Gerd Leonherd
PROFILE
“People, Planet, Purpose and Prosperity.” – That is Gerd Leonhard’s motto. Over the past two decades, he has risen to one of the top 10 futurist keynote speakers worldwide, and has recently become the #1 virtual speaker in the age of Corona. With nearly 2,000 engagements in 60+ countries since 2004, and a combined audience of over 2.5 million people, Gerd has been listed by Wired magazine as one of the Top 100 Most-Influential People in Europe, and as ‘one of the leading media futurists in the World’ by The Wall Street Journal.
Gerd focuses on the intersections of humanity, science / technology, business, and culture. He promotes sustainable, human-centric values, and emphasizes the importance of foresight, future-ready leadership, and resilience in the face of uncertainty. He is also known for speaking out against the pitfalls of unbridled extractionist capitalism. His acclaimed keynotes (both live and virtual) are renowned for their hard-hitting and provocative style – inspiring, humorous, motivational, and always personal. Using cutting-edge creative motion design and immersive backdrops, Gerd’s performances (both in-person and for online events) have reinvented the very definition of ‘presentation.’
Gerd is highly regarded as a global influencer and has advised business leaders and government officials around the globe. His diverse list of clients include countless governments, NGOs and Fortune 500 companies such as SAP, Microsoft, Google, VISA, Accenture, Deloitte, Motorola, KPMG, Sony, UBS, Tetrapak, Mastercard, BBC, Unilever, Lloyds Bank, WWF, Sony, The Guardian, PwC, Siemens, RTL, The Financial Times, Ogilvy, Omnicom, The EU Commission, Audi and many others. A true thought leader in the futurist space, Gerd is above all a dedicated humanist who believes that all technological progress should further collective human flourishing.
Gerd uses his keynotes, presentations, workshops and advisory sessions to deep-dive on complex topics. Recurring themes include business in the post-Covid-19 world, the need for a sustainable, equitable reform to conventional capitalism, addressing existential risks like climate change and uncontrolled technological proliferation, the future of work and of the human-machine relationship, exploring what it means to be human in a world of machines and algorithms, and the ethics of technology and tech regulation in an interconnected world. As Gerd likes to say, humanity will change more in the next 10 years than in the previous 100 years – so let’s embrace technology but also maintain, protect and nurture what makes us human!
As a professional artist, internet entrepreneur, film producer, bestselling author, and visionary thinker and speaker, Gerd Leonhard
has spent his lifetime engaging with change. Gerd’s background is in the music business; in 1985 he won Berklee College’s ‘Quincy Jones Award’ and subsequently spent 12 years working as a professional guitarist, composer, and producer. But in 1995 he caught the
internet-bug, seeing the future of music as being in the cloud, and became a digital music & media entrepreneur.
From 1995 to 2002 he raised Millions as Founder/CEO of several San Francisco-based internet startups. In 2002, following the dotcom meltdown and the 9/11 crisis, Gerd returned to Europe, wrote his first book (The Future of Music) and became increasingly in demand as keynote speaker as he discovered his new calling as a futurist and as the CEO of The Futures Agency, a global network of over 50 leading futurists, speakers, and personalities. As he likes to say: The future is already here – we just haven’t paid enough attention!
As we rush headlong into a machine-led world where the very essence of what it means to be human is being increasingly challenged, Gerd reminds us to consider what moral values we are prepared to stand up for before “being human” loses its meaning forever.
Between traveling around the globe and teleporting-in virtually to speak at leading conferences, events and seminars, Gerd helps
individuals, enterprises and government organizations to deal with ‘future shock’ and embrace change. When he is not speaking or
consulting clients, Gerd is also an influential, bestselling author. He co-authored the visionary book ‘The Future of Music’ and has written five others, including his last bestseller, ‘Technology vs. Humanity’, which is now available in ten languages.
