Diane Francis

We’re living in an era of dramatic deflation, says Diane Francis. Technologies have driven down the price of goods and services across every industry. A simple GPS system cost $150,000 20 years ago—now it’s a $10 chip in your $700 iPhone. Scores of other formerly expensive technologies have undergone similar price compression. Services are being made redundant—newspapers, libraries, schools, hotels, and taxis have all fallen prey to digital disruption. Now, algorithms write news stories; AI performs legal research; robots dominate manufacturing; driverless cars threaten to slash 12 percent of jobs. Meanwhile, governments haven’t caught on. They’re printing money to generate inflation, and failing. Corporations are hoarding cash, and interest rates are plummeting. In such a chaotic market, what company survives? 

 

The answer? Yours. In this talk, Francis introduces us to the organizations that are thriving in the age of compression. They’re called ‘exponential organizations’ (a term coined by Singularity University co-founder Salim Ismail), and they’re leveraging new media in ways traditional industries cannot. To survive the digital economy, Francis says, corporations and workers must reinvent themselves. And this keynote, full of cautionary tales and pragmatic strategies, will not only help your company stay afloat, but prosper in the era of disruption and deflation.

The world’s now-globalized financial architecture is dangerously unregulated. Dirty capital flows through tax havens, secrecy havens, complicit banks, and money laundries, damaging nations both rich and poor. In developing nations, this “hot” money jumps offshore, markets crash, and mass emigration ensues; in developed countries, it clogs up real-estate markets (Toronto and Vancouver markets are up 14 and 30 percent, respectively, in the last year alone) and pushes locals out. Cybercrime, too, has taken off—email scams, identity theft, and online crime hubs like Silk Road are just the start. 

 

Diane Francis is the author of three books on white collar crime, and specializes in fraud, money laundering, and the illicit transfer of funds worldwide. She is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasian section, where she focuses on Putin, Russian oligarchs, and Ukraine’s struggles against corruption. In this eye-opening talk, Francis shines a light on corruption the world over, and calls for governments to “act in concert to bring about transparency, criminalization and information sharing.”

Technology has decimated print journalism. Unemployment levels in the industry in North America hover near 50 percent, and writers are faced with a dilemma: reinvent themselves or be left behind. But it’s not just journalism. Every industry—energy, banking, education, law, medicine, entertainment—will soon be disrupted, and the journalist’s dilemma will soon be yours, too. Adapting to the new “new” is compulsory, and Diane Francis knows it firsthand. She’s Editor-at-Large of the Financial Post, but she’s also taken on a host of new opportunities, including an Adjunct Faculty position with Silicon Valley think-tank Singularity University, where she examines the world’s cutting-edge technology and trends. Furthermore, Francis has myriad advice for women in the new workplace; after all, she was the first female editor of a Canadian newspaper, recipient of Chatelaine’s Woman of the Year, and founder of the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year awards. In this timely keynote, Francis shows women (and men) that career reinvention in the digital age isn’t just advantageous, but necessary. 

Canada and the United States are sibling nations and, along with Mexico, have been involved in NAFTA since 1994. The three form a symbiotic economic and social relationship that is frayed and uncertain. What does the short term future look like for Canada and the US, whose socio-economic interdependence is among the most intense in the world? What is the future of NAFTA, based on who controls the Presidency and Congress? Moreover, what is the impact of technology, harmful global trade, illicit financial flows, real estate bubbles caused by foreign money laundering, employment, educational systems, deflation, Putin, the EU's challenges, Brexit, China's slowdown and the pushback toward global trade in general?

 

Diane Francis draws upon her knowledge, writings and relationships concerning geopolitics, business, white collar crime and technology to present the scenarios, warnings, trends and solutions for corporate and individual audiences.