate rebel is now promoting the idea of designing other organizations – banks, schools and NGOs – in a more innovative way. Semler asks one question as a starting point: “If we were to start from scratch, would we design organization X the way we have done it?”

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PETER HINSSEN

PETER HINSSEN: Embedding “The Day After Tomorrow” in the DNA of your organization

eter Hinssen argues that in our rapidly evolving business landscape of interconnected networks, companies must look to the future and develop personalized internal networks that promote agility and innovation. A serial entrepreneur and expert on game-changing transformation, he is one of the most sought-after thought leaders on radical innovation, leadership and the impact of all things digital on society and business. Hinssen argues that companies need to not just focus on “Today” or “Tomorrow”, but also the “Day After Tomorrow” (DAT). If you don’t embed the “Day After Tomorrow” in the DNA of your organization and focus on ideas relating to its long-term value, then it’s pretty likely that you won’t even make it to the Day After Tomorrow, he warns. The companies that successfully do so are the ones that end up provoking paradigm shifts, changing entire markets, industries and even the world. Over the past 15 years the bestselling author of Digital Is The New Normal (2010) and The Network Always Wins (2015) has observed how hundreds of organizations have tackled innovation for the long-term and he has been able to find patterns, structures and approaches that work. There is no magical “one-sizefits-all” solution, Hinssen says. However, depending on where you are, who you are and what you want to do, he believes there is a right way to tackle the “Day After Tomorrow”. The challenge is to create a protective distance for your DAT efforts – geographically and sometimes financially or hierarchically – without alienating your radical exploration from the core business. You need “glue” to integrate both: a common sense of purpose, a shared culture and strong leadership. Hinssen explains that too much glue and the chances are that the radical innovation is smothered by control, but not enough glue and management loses interest. Organizations must balance an existing business model with another

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one that operates on the flip side and might cannibalize the core business. The aim is to level out the solid (focused on exploiting) and fluid (focused on exploring) parts of their organization and keep both fully functional. Hinssen believes that separating your core business from your radical innovation efforts – inside or even outside your organization – can be very effective if it’s a protected, yet connected, kind of isolation. This is because the management structures, processes, mind-sets and skills which are used to sustain the business, tend to clash with those needed for radical innovation. However, he warns, it is important never to lose touch with the outside world and – in an in-company silo – not with the management either.

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RED HONG

Red Hong Yi: 6 Questions with the Asian alternative artist

hat is your favorite quote? “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working” – Pablo Picasso

What are you currently working on? Taking a break from commissioned projects this year to work on personal projects about the refugee crisis, humanity and the environment. What is your favorite subject to speak on and why? Creativity and fear because I think they go hand in hand. I also talk about overcoming rejection something I am still learning to be comfortable with that I know is inevitable when innovating.

What are your thoughts on 2016? Personally it was a tough year for me, involving illnesses and accidents, and it took me a while to recover enough to push more innovative work. I think it was tough for many all over too, and I am reminded that there are peaks and valleys in life. What are your hopes for 2017? Stronger relationships with family and friends, and I want to push my art to the next level by creating purposeful work that will bring meaning to others too.

How do you see the world in 10 years’ time? Incredibly interconnected with more digital wizards than ever. 36

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ANTONIA RADOS

ANTONIA RADOS: Insights into the Life of a Leading War Correspondent

Time and time again, it is the triumph of hope over experience that one must cling to.

“

There is virtually no other job in which one learns more about human nature than as a war correspondent,” says Antonia Rados. She is a multi-award winning journalist, chief reporter for foreign affairs at RTL and one of the most popular foreign correspondents on German television. Rados, who has gained international recognition for her live award-winning coverage from Baghdad during the Iraq war in 2003 and has received numerous awards for her documentaries, believes the most important personality trait for her profession is common sense, which includes “Not thinking of oneself as a hero.” A Middle East expert, she has been reporting from the world’s war zones and conflict areas for more than 30 years. She began her career in journalism at ORF in her native Austria, where she made a name for herself with her first-hand coverage of the Romanian revolution in 1989. In 1995 she joined RTL Deutschland media group, where she has been chief reporter for foreign affairs since 2009. All her memories of war-torn areas are overshadowed by the realization that, despite everything, she and other correspondents are in a much better situation than those who remain behind – stuck in poverty and hardship.

