Speaking

“An engaging, insightful speaker! Michele is able to demystify complex global happenings in a breezy conversational style.”
–Peter Marber, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investments

Does your organization need to develop better alarm signals and decision making systems to make sure your people recognize and speak up when they see a problem that could be catastrophic? Do you know what the gray rhino -the obvious but all-too-often neglected challenge that you still have an opportunity to confront before it’s too late- is in your organization or industry but can’t seem to get past muddling? Do you need help developing an action plan to get key stakeholders on board? Do you need help strategizing your company’s approach to climate change, financial crisis, or other big picture risks?

Tap into the Gray Rhino® insights that have informed central bank and government risk management strategies around the world, including China’s financial risk mitigation policies, with Gray Rhino® & Company Founder Michele Wucker, author of the international bestseller THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore and the sequel, YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World. Michele can help your organization identify your blind spots and apply simple but effective tools to turn your organization’s critical but neglected “gray rhino” risks and challenges into catalysts for innovation. She can talk your audience through an overview of the gray rhino framework with examples relevant to your industry or company, help you think through the challenges and opportunities of global macro trends, or do a deep dive into one of the five gray rhino stages.

Michele can customize a Gray Rhino® keynote address, breakout session, webinar, webcast, board retreat, executive education workshop or masterclass to meet your needs — whether you want to be more effective managing your organizational, industry, civic, financial, career, or global gray rhinos. She’s also an experienced and insightful panel discussant and moderator on topics ranging from financial crisis to sustainability to human capital and civil society.

Selected Recent Appearances:

• “Thinking Strategically: Mastering the Art of Risk-Reward Decision Making,” Risk Awareness Week, Virtual, October 2023
• “How Climate Risk Attitudes Affect Our Responses –and How to Improve Both,” ESG Leaders Forum, Shanghai (virtual), September 2023 
• “What Board Directors Need to Know about Climate Change,” The Lodis Forum Symposium, Chicago, September 2023 
• “Gray Rhinos and Black Swans from Business Disruptions and Social Media Trials,” Enterprise Risk Management Summit NISM and IRM India Affiliate, Mumbai (virtual), September 2023
• Michele Wucker In conversation with  economist Hong Hao,” Phoenix Financial Forum for the Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen, China (virtual), September 2023 VIDEO
• “Climate Scenarios for Assessing Long Term Economic Impacts” panelist, NEDCommunity and Chapter Zero, Italy (virtual) VIDEO
• Il Rinoceronte Grigio Book Launch, Keynote, Panel on Climate Risk, and Book Signing, Il Salone del Risparmio with ANIMA Asset Management and ROI Edizioni, Milan, May 2023
• “You Are What You Risk,” presentation and book signing, Social Responsibility Chicago at Impact House, May 2023
• “Wrangling Global Financial Fragility Gray Rhinos Post-Covid,” HSBC Investor Wealth Summit, Beijing, April 2023
• “Reframing Risk,” Seoul Future Forum, November 2022
• “The Art of Risk Fingerprint Forensics,” Risk Awareness Week virtual, October 2022
• APRI Armenia Fall Meeting, Yerevan (virtual), October 2022
• “Cultivate Talents, Unleash Digital,” panelist, Bangkok, September 2022
• “Building Resilience Against Climate Change Catastrophe,” Panelist, Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Gallup, Washington, DC, September 2022
• Barclays Macro Perspectives Series, June 2022, virtual
• “Can Humans Adapt to Climate Change?” Intelligence Squared debate at Richmond Forum, April 2022, Video released July 2022.
• World Chicago Spring Diplomacy Breakfast, May 2022
• 14th Gold Kirin Forum, Beijing (virtual) December 2021
• “Black Swans, Gray Rhinos, and Dragon Kings, Dubai November 2021
• Forética ESG Spain, (virtual) September 2021 (Video)
• ESG Global Leaders Summit, Beijing, (virtual) August 2021 (Video)
• Airmic Fast Track Forum, London (virtual), July 2021 (Video)
• Financial Womens Association, New York City (virtual), July 2021
• FlexJobs: Risk and the Future of Work, April 2021 (Video)
• IDEA Experiencia Management, Argentina (virtual), November 2021 (Video)
• Zhihe IntelligEAST Forum, China (virtual), December 2020
• Tencent ConTech, China (virtual), December 2020
• Festu Sustainability Conference, January 2020, Iceland (virtual)
• CFA Society India, August 2020, India (virtual)
• Micro Strategies Leadership Through Crisis, (virtual) May 2020
• Twenty Minutes from the Future with ImpactSCool, Italy (virtual)
• “The covid-19 pandemic is not a Black Swan but a Gray Rhino: latest development of the pandemic in Europe and US”  Nottingham University Business School (dialogue with Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of Finance for Economic Development for Italy), Shanghai/UK (virtual)

