WHAT IS GEOPOLITICS?
Ultimately, Geopolitics is the study of how geography helps helps determine and underpin the power of nations by examining how their geographic location, resources, and terrain, help shape alliances and global influence.
Step back a few Centuries and it’s easy to argue that the concept of Geopolitics didn’t exist. Politics, namely the relationships and power plays between different leaders and rulers, was largely regional, and even Democracy as we think of it today was still just an ancient Greek ideology whose momentum only started building after the American and French civil wars in 1776 and 1789. Fast forward to the 20th Century and the invention of the Telephone in 1876 started to shrink the world and made it possible for world leaders to communicate with one another in real time – the era of modern Geopolitics was born. Furthermore, as connectivity and technology shrink our world even further we can say that we’ve gone from a point in time where very few people ever thought about Geopolitics to a world where it’s inescapable, even if you’re trying to avoid it. What a difference just a few centuries make.
Today, Geopolitics is an emotive issue and there isn’t a single person on the planet who isn’t affected by it and the actions of world leaders, for better or worse – whether that’s the rural farmer in Africa who can no longer afford fertiliser for his crops because the Russian invasion of Ukraine tripled his fertiliser prices, the research scientist in Antartica who had her climate funding shelved by the incoming US President, or the billions of people around the world who’ve been struggling with record levels of inflation.
HOW GEOPOLITICS IS CHANGING
For more than a Century the world has largely been used to living under the hegemony of the United States – the world’s undisputed economic, ideological, military, political, and technological leader. However, as we now transition to a new Bi-Polar and eventually a Multi-Polar world, led first by China and then eventually India, that hegemony is evaporating in front of our eyes, and for the first time in generations we now find ourselves in a Leaderless World where no single power or group of powers are willing or able to drive a global agenda and maintain international order. And, the impact of this is being felt in every boardroom and in every household around the world.
While the transition of power from one Empire to another has always been fraught and tense, such as was the case with the decline of the Spanish and British empires, today every one of us has a literal front row seat to the “theatre” that is unfurling around us. From Washington’s sanctions and trade blows against China, and China’s retaliations, to the tensions boiling in the South China Sea, and the concerted effort by new alliances to tear down the old world order and “De-Dollarise” the economy, it’s fair to say that even Hollywood couldn’t write a script this strange. And, as these economic giants dance and spiral over us all, trading blows with one another over this, that, and everything in between like in some Hollywood movie, we mere mortals are left wondering what next, and what happens to us “extras” when the dust settles.
22 MAJOR FUTURE INFLECTION POINTS
THE FUTURE OF TRUST, DAVOS
THE FUTURE OF GIGAPROJECTS, KSA GOVT.
THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES, KSA GOVT.
ARE ALL GEOPOLITICS SPEAKERS THE SAME?
Just as every person is unique so too is every Geopolitical speaker and we are all the sum of our experiences and relationships. While many geopolitical speakers hail from political office, global institutions, or even occasionally the large investment houses, typically they all only have a one dimensional view of the topic and in the majority of cases those views are simply clones and echoes of one another with very little extra depth being added to the conversation.
As one of just a handful of individuals who works and sits down with world leaders and politicians from over 100 countries across the G7, G20, and G77, as well as members from Royal households, and the leadership teams of many of the world’s most renowned companies, Matthew has arguably the most complete multi-dimensional view of our world of any speaker, the result of which is that in a single engagement audiences can explore and understand the impact of geopolitics on every aspect of global – and local – culture, business, and society.
PUTTING INSIGHTS INTO ACTION
From discussing the future of gigaprojects, financial services, infrastructure, global logistics and supply chains with Saudi Ministers and Royals, and separately the British, French, German, UAE, and US Governments, to helping the leadership team at DP World develop their global vision for trade and security. From sitting down with German Finance Ministers to discuss the future of German energy security, and working with the leadership teams at RWE to secure it. From sitting down with the Directors and Generals of GCHQ, MI6, and the US Pentagon to discuss the future of global security to working with Fortinet’s leadership teams to develop the company’s future product roadmaps. From sitting down with the Malaysian government to discuss food security and working with PepsiCo to develop their global sourcing strategy. From sitting down with leaders from across Africa to develop new trading relationships, and sitting down with the Chinese Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology to discuss emerging technology and working with the leadership teams at Huawei to help them build the future vision for the company, it’s fair to say that there is noone with Matthew’s multi-dimensional experience.