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Despite the dangers of constantly working in the world’s hot spots, Rados is motivated to continue her work because she finds herself constantly in places where history is being made – like during the Arab Spring in 2011. While she believes that journalism is only ever a snapshot of a particular moment in time, “the chance to experience history without knowing exactly where it will lead”, is without a doubt what drives her. Renowned for her invaluable insights into the current social and political changes affecting the world and for her courageous, objective and sophisticated reporting, Rados says that every war correspondent has at least two lives, one in the war zone, one at home. The two lives have little in common, but food is important and she finds herself thinking about food all the time in war zones. It is reassuring, and the reason why she enjoys cooking so much when she returns to her home in Paris. Despite the amount of war and conflict she has witnessed, she remains optimistic about the eventual achievement of peace. “Time and time again, it is the triumph of hope over experience that one must cling to.”

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MIRIAM MECKEL AND ZANNY MINTON BEDDOES

Former President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski: The Pro-defense and Pro-European Polish Statesman

ince the fall of communism, Bronisław Komorowski has contributed a great deal to providing Poland with the peace and security needed to build a stable democracy and support its rapidly growing economy. A centrist, with a proud anti-communist past, the former president of Poland (2010-15) is widely renowned for transforming Poland’s defense and security, and strengthening its relations with its neighbors and Europe. As president, Komorowski enjoyed popularity polls unseen in the country before. An ardent believer in democracy, he was detained multiple times by the communist government during the 1980s for his radical anti-communist views and work for the Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights. Komorowski has been a key player in the modernization of Poland’s armed forces, since it shed communism along with the Warsaw Pact in 1989 and joined NATO a decade later. In the 1990s, he was deputy defense minister in three

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governments, before taking the helm of the ministry in 2000. As speaker of the lower house of parliament, Komorowski became president in April 2010, after the tragic air crash in Smolensk that killed President Lech Kaczynski and scores of other senior Polish political and business figures. He is widely revered for the way he calmly steered the country through the calamitous effects of this disaster, which inflamed the political divide. Three months later, he won in the resulting presidential election, as the governing Civic Platform Party’s candidate. As head of the armed forces, he increased funding for the army to a level of 2% of GDP. Through the promotion of security and unity, he further strengthened Poland’s relations with its Central and Eastern European neighbors and bolstered the eastern flank of NATO. Staunchly pro-Europe, Komorowski has consistently been in favor of Poland’s active participation in, and increased integration into, the EU and supports the rapid adoption of the

single currency by Poland, which he deems to be “a strategic move”. In August 2015, he stepped down as president, having conceded to rival, conservative challenger Andrzej Duda, in the tightest election in Polish history. He has since established the Bronisław Komorowski Institute, which acts for the promotion of freedom and dialogue on European matters, the economy and security.

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IN THE NEWS

IN THE NEWS Monica Lewinsky’s cyber-bullying TED Talk amasses over 10 million views

onica Lewinsky is a globally respected antibullying advocate and has one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time. In 1998, the former White House intern’s love affair with President Bill Clinton became the focus of a history-changing federal investigation into her private life and Monica became the first prominent victim of cyber-bullying. Today, after 20 years of living in the shadow of that period, she has a public role, speaking out about online abuse, privacy, compassion and gender equality. Lewinsky’s message is both powerful and timely, as cyber-bullying is a growing problem in society with devastating consequences. Her call for a safer and more compassionate social media environment has been well received all over the world. In 2015, her TED Talk, “The Price of Shame” received a standing ovation at the Global TED Annual Meeting in Vancouver and is now in the top 10 of most viewed TED Talks of all time. Speaking of her own personal experience, Monica says, “I went from being a private figure to being publicly humiliated by many people with no knowledge of the truth or actual event. I was branded a tart, a slut, a bimbo. I lost my reputation and my dignity and I almost lost my life.” Lewinsky is now a Diana Award anti-bullying ambassador and a board member of the Garrett Snider Foundation, which focuses on fostering resilience in children. She has become very aware

