Randall Lane

Should billionaires even exist? Is socialism really all that bad? Should we tax the rich—or take even more drastic action? Questions that would have seemed crazy even just a few years ago are common now. Americans’ trust in capitalism is at an all-time low, young people are turning to socialism, and everybody’s talking about the 70% tax on the country’s wealthiest. And when it comes to the nation’s highest earners, Randall Lane—entrepreneur, economic expert, and the youngest editor of Forbes—has got their number, literally. Lane has been up close and personal with the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, people who’ve undeniably benefited from capitalism and should, you’d think, be unequivocally singing its praises. But even among the rich there’s a rising worry that capitalism as we know it is just not working. Should 72 individuals be worth as much as $3.75 billion? Is the person who invented Candy Crush more valuable than the person who invented the dishwasher? With income inequality increasing, fewer low-wage earners able to access to the advantages of capitalism, and a growing resentment toward the ultra-rich among the 99%, disparity isn’t just depressing: it’s dangerous. In this hard-hitting, info-packed keynote, Lane unpacks the pessimism around American’s personal prospects, and the nation’s economic future—what got us here, and what can get us out.

Randall Lane isn’t just the youngest editor of Forbes; he’s also a successful entrepreneur who founded two start-ups. It’s this experience that makes his keynotes so insightful: Lane has seen, done, written about, and covered corporate America from every angle. He goes beyond buzzwords to explain how new technologies and a host of other disruptions are changing management, leadership, creativity, and innovation as we know them. And, with the clarity of the best journalists, he helps you understand what this means for your industry. He offers customized takeaways for anyone who wants to move slightly ahead of the times. Contemporary business is accelerating, and there’s no better guide to this new frontier than Randall Lane.

As the creator of both Forbes’ wildly popular 30 Under 30 lists and the Under 30 Summit, as well as the author of You Only Need to Be Right Once (Penguin), which chronicles the rise of the young tech billionaire, Randall Lane is at the center of a historically unprecedented event. For the first time in human history, it’s actually a professional advantage to be young. The stories behind how these first-generation digital natives have disrupted entire industries, which Lane chronicles with gusto, offer great lessons and a blueprint for business and professional reinvention. His keynote ends with a candid Q-and-A, fielding deeper questions on this topic, as well as general questions about business or the media.