INTRODUCING MATTHEW GRIFFIN
“MATTHEW’S INSIGHTS ARE UNRIVALLED!”
CITI GROUP, JAMES S., VICE PRESIDENT
Matthew Griffin, is a multi-award winning geopolitical advisor, leadership coach, and Futurist who NASA have described as a “Walking encyclopaedia of the future” and a “Futurist polymath.” One of the world’s most renowned Futurists and strategic foresight experts Matthew is the 15 times author of the best selling “Codex of the Future” series, and is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working across the next 50 years whose mission it is to democratise access to the future for everyone, irrespective of their abilities or background. An in demand international keynote speaker, university lecturer, and mentor he is also the only Futurist to have been invited to speak alongside world leaders at both the UN COP and WEF Davos, and his two multi-award winning YouTube channels put him in the top 0.1% of YouTubers worldwide.
A rare talent in his past Matthew helped build and lead several multi-billion dollar business units for Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, and his ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77+ governments, and many of the world’s most respected brands including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Disney, Dow, EY, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
MATTHEW’S KEYNOTE REEL
THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL SECURITY, GCHQ
GEOPOLITICS AND SOCIETY, PARTNERS GROUP
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INFRASTRUCTURE, LOUISIANA LDOT
MATTHEW’S DAILY WORK
In the most simplistic of terms our present day happens when different events converge – whatever those events are.
Some of these events are the result of things that were set in motion many years, decades, or even Millenia ago, such as the development of intrinsic human behaviours, others happen spontaneously, and the remainder fall somewhere in between. Unsurprisingly, the theory goes that the more of these events, or Signals, that we can catch early, the better able we are to model the impacts when they converge, then the better we should be able to forecast the Preferred, Plausible, Probable, and Preposterous futures. And this has been my personal mission for the past two decades, at Dell-EMC, IBM, and now at the 311 Institute – to identify as many Signals as possible, intensively research them all, including their behaviours and the forces driving them, and then work to develop the most accurate version of the future that we can.
One of the oddest comments I hear from Futurists, even some of the most renown, is that it’s impossible to predict the future, and that we aren’t here to predict anyway. But, I dismiss that point of view, because even with limited data we can predict things such as the continuance of Electric Vehicles, the continuous development of AI, and so forth. I also believe that the more Signals we can see, and the better able we are to understand their behaviours and impact, that the breadth of futures that we can predict can be increased. And, for those occasions when we don’t have data and or are working with imperfect data I developed the Anchoring Constants Foresight Model which so far has played a pivotal role of keeping my own predictions on track. Predictions, as you can see below, such as the emergence of Generative AI and autonomous AI companies, the democratisation of skills, and many others.
However, while envisioning the near and even medium term future is difficult, the further out we go the fuzzier the future gets.
WE ARE THE FUTURE
SEE EVERYTHING AND SUCEED
MENTORING THE NEXT GENERATION
RAISING EVERYONE UP
REASONS TO BOOK MATTHEW
SEE EVERYTHING . EXPLORE EVERYTHING . SUCCEED .
The reason to book me as your next keynote speaker is simple: I can help you see EVERY FUTURE and SUCCEED.
Unlike other speakers I can show you the whole future, not just the 30% of it that others will show you. And then I can share the tools and thinking you and your audiences need to explore it, understand it, and lead it. I understand though that you may think of this as so much marketing hype, so to prove that it isn’t I encourage you to test me, and if you can find a topic that I can’t discuss at an expert level, and in greater depth than others, then I’ll DONATE $10,000 TO CHARITY.
Are you ready to take the challenge!?
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