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that she is not alone when it comes to public humiliation. According to the i-SAFE foundation, more than 25% of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the internet. In 2016, Lewinsky launched a specially designed anti-bullying emoji app with Vodafone to help victims suffering from low self-esteem. As a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Lewinsky has written numerous articles on public humiliation, bullying and most recently internet trolls. She believes that what we need is a cultural revolution, because presently there exists a culture of humiliation that not only encourages and revels in shadenfreude, but also rewards those who humiliate others from the ranks of the paparazzi to the gossip bloggers. “The more we saturate our culture with public shaming, the more accepted it is, the more we will see behavior like cyberbullying, trolling, hacking and online harassment,” she warns.

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A NEW SOURCE OF LEARNING

A NEW SOURCE OF LEARNING:

Going Beyond Keynotes

ondon Speaker Bureau (LSB) is revolutionizing corporate education. Going beyond keynotes, the bureau is now bringing world-class practitioners and business leaders to their clients’ corporate learning experience. These in-depth and focused masterclasses provide a richer dialogue with experts. Tailored to an organization’s individual challenges and goals, these half- or full-day sessions are designed to ensure clients can successfully meet the challenges of tomorrow. SpeakGlobal learns more about the program in a discussion with Tom Kenyon-Slaney, the founder and CEO of LSB and Eugenia Feoktistova, an experienced executive education program manager, who heads the LSB Executive Learning program globally. Q: What inspired you to move beyond keynotes? Tom: For the past 20 years, we have provided outstanding people from all over the world to speak at client events, using our unrivalled international network. However, in order to prepare our clients for the challenges of our ever-changing environment, we need to continually stay ahead of ourselves. Executive Learning was launched after some of our most loyal clients started requesting in-depth sessions with our core speakers and after our speakers started coming back from the events saying “I wish I could have spent more time with this group. They could really benefit from my experience in solving their current issues…”

who share their own tools and techniques, provide personal examples and case studies and make the content resonate with the client’s current challenges and business goals. Q: Who are the masterclass leaders? Tom: Masterclass leaders are high profile LSB specialists – people like Silicon Valley internet entrepreneur Andrew Keen, whose classes provide survival tips for the digital world and director Jack Milner who demonstrates how to keep an audience hooked. We have carefully selected those who have great stories to share and who have proven their ability to provide a group with a meaningful half-day or full-day session.

Q: What is “Executive Learning”? Q: How successful have the masterclasses been? Tom: In short, the journey is from a simple monologue towards a richer dialogue between our clients and our speakers. It equips the audience with practical tools and techniques to meet the business challenges of tomorrow, helps develop particular competencies, changes mindsets and delivers longlasting results. Eugenia: Together with our top speakers and a team of experienced instructional designers, we have created a portfolio of masterclasses. These are half-day or full-day sessions for 50 people, focused on a particular topic, e.g. strategic thinking, team management, decision making, performance management, communication and risk management. Q: How are the masterclasses designed? Eugenia: Learning is tough – but especially tough for adults who have been successful and got to the point of being in the C-Suite and managing others. That is why it is crucial to create an exciting learning experience, which does not mean boring lectures but rather a fun and interactive way of conveying knowledge from one person to another. All masterclasses are led by real practitioners,

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Tom: Since 2014, we have successfully delivered more than 300 in-depth practical sessions for our clients, all customized to serve their strategic business needs and have witnessed a tremendously positive impact on team performance, motivation, culture change and business results. Eugenia: In emerging markets we have seen extremely high interest in the masterclasses. In their vibrant business environment rules are changing constantly and new industries are appearing. To keep up with the rapid pace, our clients need to continuously develop their executive leadership teams, in order to ensure they are prepared for the next move, are ready to innovate and to lead their teams forward. However, we are now witnessing unprecedented change in the established markets as well. Digitalization and new opportunities with Big Data, competition with market disruptors, millennials entering the workforce, the need for sustainable yet flexible business models – these trends are rapidly changing the business landscape in the US and Europe. So, increasingly, our clients want to “pick the brains” of those who have been through tough change, to gain tips and learn about the secrets of success.

SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

A NEW SOURCE OF LEARNING

Q: How is LSB Executive Learning different from other services on the market for executive education? Tom: I always say that we have two major competitive advantages: our speakers and our service. If an organization has an issue with staff performance or risk mitigation, having an opportunity to talk to someone like Mark Gallagher, who for years has been managing teams at Formula 1, is priceless. And, on our end, we will make sure that the session is 100% tailored to the client’s expectations and needs.

Eugenia: Every masterclass is customized around an organization’s specific training needs, audience and current business objectives. Another advantage is convenience: masterclasses can be held separately or built into an existing corporate education program. We also hear from our clients that they find this service very cost-effective, as they are paying only for the expert’s time; there are no additional or hidden costs. Our programs are priced by day and we always try to accommodate our clients’ budget restrictions as much as possible. Real flexibility and a sincere desire to provide true value – this is what sets us apart.

THE ATTACKER MINDSET: GROWTH BY DISRUPTING THE STATUS QUO Masterclass by Azran Osman-Rani

ost businesses and organizations today face the onslaught of disruptive forces: of market liberalization, rapid technology advances, changing consumer behaviors, and new threats from non-traditional competitors. In this unique masterclass Azran Osman-Rani, a successful entrepreneur himself, shares his secrets of success. In particular, you will hear the story of how unprecedented innovation in product development and management practices led AirAsia X to become one of the most successful low-cost airlines in the world, and you will have an opportunity to work with Azran on your own market challenges.

THE MASTERCLASS : what it covers Azran’s energetic, humorous and interactive masterclass uses his real-life experiences in revolutionizing a traditional “old economy” airline industry, combined with his business development work in the “new economy” media and technology sectors. Masterclass can be focused around: • Managing risk and harnessing the “entrepreneurial spirit” by using corporate venture structures to attack new customer segments with “no-turning-back” determination • Traditional strategic planning and budgeting are outdated. Gain strategic advantage through experimentation • Harnessing customer insights and deploy design thinking’s iterative problem – solving processes to continuously innovate new ways to delight customers • Building a culture of curiosity and risk-taking by removing the fear of failure in your organization and prioritizing agility over caution

SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

MASTERCLASS LEADER: Azran Osman-Rani In 2007, at the age of 36, Azran was appointed founding CEO of AirAsia X, the world’s pioneer low-cost long-haul airline. Azran led the development of AirAsia X’s business model to break many long-haul airline conventions. His breakthrough innovations include Quiet Zone, FlyThru connections, seat assignments and upgrade options and in-flight entertainment. The airline features regularly in the Skytrax World Airline Awards, including for Best Low-Cost Airline Business Class flatbed seats. Azran currently chairs the Advisory Board for the Asia Business Centre, Curtin Business School in Australia. He holds board positions with PT XL Axiata in Indonesia and Apex Investment Services in Malaysia. He also advises start-ups and high-growth businesses through Endeavor Malaysia, Kairos Society and the Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator program.

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SPEAKGLOBAL A NEW SOURCE OF LEARNING

HOW IT WORKS: Contact London Speaker Bureau at enquiries@londonspeakerbureau.com to discover more about our masterclasses. ,QWHUQDWLRQDO 1HZ <RUN 7LPHV

‘THE ONLY GLOBAL SPEAKER BUREAU’

...a deep dive in which area people are struggling with and find a solution for their most pressing issues and opportunities