Gerd’s films on the future of technology and humanity, digital transformation, artificial intelligence and work, jobs and education
have reached millions of viewers and as a highly sought after futurist, he is no stranger to media, frequently sharing his often controversial but always prescient views with pieces in The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, Wired UK, and interviews with the likes of BBC, CNN, Arirang TV, Swiss SRF, ZDF, ARD, ARTE. He has also been included as a special guest in over a dozen documentaries, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA, London), and an advisory board member of the Indian and Canadian Research Institutes. Today, Gerd resides in Zürich, Switzerland and presents both in English and German.
SPEAKING TOPICS
The Good Future: People, Planet, Purpose and Prosperity
Amidst the threats of armed conflicts and other geopolitical turbulences, the increasing urgency of the climate emergency and the societal challenges of AI and other technological hyper-transformation the world is clearly at a pivot point. Radical and once unthinkable climate-emergency measures such as new carbon taxes (such as for aviation or for meat) are becoming increasingly likely as consumers and concerned citizens around the world push for real change. At the same time, CEO’s are touting their new commitments to stakeholder values, not just shareholder values.
For many citizens, The Good Future seems increasingly unrealistic and ‘mistrusting the future‘ is the new normal, especially among Millennials and GenZ. The pandemic was indeed a powerful accelerator of change, amplifying these essential questions: What kind of future do we want? What would The Good Future look like, and who’s in charge? Is our economic logic suitable for the future (my answer: no)? Will ‘free and open markets’ really deliver solutions for complex global issues? Is it finally time to leave the traditional GDP-based success metrics behind, and embrace GPIs or GNHs?
Green New Deals‘ are blossoming everywhere, accelerating the trend towards a more sustainable economic logic. AI regulation is on the table everywhere, and the exceeding power of technology companies is being examined in the news every day.
We are witnessing a much-needed shift towards a new kind of capitalism (if we can still use that word, at all), towards what I call Full-Stack Economics aka the 4Ps: People Planet Purpose and Prosperity. In the next 5-7 years we must and we will transition from the outdated and destructive, single bottom-line of profit & growth towards this new reality.
This keynote looks at what defines ‘The Good Future’, and how we could create it. Have a look at my Good Future Playlist on Youtube.
Sustainable is the New Profitable. Purpose is the new Product. Business as usual is dead, or dying.
HOW CAN WE TRUST EACH OTHER AGAIN?
Trust is the glue that hold societies together
…but in the past decade, it’s been dissolving at an alarming rate. Trust in government, public organisations, media, and even in each other has eroded. ‘Too much technology’ might be at least partly responsible, as we increasingly spend more time with screens (and soon, AIs?) than with people, and our news is now fed to us by social media algorithms designed not to inform, but to generate the most clicks.
It turns out that ‘more technology’ does not inspire more collaboration and understanding; instead, it fuels mistrust and fear. As a result, democracy is in decline, while authoritarian and populist leaders gain ground. Is democracy likely to die in a digital-first world?
We’re already struggling with these issues today (in 2025) but what will happen when AI—specifically AI Agenting and AI Search—really takes off? When virtual reality, spatial computing, and the metaverse become as common as WhatsApp, will we remain trapped in our dystopian obsession, or can we steer technology toward Protopia—a world where progress, growth and trust coexist?
I think we must reclaim trust—not just in institutions, but in each other. That starts with a new narrative—one that reminds us why humans can be trusted and why a Good Future is entirely possible. But it doesn’t stop there. We must also take action: Reboot social media to prioritize truth and meaningful discourse over outrage and engagement. Rekindle public media to provide independent, trustworthy journalism. Regulate AI to ensure it enhances humanity rather than ending up dehumanizing us.
In this brand-new keynote, I first analyse what is happening, then share my key foresights for the next five years, and finally, propose concrete actions for rebuilding trust.
“We are to be architects of the future, not its victims.” —Buckminster Fuller
Beyond AI: What really matters in technology & society by 2030
THINK LARGER. IMAGINE. PREPARE.
