Vikram Mansharamani

  • Expert on Bubble Scenarios
  • Author, Boombustology

Dr. Vikram Mansharamani is a global trend-watcher who shows people how to anticipate the future, manage risk, and spot opportunities. He is the author of THINK FOR YOURSELF: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence and BOOMBUSTOLOGY: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before They Burst. He has been a frequent commentator on issues driving disruption in the global business environment. Linkedin twice listed him as their #1 Top Voice for Money, Finance and Global Economics and Worth has profiled him as one of the 100 most powerful people in global finance.

Vikram is currently a lecturer at Harvard University, where he teaches students to use multiple perspectives in making tough decisions. Previously, he was a Lecturer at Yale University. In addition to teaching, he also advises several Fortune 500 CEOs to help them navigate the radical uncertainty in today’s business and regulatory environment. 

 


Vikram Mansharamani headshot
Past Hosts Include:
  • PCMA
  • FirsTrust, LLC
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • MUUS & Company
  • Fidelity Investments
  • CFA Virginia
  • The Yale Club of NYC
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
  • HighWave Energy
  • The Hamilton Trust,
Rave Reviews About Vikram Mansharamani as a Speaker

“Vikram is a lively and engaging speaker. Right from the first moment Vikram steps on stage he captivates the audience and involves them in the session- no one is looking at Blackberries or leaving the room - they are all fascinated with what he has to say. Vikram is a very versatile speaker- he can give thoughtful and entertaining solo presentations communicating a clear and relevant business message but in addition he is a real asset to panel discussions- he encourages debate and creates a compelling dialogue. You can trust Vikram to add value, insight and personality to any conference.” - Victoria Chatterton, ICBI



Vikram Mansharamani - Sixteen Cubed: 16 Predictions in 16 Minutes at GFMF2016 - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Vikram Mansharamani
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The Future Doesn't Have to Surprise You

..So says Vikram Mansharamani, global trend-watcher, Harvard Lecturer, author, and investor.  Mansharamani shows audiences how to look differently at their industry and business with the goal of helping them spot risk and capture opportunities others miss.  The overwhelming flood of political, econo ...

..So says Vikram Mansharamani, global trend-watcher, Harvard Lecturer, author, and investor.  Mansharamani shows audiences how to look differently at their industry and business with the goal of helping them spot risk and capture opportunities others miss.  The overwhelming flood of political, economic, technological, social, and market forces that bombard us every day is distracting.  It prevents us from paying attention to what really matters.  Our usual response to the noise is to focus narrowly or turn to specialists for help.  But is that the right path?  Have we been blinded by focus?  Has the mantra of expertise and specialization misled us?  Vikram thinks the pendulum has swung too far.  He offers scores of compelling real-life examples that show how a narrow lens can lead us to miss the most important signals – the ones we’re least primed to see.  The advice he offers is counter-intuitive.  He advocates opening up to get a broader view; to zoom out. He calls the logic the generalist’s approach.  Breadth, Vikram argues, is as important as depth.  Generalists win by paying attention to more than their area of expertise.  Vikram's generalist framework for looking at the world differently is at the center of what he delivers in his speeches and can be focused on just about any subject.  A few examples:

 

  • The Generalist Advantage

  • The Future of Energy

  • The Future of Globalization

  • Navigating Economic Uncertainty by Bubble-Spotting

  • Global Consumption Boom

  • Food & Fuel Dynamics
  • The Economic, Social & Technological Disturbances Rocking Our Industry

**This speech is tailored to the specific industry of the host organization.**

Global Prosperity – Why Everything is About to Change

As the middle-class booms in emerging nations, a global consumption boom is likely to have an unprecedented impact on a wide range of commodities – food, fuel, precious metals – that will impact the global standard of living. The result will be geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Vikr ...

As the middle-class booms in emerging nations, a global consumption boom is likely to have an unprecedented impact on a wide range of commodities – food, fuel, precious metals – that will impact the global standard of living. The result will be geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Vikram Mansharamani untangles these dynamics through easy-to-understand, entertaining, and engaging analysis that evaluates the effect of a ballooning middle-class on an unlikely collection of industries — from education and entertainment to defense, finance and healthcare. Mansharamani’s insights help audiences look differently at the nature of global prosperity and how it may shape their business and their future.