From our Chairman

ondon Speaker Bureau (LSB) is the world’s leading network of speakers and advisors. It is a global resource for corporations, governments and professional associations, providingby people, Masterclass Huib van Bockel executive learning and C-Suite advisors across Asia, Europe, the Middle n just 10 years the everyday landscape has East and the Americas. Exclusively changed fundamentally and with it the way representing more high-profile people interact with each other and with THE MASTERCLASS: what it covers individuals in more countries thanhave emerged brands. Social media platforms Each of us has a virtual Brand Bank Account in our anyfrom other agency, we— work their infancy but with whensome it comes to brands minds for every brand or business we deal with. of the influential in the and most businesses have people we fundamentally changed Every day we have hundreds of “transactions” with our behavior? world, from politicians and economists myriad brands – every time we see an advert, buy In today’s hyper-connected marketplace, to business leaders and educators. a product, read a review. These experiences either about beingwe ONhave socialled media, it’s about Forit’s thenot past decade, add or take away from our “account balance” for that social. But howindustry, to cut through the endless theBEING way in the speaker brand. How does your brand stack up? advertising clutter and avoid the fast-growing During the masterclass Huib explains the simple uniquely developing a deeper and ad-blocking trend? A key factor is to give people four-step process that enables your brand to give more impactful relationship with our the ability to truly appreciate your brand’s message, something of value to the customer and gives your corporate and government clients. I am delighted that London Speaker Bureau (LSB) performed so well making them WANT to listen. message the power. Working some the world’s Thewith Brand Bankof Account – a tool developed in 2016. It is most unusual for an organization of only 100 people to outstanding people, give ourbrands to discover by Huib van Bockelwe – enables operate from 33 different locations. London Speaker Bureau is truly clients opportunity to engage into give value theirthe many different possibilities, more fruitful so and richer dialogue with to people, they make a deposit insteadan of extraordinary global business. As Chairman it has been an honor to serve with such a diverse and experienced team and to help steer withdrawals. ourconstant faculty of experts through our Executive Learning and Boardroom LSB through the challenges of a dynamic industry and an uncertain Advisory programs. Often led by a future environment. I am looking forward to assisting with further MASTERCLASS LEADER: Huib van Bockel globally-renowned chairperson, these international development in 2017. Digital marketing and media thought leader, engagements are tailored specifically author of The Social Brand and former Head of Jeroen van der Veer to anMarketing organization’s at Redneeds. Bull, Huib was named one of

BUILDING A SOCIAL BRAND

Chairman Philips, ING and LSB

the top 100 most influential marketers of 2015. His career kicked off at Unilever before moving to MTV where he developed one of the world’s first social networks. At Red Bull he played a key part in theSPEAKGLOBAL ISSUE 7 Editor: Nadine Park transition from energy drink business to the Deputy Editor: Hannah Dar respected media player it is today. He ledArt many Special Correspondent: direction/design: Kevin Fitzpatrick of Red Bull’s largest projects including the set- by: CPI Colour, Croydon Printed Publisher: London and Beijing Publishing up of the Red Bull Media House, launching a magazine, TV channel, and significantly helped Copyright © 2017. SpeakGlobal is published by London Speaker Bureau Ltd, 1st Floor, 235 Kensington grow the digital and social presence of the brand. High Street, London W8 6SF.

SPEAKGLOBAL THE INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

ISSUE 7 | 2017

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

ABDULLAH GÜL

A MODERATE VOICE RESONATING IN BOTH THE EAST AND WEST

TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK

FETISHIZING THE ECONOMY

J.B. STRAUBEL

THE CLEAN TECH INNOVATOR CHANGING OUR WORLD

YANIS

VAROUFAKIS

‘CONSTRUCTIVE DISOBEDIENCE’ PIONEER

2 42

www.londonspeakerbureau.com www.londonspeakerbureau.com

SPEAKGLOBAL SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE | ISSUE 7 7

BOOK REVIEWS

The Vanishing of Flight MH370

RICHARD QUEST

A riveting chronicle of a tragedy that continues to baffle everyone, from aviation experts to satellite engineers and politicians. CNN aviation correspondent Richard �uest offers a gripping and definitive account of the disappearance of Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 in March 2014. The flight carrying 239 people on board, seemingly vanishing into the night, is one of the biggest aviation mysteries of our time. Quest, was one of the leading journalists covering the story by CNN and by coincidence, he had interviewed one of the two pilots a few weeks before the disappearance.

Three Daughters of Eve

ELIF SHAFAK

Elif Shafak, the award-winning author of 7KH )RUW\ 5XOHV RI /RYH and 7KH $UFKLWHFWśV $SSUHQWLFH, has recently released her latest book 7KUHH 'DXJKWHUV RI (YH. It is a contemporary story of identity, politics, faith, fulfillment, women and God. It deals with some of the most urgent and universal issues in today’s world and sharply criticizes Turkish society and the bourgeoisie. It is a book about our internal paradoxes, our breaking points and Turkey’s unrealized potentials. Recognized as “one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Turkish and world literature”, Shafak is the most widely read female novelist in Turkey.

