Corporate Addiction to Risk

In this business strategy keynote, author Naomi Klein discusses the tremendous risks that today’s most powerful individuals are taking in everything from climate change policy to the economy and international politics. Describing the unimaginable levels of damage and destruction caused by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, she draws some important parallels between the incident and the global economy.

She attributes the exact same recklessness and lack of planning that characterized the spill to today’s financial wizards and investment bankers. Those with power have become far too willing to gamble without a backup plan or an exit strategy. She describes those managing the financial world today as victims of over-confidence and selfishness.

This business strategy keynote argues that proving that a policy or practice is safe should not become the burden of the individual, but the responsibility of an industry or CEO. This speech from Naomi Klein paints a grim picture of the future, warning that change must come from those in control.