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Anholt

Simon Anholt

travels from UK

Independent business and policy advisor on how to develop and implement strategies, and creator of The Good Country Index

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About Simon

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Speaker Simon Anholt has advised over 53 world leaders and their cabinets, as well as dozens of CEOs of global corporations, on how to develop and implement strategies for their enhanced economic, political and cultural engagement with other countries and global publics. His two main TED talks are rated the third and sixth most inspiring TED talks of all time by TED viewers – an accolade that endorses the standing ovations he consistently gets for his original variety of talks to audiences around the world.

Why you should book speaker Simon Anholt

  • Simon Anholt is known as the founder of the Good Country movement as well as the renowned Nation Brands Index. He is a thought leader in his field and will undoubtedly bring something completely unique to the event.
  • Simon provides creative and brave advice to powerful individuals and companies all over the world. You truly can’t get his insights and extensive knowledge anywhere else.
  • As a speaker and advisor, he really gets results for companies. The Economist has named him “…one of the most influential and respected advisors to government leaders and businesses, looking to enhance their standing in the global marketplace”.

In 2014, speaker Simon Anholt established the Good Country movement with the first annual edition of the Good Country Index, which is the first ever study of what each country on earth contributes to the common good of humanity, and what it takes away, relative to its size. His work focuses on discovering what a place, a country, a company or an individual are for in the world and why people should feel glad that they exist, and defining the courageous and imaginative new behaviours that will drive them forwards. The results of his work are often breathtaking in their ambition, originality and impact.

As one of the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners on wide-scale human engagement over the last thirty years, speaker Simon Anholt has created and led no less than three successful global fields that measure, understand and influence attitudes, culture and activity at the global scale. The likes of DreamWorks and Nike, Heads of State and monarchs have all been beneficiaries of his unique approach to leadership and entrepreneurship.

Simon is also the leading authority on managing national identity and reputation and is the founder and publisher of two major annual surveys polling over 20,000 people in 25 countries to monitor their perceptions of the world’s countries and cities. Moreover, in 2016, speaker Simon Anholt launched the Global Vote, which enables anybody in the world to vote in the elections of other countries.

His TED talk launching the Good Country Index has received 6 million views, and his more recent one launching the Global Vote, over a million.
He has written five books about countries, cultures and globalisation and is an honorary Professor of Political Science at the University of East Anglia, UK. His latest book, The Good Country Equation, was published in 2020 and was described by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the former UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, as “a masterpiece”.

See keynotes with Simon Anholt
Keynote by speaker Simon Anholt

Simon Anholt's keynote topics overview

Simon customizes his keynotes to the client’s needs. He is an expert on the following topics:

  • Science & Technology
  • Planet & Climate,
  • Prosperity & Equality
  • Health & Wellbeing
Keynote by speaker Simon Anholt

What’s gone wrong with the world?

  • Simon Anholt has advised the presidents, monarchs and prime ministers of 53 countries during the last 20 years, and he’s learned a thing or two about why the world doesn’t work as well as it should. In this keynote, he provides valuable insights for anyone interested in world affairs and the future of our businesses.
  • The audience will learn the real root causes of our troubled age as well as surprising ideas about how to fix them. With Simon’s expertise, this keynote provides a completely unique take on world affairs.
Keynote by speaker Simon Anholt

Why companies should act more like countries

  • In this eye-opening keynote, Simon Anholt shares some startling insights about how companies can dramatically improve their performance and their contribution to society and the planet.
  • The audience will learn that by adopting and upgrading old ideas like foreign policy, diplomacy, soft and hard power and grand strategy, companies can achieve a totally new and far more powerful vision of their place and role in the marketplace, and in the world. Oh, and countries and cities can learn a bit from companies and NGOs, too.

 

Keynote by speaker Simon Anholt

Culture: The rocket-fuel of creativity

  • In this keynote, Simon shares his insights into how stirring up cultural influences can deliver more true innovation, more creative ideas, more startling insights than you can possibly use in your lifetime.
  • Whether you’re a company, a country, a city or any other kind of organisation, or even just a single individual, the huge power of culturally-driven creativity can enhance your creative quality and productivity by orders of magnitude.
Keynote by speaker Simon Anholt

How showing, not telling, is the best kind of marketing: and it’s totally free

  • In this presentation, speaker Simon Anholt uses his 20 years of experience as a policy advisor to the Heads of State as well as dozens of multinational corporations, to show how businesses can achieve phenomenal global impact without spending a single cent on PR and advertising.
Simon Anholt - video

Simon Anholt - TED Talk

Watch his renowned TED Talk

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01.18.2019

Interview with Simon Anholt

What got you interested in global issues relating to culture, business and politics?

I’m really not sure – I think I was born that way. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always just assumed that people from other countries would be more interesting than people from my own country, and that their countries, culture, language, music, food, literature and landscapes would be more interesting than my own. It took me a long time to discover how many people assume the opposite, which is a bit depressing.

What inspired you to create “The Good Country Index”?

I wanted to start a new kind of global discussion about what countries are really for: are they there purely to serve the territorial and economic interests of their citizens, or do they also play a part in giving all of us a future on this planet? So the Good Country Index is designed to encourage people to start asking a new question about countries: instead of forever asking “how well are we doing?”, they have now started asking “how much are we doing?”.

If you could do one thing differently in your career, what would it be?

I honestly can’t think of a single thing I’d do differently. That doesn’t mean I planned it all, by any means: but the way it turned out seems to me just perfect.

What would you like to achieve in the next 5 years?

I’d like the Good Country to reach its interim target of 760 million citizens.

Why do clients typically hire you to speak?  

Because they’re tired of hearing the same stuff over and over again, and they want to give their audience something new to talk about, not just for the rest of the event, but for weeks and months afterwards.

If you could give one advice to world leaders and people of power, what would it be? 

Well that’s actually my day-job. Among many other things, I usually ask them to ponder on the fact that when they become Head of State or Head of Government of their country, they join the team that runs the planet.

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Keynote topics with Simon Anholt