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk-taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust

JOHN COATES

John Coates, a Wall Street trader turned Cambridge University neuroscientist, describes the tension and exultation of the trading floor from a biological perspective. This fascinating book reveals how risk stimulates the most primitive part of the banker’s brain and how it provokes an overwhelming fight-or-flight response, causing economic upheaval in the wider world. It explains how human biology contributes to the alternating cycles of irrational exuberance and pessimism that destabilize banks and the global economy and how understanding the biology behind bubbles and crashes may be the key to stabilizing the markets.

Happy as a Dane: 10 Secrets of the Happiest People in the World

MALENE RYDAHL

SPEAKGLOBAL | ISSUE 7

www.londonspeakerbureau.com

50 FEMALE ADVISORS, SPEAKERS AND MODERATORS

LSB’S FAVORITE FEMALE ADVISORS, SPEAKERS AND MODERATORS

ISABEL AGUILERA Former CEO Google and GE, Spain and Portugal

MICHELE $//,27ʘ0$5,( Recent French Foreign Minister

ROBIN CHASE

RAFIDAH AZIZ

Co-founder and former CEO Zipcar

Minister of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia 1987-2008

PRINCESS BASMAH BINT SAUD Saudi societal commentator

KIRAN BEDI

NORA BERRA

India’s first and highestranking female police officer

Recent French Minister of Health

ALEXANDRA '(6&+$036ʘ6216,12

LIZ EARLE

INGRID BETANCOURT

MONICA LEWINSKY

KARINA HOLLEKIM

RED HONG YI

KATE DARLING

Columbian politician and long-term FARC hostage

American activist fighting online-bullying

Norwegian free skier and BASE jumper

Malaysian born artist and architectural designer

Robot ethics expert and MIT Media Lab researcher

LYNDA GRATTON

DIANE WEI LIANG

BIANCA JAGGER

Founder Jo Malone and Jo Loves

Environmentalist and Humanitarian

LADY BARBARA JUDGE Chair UK Atomic Energy Authority

KATTY KAY

Author Lake With No 1DPH 3DSHU %XWWHUƳ\

DAME ELLEN MACARTHUR

JO MALONE

HR expert and Director, London Business School

NAYLA AL KHAJA

FLEUR PELLERIN

ANTONIA RADOS

MARYAM NEMAZEE

MIRIAM MECKEL

MARIANA MAZZUCATO

Emirati film producer and director

French Minister for Culture and Communication 2012-16

Chief foreign affairs reporter at RTL

Presenter Al Jazeera English

Editor in Chief Wirtschaftswoche

Author 7KH (QWUHSUHQHXULDO State

BARONESS RUBY 0&*5(*25ʘ60,7+

ERIN MEYER

BARONESS SAYEEDA WARSI

NONTOMBI TUTU

CHRISTIANA FIGUERES

CLAIRE NOUVIAN

ELIF SHAFAK

CATHY O’DOWD

Humanitarian and Social Campaigner

Executive Secretary UNFCCC 2010-16

Environmental campaigner and Director of BLOOM

Turkey’s best-known female author

First female to summit Mt Everest from both sides

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA

BEATRICE WEDER DI MAURO

MALENE RYDAHL

LINDA YUEH

NADJA SWAROVSKI

RANDI ZUCKERBERG

Author +DSS\ DV D 'DQH

Director Swarovski

Greatest female tennis player 1970- 2005

German Council of Economic Experts 2004-12

Recent BBC Global Correspondent

Former Marketing Director Facebook

Author The Culture Map

Minister for Faith and Communities 2012-14

FARAH PANDITH First US Representative to Muslim Communities

Yachtswoman turned sustainability guru

Founder Liz Earle

Internet of Things designer and thought leader

Lead Anchor BBC World News America

Recent CEO Mitie