Ted C. Fishman's bestselling book China, Inc., How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World, has helped describe for the world the effects of China's momentous change on the lives and businesses of people everywhere. In addition to its success in America, the book, translated and published in 24 languages, is an international bestseller. CNN International called China, Inc. “the bible on the changes in modern China.” There are Chinese editions in both The People's Republic and Taiwan, where the book has gained an enthusiastic following.
Fishman is also the author of Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World's Population and How it Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival, and Nation Against Nation (October 2010), an influential, provocative look at how the world is changing as a result of population aging. The National Chamber Foundation (the think tank of the US Chamber of Commerce) placed the book at the top of its 2011 list of books every government and business leader ought to read. Reviewing Shock of Gray in the Los Angeles Times, Claire Panosian Dunavan, professor of medicine, infectious diseases and global health at UCLA, wrote: “[If ] I could choose one book this year as required reading for medical students and colleagues, this would be it. No, I take that back. Add undergrads to the list. They might as well get ready too. Fasten your seatbelts, kids. It's going to be a bumpy ride.”
Fishman's writing is noted for taking seemingly vastly complex topics and making them understandable and meaningful for a general audience. Fishman is particularly interested in how big global economic trends bear on people's everyday experience. His essays and reports appear in many of the world's most prominent journals, including The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, National Geographic, Harper's, INC, and The Times of London, among many others. (Fishman’s humorous writing has appeared in Esquire and the National Lampoon.) His commentaries have been featured on Public Radio International's This American Life and American Public Media's Marketplace. He has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, NBC's Today show, PBS NewHour, CNN, Fox, NPR and the BBC. Fishman has testified before Senate and Congressional committees and commissions and consults on both China and global demographic change with a wide range of government officials, including some of America's and the world’s most influential office holders.
As a public speaker, Fishman is lively, stimulating and entertaining. He addresses a wide range of audiences around the world, including corporate and trade gatherings, top tier financial firms, philanthropies, economic development agencies, large civic gatherings and universities. His presentations combine engaging story telling with a wide ranging knowledge about the world economy, putting into context his audiences' top concerns and exploring how they relate to big, global economic trends. Audiences praise him for his knowledge, wit and down to earth style. Clients laud Fishman for the enthusiasm he has for learning about their organizations and for meaningfully incorporating their concerns into his talks. Question and answer periods are inevitably engaging.
A former floor trader and member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he ran his own futures and options trading firm. Fishman is a graduate of Princeton and has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. Fishman also served a faculty director at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, for which he has helped run immersive programs on China for global executives. He has lived and worked in Japan and Indonesia. Fishman lives in his hometown, Chicago.
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Subjects
My talks on China, and its place in our world, are told through the lens of stories that are compelling, entertaining and which serve as frames for hard data on the country that is both essential and often overlooked. Information on China is often conveyed with a barrage of numbers, charts and graphs which are difficult for audiences to put in context. The goal of my talks, as with my book, China, Inc., is to put the numbers in a human context, attaching to the big trends stories of people who are driving and experiencing the changes. Audiences are consistently drawn to the stories, moved by them and come away from the talks not just better informed, but also see how own experiences connect in new ways. No two talks are the same. One of the pleasures for me is spending time with my hosts to learn about their interests and concerns, and then tailoring my remarks to that audience. When time allows, I like to begin with a look at the day's news, and put the news in the context of China's place in the world and in our, seemingly, more local concerns. The body of talk hits on the following themes:
1. Urbanization and the push of people and technology, how the two trends related in counterintuitive but powerful ways.
2. Scale and wages, the durability and relevance of China's two great selling points for international firms.
3. Entrepreneurship in China. How it proliferates and defies expectations, and why it will be China's great competitive strength in partnering with and challenging global firms.
4. Navigating China's legal and political environment.
5.Questions from the audience on all topics. Answers on those I can speak to.
