Senior Editor-at-Large, Fortune Magazine and Author
Geoff Colvin: Biography at a Glance
- Geoff Colvin is Senior Editor-at-Large for Fortune magazine and is in his fourth decade at the company.
- He is one of America’s most respected commentators on leadership, globalization, wealth, the information technology revolution, and the future of work.
- He provides a compelling look at what top leaders are doing to navigate uncertain times with “On Leadership,” a series that appears on money.cnn.com.
- Colvin is the bestselling author of Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else and The Upside of the Downturn: Ten Management Strategies to Prevail in the Recession and Thrive in the Aftermath.
- He can be heard every weekend on the CBS Radio Network, where he has made over 10,000 broadcasts and reaches 7 million listeners each week.
Videos
Biography
Geoff Colvin is an award-winning thinker, author, broadcaster, and speaker on the most significant trends and issues impacting business and the economy. As Fortune magazine’s Senior Editor-at-Large, Geoff has an insider’s perspective fueled by long-standing relationships with the world’s top leaders in business and government. He knows what they’re seeing, thinking, and planning and reveals how they’re leading, making choices, and responding to today’s challenges in ways that others can learn from.
In his fourth decade at Fortune, Geoff Colvin’s breadth of experience is impressive. He is one of journalism’s sharpest and most respected commentators on leadership, management, globalization, regulation, corporate governance, competition, the economy, the infotech revolution, human performance and related issues. Geoff’s regular column and frequent cover stories in Fortune have earned him millions of loyal readers. His “On Leadership” series, which appears online on Money.CNN.com, provides a compelling look at what top leaders are doing to navigate uncertain times.
Geoff is also one of America's preeminent business broadcasters. He is heard every weekend on the CBS Radio Network, where he has made over 10,000 broadcasts and reaches seven million listeners each week. He has appeared on Today, The O’Reilly Factor, Good Morning America, Squawk Box, CBS This Morning, ABC's World News Tonight, CNN, PBS's Nightly Business Report, and dozens of other programs. He served as anchor of Wall $treet Week with Fortune on PBS, he spoke each week to the largest audience reached by any business television program in America.
As a keynote speaker, Geoff has a knack for bringing clarity to the most important and complex issues impacting business and the economy. He has spoken for scores of corporate and association conferences on six continents including dozens of high level Fortune conferences. His speeches pull together timely insights and strategies and are tailored to deliver relevant insights that help leaders understand what the future holds.
In addition to speaking Geoff is also a brilliant panel moderator, emcee and interviewer whose subjects have included Jack Welch, Henry Kissinger, Richard Branson, the Prince of Wales, Bill Gates, Alan Greenspan, Steve Case, Tony Blair, Michael Dell, Ted Turner, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke and many others.
Geoff is a respected author whose groundbreaking international bestseller, Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else, has been published in a dozen languages. The Upside of the Downturn: Management Strategies for Difficult Times was named “Best Management Book of the Year” by Strategy + Business magazine. Geoff’s next book (due in mid-2015) is based on the idea in his wildly popular article in the 2014 Fortune 500 issue – “In The Future Will There Be Any Work Left for People to Do?” It will look at the trend of technology displacing more jobs than it creates and the ways people will create value for their organizations and their careers in the changing economy. The ideas have profound implications.
A native of Vermillion, South Dakota, Geoff Colvin is an honors graduate of Harvard with a degree in economics and has an M.B.A. from New York University.
Topics
The Good-News Future of Work
The nature of work changed drastically in the pandemic, but that’s only the beginning of what’s to come. New technology tools will profoundly alter what we used to call office work. Other technology will transform the 80% of work that isn’t done in offices (or at home). Beyond tech, changing social norms and reordered personal priorities will change who does what, where, and how. While all this is quite disruptive, Geoff Colvin says the big picture is a bright one – billions of people worldwide being more productive, more content, and – believe it or not – less stressed.
Geoff reveals:
– How forward-thinking leaders are embracing these changes and winning big
– The increasing value of human skills and which will be most valuable
– The enduring power of physical presence at work
– How to win the war for talent which will only get more competitive
– Actionable to-dos to manage the future of work
No New Normal: Leading in Continuous Change
The pandemic accelerated just about every trend you can think of. Nonstop change has now become the norm, and the world isn’t going back. While there is no “new normal,” the good news is we aren’t doomed to play defense. Geoff Colvin shows audiences how to embrace a world of continuous disruption while building powerful competitive advantages. This uplifting talk shows step-by-step how we can all respond faster to change and even get ahead of it as individuals, teams, and enterprises.
Geoff provides actionable takeaways to help leaders face change smarter:
– What the best leaders and companies are doing right now to create the future
– Why confronting reality faster is the key to seizing new opportunities
– Biggest pandemic lessons for business
– Scenario planning: surviving bad times begins with better decisions in good times
– 3 best ways to lead during crisis and disruption
– Creativity and innovation – how to unleash it individually and organizationally
How to Create a Business Model Built for the Future
Brace yourself: In 2022, 94% of CEOs said their company’s business model will have to change in the next three years! More important: The majority of them also feel they aren’t making progress fast enough. Business model innovation has become a must-have competence for all companies. That’s a problem for those that are unprepared but a huge opportunity for the rest. Geoff Colvin identifies the inescapable forces that are rendering reliable old business models obsolete and shows how companies of any size in any industry can – and must – rise to the challenge.
Geoff reveals:
– Inspiring examples of companies transforming their business model and winning
– Key trends driving the need for a business model change
– How to just do it: Stop protecting yesterday and start creating the future
– The secrets to becoming a business model innovator
– How to adapt to a friction-free economy and create outsized opportunities
– Why human capital is the most valuable kind and how to make the most of it
The New Economic Order – Risks and Opportunities
Global turmoil has roiled an already fragile economic order in ways that are still unfolding. At Fortune, Geoff tells the economic story in terms that focus on the risks and opportunities. Business people already know the numbers – what they might miss is the big picture; the forces driving the trends causing disruptive change in their world and, most importantly, what to do about it. In this presentation, the economy isn’t a bunch of statistics; it’s a story that Geoff tells engagingly, humorously, and memorably with valuable takeaways because, as he says, “Even in tough times, somebody’s going to win, why not you?”
Geoff covers:
– Why, even in times like this, it’s vital to remain optimistic
– The latest data and trends curated for the audience/industry he’s addressing
– A plain-spoken explanation of what’s going on now – on Main Street, Wall Street, in Washington, and globally.
– How successful companies are winning in this economy