AI is now a general purpose technology, and the platform ‘for everything’ – yet AI is clearly not the panacea or the magic wand many entrepreneurs, tech-moguls and Silicon Valley investors have envisioned. It’s time to look beyond AI. While we certainly need to get ready for the 5 hyper-exponential technological game-changers (quantum computing, nuclear fusion, synthetic biology & nano-technology, genome editing and geo-engineering) we also need to ask this crucial question: What kind of future do we want? In this talk, I outline what to expect by 2030, while correlating the technological breakthroughs with wider societal developments such as the rapidly accelerating climate emergency, technology regulation, global governance and global consciousness, the rise of GenY & Z, global demographics and various important geopolitical mega-trends.
Examining Techno-Optimism
Too much of a good thing can be a very bad thing
Techno-Optimism (often coupled with accelerationism) is the increasingly popular belief that leaps in science – and the corresponding exponential advances in technology – can solve most if not all societal problems and that all technological progress will enhance human well-being. Therefore, it is important to not get in the way of technology unfolding at the fastest possible rate.
Proponents of Techno-Optimism such as the famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen assert that technology is the primary driver of growth and prosperity, advocating for a dramatically accelerated approach to technological development, in particular in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). In contrast, I caution against this often cult-like approach to technology’s importance, its over-reliance on data and computing, deep learning and ‘intelligent machines’, downplaying the drawbacks such as an increasing loss of trust in each other, disinformation (such as with social media), job displacement, privacy concerns, deep surveillance, and the very real outcome of general reductionism and dehumanisation.
Transcending the AI debate, I explain why we need a balanced perspective that considers both the super-exciting potential benefits and the likely devastating unintended or unplanned consequences of rapid technological progress, arguing for a more holistic approach that goes beyond mere economic or geopolitical power gains. Our views on what technology should or should not do are becoming crucial, as we head into a future where AI is at the center of ‘everything, everywhere ‘ – as many major players such as OpenAI seek to invent machines that are generally intelligent and capable of reasoning, surpassing human capabilities in all relevant tasks (HaltAGI presentation)
In this talk, I also dive into why I remain optimistic, and explain that while ‘embracing technology’ will be crucial for making The Good Future a reality, I also think we must reiterate the urgent need for collaboration, and create incentives do the right thing (i.e. to pursue people, planet, purpose and prosperity, not just profit and growth) Exponential technological gains alone are not enough – we must develop science and technology while we pursue humanity at the same time. The Future is amazing humans on-top of awesome technology.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AGI AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
AI is now a general-purpose technology like fire or the printing press, and it’s a new technology platform as well. It could be heaven, or it could be hell, depending on whether the tools will dominate us, or whether human telos (the purpose) will prevail. The more power we have, the more wisdom we’ll need! And that’s true no matter whether we will pursue AGI, or not.
Science fiction is increasingly becoming science fact as smart machines – both physical and virtual – take on more tasks once thought impossible for a “digital entity” to accomplish. As a result, knowledge work is transforming at a rapid pace, forcing us to reconsider what it means to be human – in our daily life, in our professions and in our organisations. What will happen if and when machines become ‘generally intelligent‘?
We must embrace these new possibilities while also preserving and protecting our humanity. We need proaction and precaution. We must define new values and goals that transcend increased efficiency or the resulting financial gains. I think it will be our androrithms, our uniquely human skills and traits that will make us invaluable in this coming age of AI, not just our ability to command technology or to become faster by using it (or even to merge with it).
In this customized talk, I guide my audience through what is important (and real) versus what is utopia or plain false (or dangerous) when it comes to AI. I delineate how we can harness the power of AI to further human (and planetary) flourishing, happiness, success, and well-being. I set forth why I believe the future holds great promise if we play our cards right and pursue People, Planet, Purpose, and Prosperity.
