Rich Karlgaard
Rich Karlgaard
Futurist, Former Publisher of Forbes, Columnist for Forbes Asia
- Forecasting In the Fog of Uncertainty: 2025-26 Economy and Markets
- What is the likely outcome of President Trump’s tariffs – both in the coming months and for the remainder of his administration? Are investor fears overblown? Is a recession now likely, and if so, which industries and regions will it hit hardest? Will lawsuits challenging the president’s tariff authority succeed? What strategies are smart companies using to grow and thrive amidst all this uncertainty? Will tariffs hold back or accelerate AI’s “shock-transformation” of business? How will the U.S. economy in 2025-26 shape the elections in 2026? From his vantage point as former Forbes publisher and now futurist and American commentator for Forbes Asia, Rich has interviewed some of the top business and global leaders of our time. He shares his business and financial outlook for 2025 and beyond. Called “The Navigator to the Future” by the late Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen, Rich charts a best course of action for your business and industry
- AI’s Radical Future: More Dangerous and Wonderful Than You Think
- Generative AI has taken the world by storm. Open AI’s ChatGPT, introduced in 2022, is now at one billion users a week. Competitors like Google, Anthropic, and China’s DeepSeek—whose early 2025 breakthrough cut AI operating costs by 90%—are racing ahead. Executives such as Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella believe “agentic AI”—which transcends analysis and actually makes decisions—will be a replacement market for the world’s $7 trillion software industry by 2030. Huge question: Who will supply AI’s insatiable electricity consumption? From his vantage point as former Forbes publisher and now futurist and American commentator for Forbes Asia, Silicon Valley-based Rich Karlgaard forecasts the near and medium-term future of AI. His advice to executive audiences: Don’t get lost in the details. Focus on positioning your company in the right quadrant of future possibilities—that’s the real key to thriving in the AI era.
- The Late Bloomer Revolution: The Secret of Attracting and Retaining Strong Talent in a Competitive and Inclusive Hiring Environment
- Rich Karlgaard draws from his latest book, Late Bloomers: The Hidden Strengths of Learning and Succeeding at Your Own Pace, to suggest an alternative strategy to chasing talent with the highest salaries. Rich shows you how to identify, recruit, retain, and promote the undervalued late bloomers who didn’t enter the job market with perfect SAT scores and elite university status. “Companies will struggle to meet their diversity and inclusion goals without a comprehensive ‘late bloomer’ strategy,” says Karlgaard. Learn why CEOs prefer traits like curiosity, compassion, insight, resilience, grit, equanimity, and wisdom—all strengths of a “late-bloomer.” Learn how companies like Northwestern Mutual, KPMG, Nike and Google have discovered the power of late bloomers and age-diverse workforces. Late Bloomers was favorably reviewed by National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, The New Yorker, Harvard Business Review, and Financial Times. The Wall Street Journal chose Late Bloomers for its CEO book club.
- Rich Karlgaard – Premier Moderator and Interviewer at Business and Financial Events
- Rich Karlgaard is one of the world’s premier interviewers and panel moderators at business and financial events. He has been host of Forbes investor cruises since 2004, the principal moderator at the Forbes Global CEO conference since 2001, a popular moderator at the Milken Global Summit and TiEcon Annual Summit and many more. Karlgaard is known for his warm, engaging style that brings out the best in his interviewees and panelists. Conference hosts trust Karlgaard as an informed moderator and interviewer who prepares thoroughly and frames his virtual and onstage discussions for the needs of the hosts and attendees.
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