The Generalist Advantage: Going Beyond Expertise

Blinded by expertise and single-minded focus? It happens. But in a fast-paced world driven by complex and diverse factors, connecting the dots is often more important than developing the dots. Vikram Mansharamani shows why generalists are better-suited to navigating uncertainty in this environment t ...

Blinded by expertise and single-minded focus? It happens. But in a fast-paced world driven by complex and diverse factors, connecting the dots is often more important than developing the dots. Vikram Mansharamani shows why generalists are better-suited to navigating uncertainty in this environment than specialists; he provides audiences with real tools to help them avoid tunnel vision and think beyond their area of expertise. The talk is based on Mansharamani’s much-discussed HBR blog post, All Hail the Generalist, one of the site’s most-read in 2012. Entertaining and empowering, with examples drawn from finance, politics, agriculture, medicine, and education, Mansharamani helps people manage risk and anticipate the future with intriguing specifics to convince the audience of his generalist approach.

The End of Cheap Food – A Global Forecast

Food is emerging as one of the future’s most volatile assets. Shifting political, economic, climatic and societal change all factor into the equation. Vikram Mansharamani applies his multi-lens bubble-spotting approach to the key drivers of food prices in a global marketplace. He suggests that ...

Food is emerging as one of the future’s most volatile assets. Shifting political, economic, climatic and societal change all factor into the equation. Vikram Mansharamani applies his multi-lens bubble-spotting approach to the key drivers of food prices in a global marketplace. He suggests that the era of cheap food is over and describes the geo-political and geo-economic ramifications of such developments – from Wall Street to Pudong. Audiences will leave with an understanding of the dynamics of land grabs, water scarcity, and the implications of food (in)security for national defense.

The Global Economy – An Unconventional Look

Europe falling apart? China collapsing? Treasury bubble popping? Japan economic implosion? Social networking bubble? Alternative energy dynamics creating geopolitical unrest? Vikram Mansharamani applies a unique combination of practitioner experience and academic perspective to help audiences naviga ...

Europe falling apart? China collapsing? Treasury bubble popping? Japan economic implosion? Social networking bubble? Alternative energy dynamics creating geopolitical unrest? Vikram Mansharamani applies a unique combination of practitioner experience and academic perspective to help audiences navigate the seemingly unending cross-currents of global economic, financial and political developments. While audiences often find themselves agreeing with Mansharamani each step of the way, they’re frequently surprised by what turn out to be unconventional conclusions.

Spotting Bubbles Before They Burst

In a globally dynamic environment, boom and bust cycles are more frequent than in the past. It seems there’s always something that has reached unsustainable levels. The trick, of course, is recognizing it and taking action before the bubble bursts. In direct contrast to the views espoused by m ...

In a globally dynamic environment, boom and bust cycles are more frequent than in the past. It seems there’s always something that has reached unsustainable levels. The trick, of course, is recognizing it and taking action before the bubble bursts. In direct contrast to the views espoused by most academics, Vikram Mansharamani makes a persuasive case that it is possible to identify financial (and other) bubbles before they burst. He draws on entertaining and engaging examples from art markets, architecture, and popular culture – as well as economics and politics – and powerfully demonstrates that you do not need to be an expert to effectively anticipate the future. Audiences walk away empowered to think independently and to connect obvious dots to generate not-so-obvious conclusions.

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Biography

Dr. Vikram Mansharamani is a global trend-watcher who shows people how to anticipate the future, manage risk, and spot opportunities. He is the author of THINK FOR YOURSELF: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence and BOOMBUSTOLOGY: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before They Burst. He has been a frequent commentator on issues driving disruption in the global business environment. Linkedin twice listed him as their #1 Top Voice for Money, Finance and Global Economics and Worth has profiled him as one of the 100 most powerful people in global finance.

Vikram is currently a lecturer at Harvard University, where he teaches students to use multiple perspectives in making tough decisions. Previously, he was a Lecturer at Yale University. In addition to teaching, he also advises several Fortune 500 CEOs to help them navigate the radical uncertainty in today’s business and regulatory environment. He has a PhD and two Masters
degrees from MIT and a Bachelors degree from Yale University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Vikram lives in Lincoln, NH with his wife, daughter, son, golden-retriever, and two cats, one of which he believes maybe clairvoyant.