A Sampling of Speaking Topics

 

1. Where is the global economy headed, and what are the implications for business strategy and business leaders?

There are a number of key factors that will differentiate the global marketplace of the future from the one we have known as recently as the late 1990s. These include changing patterns of trade and investment; shifting policies and interests in the US, Europe, and Japan; the rise of China and other big emerging markets and what it means for global politics and business; changing regulatory demands, including new issues in corporate governance; new demographic pressures; and the impact of terrorism and the policy response to it. Garten combines his experience as an investment banker, a senior official in four presidential administrations, and the knowledge he has acquired at Yale and as a prolific writer on international trade, finance, and politics to help leaders sift through a number of questions:

• What should you know about underlying trends?
• What are the implications for your business strategy?
• What leadership qualities will be necessary to deal with the new challenges?

2. Business leadership in the 21st century.

Drawing on two recent books for which he did extensive interviewing of global business leaders – “The Mind of the CEO,” and “The Politics of Fortune: A New Agenda for Business Leaders” – as well as on hundreds of interviews conducted for his monthly column in Business Week, Garten explores the challenges CEOs, COOs, CFOs and other top business leaders will face in the decade ahead. His focus is on the implications of several trends including the changing financial and regulatory framework, the impact of new technologies, the changing political and social environment. Among the questions posed and answered are:

• What traditional leadership skills are in greater demand than ever before?
• What new skills are required?
• How to balance the internal and external demands of running a company?

3. Five burning questions.

Garten raises five burning business questions, tailored to the interest and backgrounds of the participants, and then orchestrates a vibrant discussion with the group. Some of the topics could include: Is the global economy fragmenting, and if so, what are the implications for business strategies? How are global trade and financial policies changing the environment for business? How should business leaders think about risk in the early 21st century? What do tomorrow’s business leaders need to know? How should we think about the rise of China and the decline of Europe? In each case, Garten gives an introduction, but the session is designed to bring the audience in from the beginning and to:

• Bring out the knowledge and experience of the people in the audience
• Create an awareness of the big trends in the global economy and what to do about them
• Open the audience’s minds about a wide variety of issues that it may not have connected