Founder of AlphaGeo, geopolitical adviser to US Special Forces, and author of The Future is Asian — mapping how the world is being redrawn.
Dr Parag Khanna is a leading global strategy adviser whose career spans academic research, frontline geopolitical advisory, and the boardroom. He is the Founder and CEO of AlphaGeo, a Senior Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and a former Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a senior geopolitical adviser to US Special Operations Forces and has advised the US National Intelligence Council's Global Trends 2030 report. He is the author of The Future is Asian and MOVE, and authored a cover story in the New York Times Magazine titled 'Waving Goodbye to Hegemony' that reshaped how many Western institutions began thinking about global power. He has appeared on CNN, BBC, CNBC, and Al Jazeera, and has travelled to more than 150 countries.
Khanna's perspective combines the rigour of serious academic research with direct exposure to the geopolitical environments he analyses — as an adviser, not as an observer. That combination of scholarly credibility and operational experience makes him unusually authoritative on questions of global trade, demographic change, and the shifting balance between Asia and the West.
For boards, senior executives, and government bodies navigating geopolitical complexity, Dr Khanna provides a framework that is both intellectually rigorous and immediately applicable to strategic decision-making. He suits high-level corporate conferences, government and diplomatic forums, and strategy events where the audience needs to think clearly about a world being reshaped faster than most institutions can track.
Dr Parag Khanna is a keynote speaker based overseas who speaks on business strategy, finance & economics and government & policy. Book through Executive Speakers Australia.
Today’s macro investment landscape features a volatile mix of geopolitical fragmentation, interest rate gyrations and trade distortions, as well as significant new drivers such as demographic shifts, technological disruptions and climate risk. Active portfolio diversification across geographies and asset classes is essential to generating alpha. Dr. Khanna has spent a quarter century traveling to more than 150 countries, advising the largest and most prestigious asset managers as well as the most respected and successful governments. His deep and data-rich analysis paints an interdisciplinary picture of key megatrends, confidently forecasting which geographies, markets and sectors will outperform in the complex and turbulent years ahead.
America no longer runs the world, nor will a “new Cold War” between the US and China determine global order. Instead, we find ourselves in a hyper-competitive “geopolitical marketplace,” the term Dr. Khanna coined to capture how a half-dozen major powers are vying to be the trusted providers of vital services across the military, financial, energy, industrial, technological, infrastructure and other domains. Meanwhile, rather than choose sides, smart countries practice a deft “multi-alignment,” doing business in all directions to get the best deal for themselves. Based on his pioneering research and extensive experience advising heads of state and global corporations, Dr. Khanna guides you in finding opportunities in this complex new global system.
Our species is rapidly reaching “peak humanity.” The global population may cross nine billion people during the 2030s, after which it will rapidly decline. In fact, many aging societies from Europe to East Asia are already depopulating due to collapsing fertility and low immigration. But most of the world’s people are still young — and as they vote with their feet, they determine the winners and losers of the 21st century. Countries are now vigorously competing in a global war for young talent to attract the taxpayers and homeowners, laborers and caregivers, students and entrepreneurs of the future. Companies must do the same – even though in a remote working world, millennials and Gen-Z are moving targets as they abandon national loyalty in favor of the most affordable and liberal lifestyle. Which societies are winning the war for young talent? How can corporations attract young employees to their headquarters while also building a decentralized workplace culture? Drawing upon the innovative and global research from his latest book MOVE, Dr. Khanna presents the world from the standpoint of the mobile generation who will define it, guiding your talent strategies for the years ahead.
The climate will not adapt to us – we have to adapt to it. Climate disasters are intensifying, with hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, and other catastrophes are causing ever greater costs to societies everywhere. Climate refugees now outnumber political and economic migrants. The world will not only be hotter but also more violent, with conflicts over food and water and uncontrolled mass migrations across the continents. Net zero goals are clearly not enough. That is why climate adaptation must be every country and company’s foremost priority. This includes fortifying and redesigning our cities and buildings, accelerating renewable energy, boosting food production, and relocating our businesses, citizens, and workers to more resilient habitats. As Founder & CEO of AlphaGeo, the leading geospatial data science company using AI to translate climate models into financial impact, Dr. Khanna leverages his access to this proprietary software to provide detailed analysis of the locations across the globe best suited to your business requirements, helping you create a customized strategy to invest in resilient assets that will outperform in the volatile era ahead.
Asia is the world’s undisputed economic core and strategic cockpit. More than half the world’s population and GDP, as well as most of the world’s fast-growing economies and rapidly expanding middle class, are contained within this increasingly dense zone of trade and investment agreements. Asia used to produce for the world, now the world produces for Asia. After Japan and China, the next chapter of Asia’s economic story is being written by the “fourth wave” regions of South and Southeast Asia, with countries such as India and Vietnam becoming key destinations for high-tech manufacturing as they capture value chains and lead the world in minting unicorns. Yet navigating Asia’s dizzying diversity of cultures and range of regulations requires both a macro and micro view, as well as a keen understanding of current geopolitical tensions and conflict scenarios. As author of the landmark book The Future is Asian and strategic advisor to numerous Asian governments and corporations, there is no better guide than Dr. Khanna to the region that is defining the 21st century.
What does it mean to be a worldly person? How should you raise kids with skills necessary for tomorrow’s world? What are the best places to live and retire? Born in India, raised in the UAE, New York and Germany, and having lived in Switzerland, London and Singapore, Dr. Khanna has cultivated a lifestyle as a “citizen of everywhere”: Someone who behaves like a local wherever he is, for however long. This approach has been instrumental in yielding the profound insights contained in his many books spanning geopolitics, technology, governance and identity – and elevated him to the status of a trusted advisor to many world leaders and corporate figures. Those in positions of responsibility and influence will savor this philosophical yet grounded conversation drawing on Parag’s uniquely insightful life experiences as an adventurous scholar who’s been to more than 150 countries, whose strategic insights have earned him comparisons to Henry Kissinger and Alvin Toffler, and whose worldview presents the essential middle ground between the forces of nationalism and globalism.
Parag's geopolitical insights were exactly what our investors needed to navigate today's complex global landscape.General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
A fascinating and deeply informed perspective on global trends — our members were riveted.Economic Club of Chicago
Parag delivered a masterclass in strategic thinking about the future of global markets.Investor AB (Sweden)
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