DR. CHRİS KUTARNA

Keynote Speaker

Dr Chris Kutarna's Biography

In a world quickly spinning out of control, Dr. Chris Kutarna is a lone point of balance and clarity. Chris rips up the outdated mental maps that have served us so poorly in recent years—maps that led us to think that Brexit was impossible, that Trump was unelectable, that globalization was irreversible, that China’s democratization was inevitable, that facts were incontrovertible.

Chris draws a fresh map—one that describes the new world we’re in now—so that you, your organization, your profession or industry or country, can captain humanity’s voyage to a second Renaissance.

Chris Kutarna is the co-author of Age of Discovery: Navigating the Storms of Our Second Renaissance, a best-selling, internationally acclaimed book published by Bloomsbury and St Martin’s Press in eight languages. Among other predictions, Dr. Chris Kutarna accurately predicted Brexit and the election of Donald Trump points out that “history rhymes,” where historical patterns of human behavior can be applied to present-day movements. He uses maps as a metaphor to explain his thinking and says that we need to renew our societal maps to shape our future by “looking at the world with a lens that is updated.

In late 2018, Chris launched the Renaissance Expedition: a global journey to find, connect, support and challenge the pathfinders who are leading society and business into the new world. The non-profit Expedition convenes invite-only “basecamps” around the world. The first, held in North America, brought together Nobel Laureates, award-winning artists and singers, billionaires, disadvantaged youth and other leaders to shake up their own paradigms and make new maps together.

Chris is the lead-off presenter for two of the three flagship Executive Education programs at Oxford Saïd Business School—the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme and the Oxford Advanced Management & Leadership Programme. (Oxford’s flagship programs are currently ranked #2 in the world by Financial Times.)
Chris’ monthly essays (published at www.kutarna.net) are read by thousands of senior executives, journalists, academics, policymakers and business leaders.

He has been a two-time Governor General’s Medallist, a Commonwealth Scholar, and a Fellow of the Oxford Martin School at Oxford University. Chris consulted with BCG in New Zealand, Australia, and China. Chris holds a doctorate in Politics (of China) from the University of Oxford, started a business in Beijing, and speaks Mandarin.