The Leading Speakers Bureau

Educator, Physicist, Philosopher and Management Strategist

Danah Zohar is best known for her ground-breaking work on the existence of spiritual intelligence, SQ.

She examines how SQ creates integrity, morality and individuality and the difference between competitors and winners.

Working in management education and consultancy, she was instrumental in Shell’s highly successful transformation in the United States.

Is spiritual intelligence the difference between winners and losers?

[expand title=”In detail”] A visiting Fellow at the Cranfield School of Management, she also teaches in the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme at Oxford University.

Applying her extensive knowledge of the new sciences to practical, hands-on techniques that businesses can use, she has lectured widely throughout the world. She has worked with numerous prestigious organisations.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]Applying her philosophy and experience of the workings of the human mind she shows you how to embrace rapid social and technological changes and use them for personal and organisational benefit.

Grasp SQ and see what underlies your values and beliefs, your sense of perception and ultimately the reasons behind your actions.[/expand]
Continue Reading »

Author and Leading Expert on Global Sustainability

Bjørn Lomborg is adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School. He is the organizer of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, which brings together some of the world’s top economists, including 5 Nobel laureates, to set priorities for the world. Time magazine named Lomborg one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2004. In 2008 he was named “one of the 50 people who could save the planet” by the UK Guardian; “one of the top 100 public intellectuals” by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazine; and “one of the world’s 75 most influential people of the 21st century” by Esquire.

As the only Dane in 2008, Bjørn now features on three international lists of the most influential people in the world

[expand title=”In detail”] From 2002 to 2004 Lomborg was director of Denmark’s national Environmental Assessment Institute. In 2004 he organized the “Copenhagen Consensus” which brought together some of the world’s top economists. Here they prioritized the best opportunities to the world’s big challenges, essentially answering the question: If we want to do good where should we start? In 2006 he assembled a number of top UN ambassadors, including representatives from China, India and the UN, representing about half the world’s population. They also answered the question, and came out with a similar ranking, the first of its kind for the UN.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]In his highly informative and well researched presentations Bjørn challenges widely held beliefs and addresses the most serious challenges facing the world today. He systematically examines today’s most important global crises issues and offers sustainable solutions. His message is as simple as it is important. Bjørn has been able to establish and vitalise an exhaustive knowledge on economic prioritisations. He is available for conferences, keynote speeches and panel discussions.[/expand]
Continue Reading »

Founder of the Third World Centre for Water Management

Prof. Asit Biswas is the founder of the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico. Under his dynamic leadership, the centre has established a unique international identity in pursuing cutting-edge research. In 2006 he received the Stockholm Water Prize for his outstanding contributions to global water resource issues. Prof. Biswas has been Editor-in-Chief the International Journal of Water Resources Development for the past 21 years.

He has added new dimensions to the wise use of the global water resources.

[expand title=”In detail”] Prof. Biswas acted as a Senior Advisor to Mr. Yehia Abdel Mageed, Secretary General of the UN Water Conference. During 1980-81, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He spent 1981-1997 in Oxford, U.K. pursuing his research interests and advising governments and international organisations, he travels around the globe 10 months out of the year. [/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]With world-class research and focusing on out-of-the-box thinking, Prof Biswas offers audiences new and innovative ideas in the world of water management. He has been an advisor to six heads of the United Nations Agencies, most major bilateral and multilateral aid organisations and 17 national governments.[/expand]
Continue Reading »

Expert on Energy and the Environment

Claudia Kemfert is Head of the department Energy, Transportation, Environment at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and Professor of Energy Economics at Humboldt University, Berlin. She advises EU president José Manuel Barroso as a member of the High Level Group on Energy and she is an external advisor for the World Bank, the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“Germany’s leading exponent of green economic policies”

[expand title=”In detail”] Prof. Kemfert was awarded from DAAD and was honoured in 2006 as top German Scientist from the German research foundation (“Elf der Wissenschaft 2006”). She is a member of renowned expert commissions, sustainability advisory councils and is a member of the editorial board of Energy Economics, Gaia and Energy Efficiency. Her research activities concentrate on the evaluation of climate and energy policy strategies.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]With a wealth of unparalleled expertise in the social and economic effects of climate change, Claudia Kemfert offers organisations the necessary tools to expand without adversely affecting the environment. She shows decision makers how it is possible to achieve sustained growth and profits whilst simultaneously implementing “greener” business policies[/expand]
Continue Reading »

Former Adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev

Alexander Likhotal served as adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev for many years and is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Geneva-based Green Cross International. He is a member of the International Council for the Earth Charter and Adviser to the Club of Madrid and has launched internationally acclaimed initiatives such as the Earth Dialogues Forum and has spearheaded Green Cross International’s global campaign for the Right to Water.

