Book Thought Leadership Speakers

Dr. Herminia Ibarra is the Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. She is an award-winning author and a leading global expert on leadership, career transition, and organizational transformation. Her highly influential books, including Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader and Working Identity, are staples in business education. As a speaker, she provides actionable strategies for leading cultural change and developing the five vital skills necessary for sustained corporate transformation in a digital and highly-competitive age.

Dr. Rita McGrath is one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and innovation and is consistently ranked among the top 10 global management thinkers. She is a longtime faculty member at Columbia Business School. Her best-selling books, including The End of Competitive Advantage and Seeing Around Corners, provide a clear framework for anticipating disruption. As a highly sought-after speaker, she consults with top firms on strategic growth and change, offering research-backed methodologies praised by the late Clayton Christensen as "some of the most important tools of management."

Jim Collins is a world-renowned business thinker and author who spent over 25 years researching what makes companies great. His bestsellers, including Good to Great and Built to Last, have sold over 10 million copies worldwide. As a former Stanford faculty member and a current advisor to CEOs, Collins provides research-backed insights on strategic organizational thinking and leadership in chaos. His presentations offer actionable blueprints for achieving and sustaining greatness across both the business and social sectors.

Dr. Michael Spence is a Nobel Laureate in Economics (2001), a Professor Emeritus at Stanford Business School, and an expert in information economics and global growth. A Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, his counsel is sought globally. His keynotes offer unmatched expertise on economic convergence, global development strategies, and managing the current “Permacrisis” in a fractured world.

Dr. Daniel Gilbert is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and a highly influential researcher on happiness and decision-making. His work explores the systematic cognitive errors we make when predicting our future bliss. The author of the global bestseller Stumbling on Happiness, his TED Talks have been viewed over 20 million times. His keynotes provide research-backed strategies on decision-making and how to be happy, using a hilarious style to help audiences overcome the psychological obstacles to planning for their future success and well-being.

Tim Urban is the co-founder of the widely popular blog Wait But Why and a renowned speaker known for simplifying complex subjects like AI, technology, and the human experience through his unique long-form writing and illustrations. His TED Talk on procrastination is one of the most-watched of all time. His bestselling book, What’s Our Problem?, introduces a groundbreaking framework for understanding societal challenges by analyzing how we think rather than what we think.

Steven Kotler is a New York Times-bestselling author and the Founder of the Flow Research Collective, recognized as one of the world's leading experts in ultimate human performance and flow states. His books, including Stealing Fire and The Art of Impossible, are bestsellers that are foundational to the field of performance neuroscience. As a speaker, Kotler is highly sought after by Fortune 500 companies and elite organizations, providing research-backed strategies for unlocking creativity, driving innovation, and achieving peak performance.

Dorie Clark is a top global management thinker and the #1 Communication Coach, teaching at Duke and Columbia Business Schools. She is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of four influential books, including The Long Game. Recognized as a "branding expert" by Fortune and the Associated Press, her work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review. Her keynotes provide strategic frameworks for reinventing yourself, making your work Stand Out, and focusing on The Long Game to achieve sustained professional success.

Fred Kofman, PhD, is a pioneer of the conscious-business philosophy and a former VP of Leadership at Google and LinkedIn. He is a bestselling author of Conscious Business, which identifies consciousness as the bedrock of organizational greatness. His presentations and books, including The Meaning Revolution, focus on helping people rediscover their passion and bravely pursue it. As a speaker, he provides actionable strategies for leaders to create businesses where every workday is an opportunity for employees to contribute meaningfully, leading to dramatic improvements in engagement and organizational performance.

Dr. Arun Shourie is a celebrated investigative journalist, a former Minister of Communications and IT for the Government of India, and a World Press Freedom Hero. A highly influential commentator on current and political affairs, he has authored 26 books on topics ranging from constitutional law to governance. His latest book, Preparing For Death, offers profound insights from major religions and philosophy to help people face life's ultimate challenge with equanimity.

Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai is a celebrated scholar and expert in Kautilya's Arthashastra, holding a Ph.D. in Philosophy. He is the Founder Director of Chanakya Aanvikshiki Pvt Ltd, a leadership training and mentoring institute. His book The corporate Chanakya was a record-breaking bestseller. His keynotes translate ancient wisdom into contemporary strategies for Leadership, Corporate Governance, and crisis management, delivered to clients like Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, and the Tata Group.

Eika Chaturvedi Banerjee is a CEO, international thought leader, and Chevening Gurukul Fellow from Oxford University. She integrates Indian mythology and yoga into corporate leadership and business strategy. She is the founder-curator of Aakhyaan, India's first annual mythology festival, and runs the bespoke “Goddess In the Boardroom” retreats for senior corporate women. Her keynotes focus on Diversity, Women's Issues, and applying ancient wisdom to achieve modern business and leadership goals.

Palki Sharma Upadhyay is a journalist and editor who translates complex international affairs into clear, evidence-led narratives. After early work in public broadcasting and print, she anchored WION’s global news coverage and later held senior editorial roles at Network18/Firstpost. Her on-air style privileges sourcing and context over spectacle. As a moderator and commentator she helps audiences and leaders read geopolitical signals, assess media risk, and shape communications that withstand scrutiny.

Tanmay Bakshi is an AI and software architect known for making machine learning accessible to builders, students and business audiences. He began coding at five, later became a young face in the IBM Watson ecosystem, and now speaks from the overlap of engineering, education and applied AI. He is also the author of four technology books, including Hello Swift!, Cognitive Computing with IBM Watson, Tanmay Teaches Julia for Beginners, and Tanmay Teaches Go. His talks focus on AI literacy, first-principles thinking and how organizations can use technology with more clarity and less hype.