Rana Foroohar

For the last half century, companies were encouraged to hoard capital and move labor to where it was less expensive. Emerging markets, particularly China, gave the West cheap stuff, and in return, Asia got jobs and industrial capacity. But in a new and more multi-polar world, this paradigm no longer works. Companies and countries are moving towards less supply chain concentration, with multiple nodes of production and consumption. This comes with huge challenges -- like higher labor costs, and more price inflation -- but also big opportunities, from reduced energy consumption and lower carbon emissions, to greater wealth creation in more communities. Foroohar, who has written about and studied global supply chains since the Rana Plaza factory collapse more than a decade ago, will lay out how business leaders should prepare for the new era.

Our system of market capitalism wasn't handed down on stone tables. Rather, our political economy is like a pendulum that shifts back and forth, from one extreme to another, resetting every 50 years or so. Our economic rules of the road are purpose built for their time — from 18th century mercantilism, to 19th century laissez-faire, to New Deal Keynesianism to the Reagan Thatcher revolution, political economies change to fit the needs of the moment. And right now, we are in the midst of one of those changes, the first in half a century, as we move into the post-neoliberal era. Turning points are bumpy, but come with massive upsides if you understand them. Calling on her three award winning books, which critics have called "a trilogy for a new economy," as well as her up to the minute reporting on geo-economics and politics for the Financial Times and CNN, Foroohar will lay out the once in a lifetime shift that is underway, and what it will mean for politics, economics, and society.

What will artificial intelligence create? What will it disrupt? And what will it displace? Throughout history, technology has always been the driver of economic growth and new jobs. But that transition takes time, and it’s only a win-win when the public and private sector can work together to make sure human skills keep pace with technological change. AI has the potential to dramatically increase human productivity. But it also comes with huge ethical challenges. Which countries, industries, and workers are best poised to leverage it? What will it mean for geopolitics? (Hint: the internet globalized the world, but AI may regionalize it). Could it’s deflationary effects help offset other inflationary trends around the world? And how can CEOs and boards best understand and navigate both the potential costs — and the opportunities — of generative AI? Calling on her work for the Financial Times, as well as her three best-selling books on the ways in which technology has transformed business and society, Foroohar will lay out what business leaders need to know about the biggest technological transformation of our time.