“The past has shown that new security threats would emerge in the form of global terrorism and that globalisation and our continued reliance on fossil fuels would raise the environmental stakes even higher”

[expand title=”In detail”] Prof. Likhotal was the Deputy Spokesman for the President of the USSR and has held a number of academic positions internationally specialising in European security and NATO. He was visiting professor at the Northeastern University, Boston, USA, Research Associate at the Institute of European Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and Associate Editor of Security Dialogue Journal, Oslo, Norway.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Having witnessed first hand the wide reaching effects of “glasnost” in Russia and the rapidly changing global political horizon, Professor Likhotal is ideally positioned to advise organisations around the world on the social, economic and political future of an increasingly climate conscious world. [/expand]
Continue Reading »

Cutting Edge Design Expert and Global Authority on Innovation, Sustainability

John Thackara is an internationally acclaimed authority on innovation in a green economy. For Business Week he is “one of the great voices on sustainability”, and the Wall Street Journal has noted his “global reputation as a cutting edge design expert”. The Economic Times of India lauded his “brilliant insights into the internet and sustainability”. John is the author of a widely-read blog at designobserver.com, and of twelve books including In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World. As director of Doors of Perception, John also organises festivals around the world in which communities imagine a sustainable future — and take practical steps to realise it.

“Innovation starts with a meaningful question”
John Thackara

[expand title=”In detail”] John studied philosophy and trained as a journalist, before working for 10 years as a book and magazine editor. He was the first Director of the Netherlands Design Institute in Amsterdam and was program director of Designs of the Time (the social innovation biennial in England). He is a Fellow of The Young Foundation, the UK’s social enterprise incubator and sits on the advisory boards of the Pixelache Festival in Helsinki, the Pecha Kucha Foundation in Tokyo, and Design Impact in the USA. A Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, he is also a member of the UK Parliament’s Standing Commission on Design.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]John’s talks deliver tangible benefits: actionable insights into sustainability and resilience; a shared vision of ‘preferred states’; opportunities for innovation in your organisation; and the impetus to launch high impact projects. He uses inspiring stories to demonstrate how the sustainability challenge is an opportunity for immediate action. “I talk honestly about the severity of the economic and environmental challenges that confront us – but then I re-frame these challenges in such a way that people gain fresh insight into opportunities for innovation that they can exploit”.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Encounters with John Thackara can occur in a variety of formats adapted to suit your unique requirements – from a one hour keynote lecture to more interactive workshops, design clinics and Explorers Clubs.[/expand]
Continue Reading »

Founder of Interdisciplinary Unit for Sustainable Economy and Professor of Anthropology and Economics

Prof. Dipak R. Pant advises governmental, non-governmental and business organizations on policy and planning issues for environmentally sustainable and socially sound development. A tireless world explorer, he is regarded as the pioneer of ‘Extreme Lands Program’ which conducts ethnographic field surveys, economic studies and collaborative economic and social development planning in the most marginal and difficult terrains of the world. He is credited with shaping the global development debate by linking social and environmental sustainability with market competitiveness through the strategic concept of ‘place-brand’.

“Italy’s leading speaker on sustainable economic development”

[expand title=”In detail”] In addition to his role as the leader of Interdisciplinary Unit for Sustainable Economy and Extreme Lands Program, he lectures on sustainability issues, development planning and global human security issues in some West European, Chinese and US scientific institutions. His field experience, insight and informed perspective are regularly sought by the business community, scientific organizations, governments and NGOs.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]By exploring vastness, diversity and complexity of human conditions in our world that is ever getting closer by transportation, technology and economic globalization, he clearly conveys the far reaching implications for organizations, communities and nations. He explains how unprecedented risks, challenges, and opportunities are emerging out of the global churning of eco-systems, ethnic identities and economies. The originality and freshness of his first-hand real-life experience and the profoundness of his reflections and vision are unparalleled.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]A lively and fluid speaker, Prof. Pant is deeply thoughtful and simple and uses comprehensible common terminology.[/expand]
Continue Reading »

Founder and President, Foundation on Economic Trends

Jeremy Rifkin is a Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he lectures to CEOs and senior-management from around the world in the famed Advanced Management Program. Currently, Mr. Rifkin is advising the European Union and other governments as well as Fortune 500 companies, on actions that should be taken immediately to address the triple threat of the global financial crisis, energy crisis, and climate change. He also is an advisor to heads of state including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain, Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece, and Prince Albert II of Monaco.

One of the leading big-picture thinkers of our day

[expand title=”In detail”] Mr. Rifkin is the Chairman of the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Roundtable, made up of 100 of the world’s leading corporations and trade associations that are creating the infrastructure for a new low-carbon energy era and accompanying economic paradigm. As the founder and president of The Foundation on Economic Trends he examines the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of new technologies introduced into the global economy.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Mr. Rifkin remains one of the most highly sought-after and highest rated speakers on the topic of globalization, sustainability and shifting to a new energy era and low-carbon economy. Mr. Rifkin believes that it is imperative to begin pursuing a bold long-term Third Industrial Revolution economic game plan that can establish a new framework and architecture for remaking the globalization process along more sustainable lines. A master of speech, he addresses the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, workforce, society and the environment. Unprecedented consequences are emerging out of the shift from industrial to cultural production, and his informed insight on this is unparalleled. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Highly engaging and fluid, his style is nonetheless very well punctuated allowing time to absorb his powerful messages.[/expand]
Continue Reading »