Charles Fishman

We are entering a new age of water— an era of risk, anxiety, and opportunity unlike any in the previous century. There is no clearer sign of the fresh importance of water than the fact that some of the world's smartest companies—such as Coca-Cola and Intel—are re-imagining their water use, changing their priorities, and, in some cases, even changing their products. (Campbell's, for instance, has changed the way it cooks tomato soup.) Even companies with no obvious connection are taking water seriously: GE and IBM both have started water divisions to turn water into a business. In an eye-opening and contrarian talk, Charles Fishman takes you to the frontlines of water to show you what's at stake, what you need to know, where the innovation is happening, and how your company can benefit. Fishman has spent the last three years understanding how the relationship between corporations and water is about to change. He has circled the globe to visit the companies, and the communities, that are trying to understand their own water use, and he distills, on stage, everything he's learned from them. Those who hear this talk will never think about water, and its striking implications, the same way again.

We have been living through a 100-year-long golden age of water. We never think about water's availability, we never hesitate to run a bath because of the water bill, and we never worry about whether our tap water will make us sick. But that golden age of water— where water is unlimited, safe, and free— is over. We are at the dawn of a new age of high-stakes water, an era in which supplies and systems are under pressure from growing populations, surging economic growth, and dramatic swings in weather. In this new age of water, we'll pay more, but we'll waste less. And we'll have to be much smarter about every drop. We won't lack water— the global water crisis is mostly a scary myth. But we won't be able to ignore our water anymore. The current generation of college students will reach adulthood with a much different view of water than the one held by their parents. In a remarkable keynote, award-winning investigative journalist Charles Fishman delivers a persuasive, fascinating, and urgent primer on the history and future of water. He takes you from a factory in Vermont with water so clean it is considered poisonous, to villages in India that have 24-hour-a-day cell phone service but no water service at all. Fishman has spent the last three years circling the globe—from Las Vegas to New Delhi— to uncover how the world of water is changing, and what the enormous implications are for each of us, no matter where we live.

In all the stories about the damage the economic downturn is doing to individuals, companies, industries, even whole countries, there is one dramatic exception: Wal-Mart. While global giants like American Express struggle, Wal-Mart thrives—with growing sales, increasing profits, new customers, a new image, even a new attitude. It's no accident. Wal-Mart was ready for the economic hard times. And Wal-Mart is innovating right through the recession. How can it succeed when everyone else is failing? In this talk, Charles Fishman goes deep inside the company to pull out the lessons that other businesses can take from the Wal-Mart way of doing business. He gives you ideas you can use now, a way of thinking about your strategy and business when stability returns, and a burst of energy for tackling tough times—all told with the vivid anecdotes and case-studies which are the hallmark of Fishman's work.

In this keynote, Fishman tells you what Wal-Mart means for your business. Wal-Mart is derided for its labor practices and bullying tactics. But it has also led innovation in practically every field of business and has helped the bottom line of the millions of Americans who shop there (57% of all American adults shop there every week). What can you learn from Wal-Mart's practices, successes and misfires? For companies in direct competition, he offers ways to exploit Wal-Mart's real weaknesses: you won't —and can't—beat them on price or on scale, but you can find other ways to win. Far from a keynote on just retailing, Fishman delivers a fascinating exploration of what it takes to do business in the global economy.

Giants like Whole Foods and Amazon succeed by treating innovation as an everyday occurrence—not a "special occasion" event. Charles Fishman has delved deeply into these companies—some of the most successful of the last decade—and, in this new talk, he delivers practical insights into how you can, and why you must, infuse every aspect of your daily work with innovation and creativity. For these companies, as it should be for yours, innovation is not a single masterstroke—it is something that is produced, systematically, incrementally, and daily, from employees, customers, even competitors.