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• “Making Globalization Work.” Closing Plenary Panelist. Horasis US-China Meeting, (Event Co-chair) Las Vegas, October 29, 2019.
• Fireside Chat with Champions hosted by Deepak Pareek, India (virtual)
• “Fireside Chat: How Is the Gray Rhino Affecting Your Portfolio?” Campden 7th Annual North American Family Investments and Alternatives Conference, Chicago, Illinois, June 2019
• “How the Top Global Gray Rhino Risks of 2019 Impact China,” Zhejiang Merchants Association Annual Business Impact Summit, Hangzhou, China, June 2019
• “Strategies for Managing Gray Rhino Risks: A Climate Change Case Study,” keynote at the Flemish government conference “Risks and crises: (nothing)/something to be afraid of?” Brussels, Belgium, April 2019
• TED/US Air Force Salon: “Why We Ignore Obvious Problems -and How to Act on Them?” [VIDEO], New York City, February 2019

• “How Technology Challenges Citizenship,” Jno. E. Owens Conference: The Pursuit of Imagined Communities: NATIONALISM VS. GLOBALISM and Its Meaning for International Trade. Austin College, Sherman, TX February 2019
• ZAOJIU “Ascertaining the Uncertainties,”  Singapore, January 2019
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• Netease Impact Summit [VIDEO] , Beijing, January 2019
• Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Beijing, January 2019
• Xinhua University ThinkBig, Beijing, January 2019
• Bronx Community College “Why the Cocks Fight: Meet the Author,” New York City, December 2018
• “The Reskilling Revolution” workshop SIMWomen Leadership Summit, Schaumburg, IL September 2018
• Global Challenges Foundation New Shape Forum, Stockholm, May 2018
• Strategic Multilayer Assessment, Phone briefing, April 2018
• Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management SPARK workshop, April 2018
• EBS Korea (VIDEO keynote on the Future of Education in Korea), February 2018
• University School of Milwaukee, Keynote and Global Crisis Simulation, January 2018
• Netease Annual Economists Conference (via live VIDEO link), Beijing, December 2017
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch China Conference, Beijing, November 2017
• China Finance 40 Forum, Beijing, November 2017
• EU-China Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai, November 2017
• World Knowledge Forum, Seoul, October 2017 (VIDEO)
• CFA Society of Chicago, “Water’s Impact on Investing” moderator, September 2017
• Global Association of Risk Professionals, Chicago, August 2017
• World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions, Dalian, China, June 2017
• Book-Ka book club, Chuansong bookstore, Shanghai, China, June 2017
• MIC Book Club, Shanghai, China, June 2017
• Printers Row Literary Festival discussion moderator, Chicago, June 2017 (C-Span Book TV VIDEO)
• 50Action50 Annual Summit at Google, Chicago, May 2017
• 70th CFA Institute Annual Conference, Philadelphia, May 2017
• MTA Sun Desert Festival, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China, May 2017
• World Economic Forum Annual Summit of Young Global Leaders and Alumni, Buenos Aires, April 2017
• The Chicago Club, March 2017
• Chicago CFA Society Book Club, February 2017
• 50Action50, Chicago, December 2016
• ExecuNet Master Class (Webinar), December 2016
• Business Continuity Institute, London, November 2016
• European Stability Mechanism, Luxembourg, November 2016
• Formuesdagen (“Wealth Day”), Oslo, November 2016 (VIDEO)
• Carnegie Council on Ethics and Global Affairs, June 2016
• ALTO Annual Conference, San Francisco, April 2016
• Financial Planning Association Annual Retreat, Phoenix, April 2016
• Johns Hopkins University Foreign Policy Institute, April 2016
• PCMA, Vancouver, January 2016 (VIDEO)

CLICK FOR MORE TESTIMONIALS

Watch Michele speak at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on “Thinking Ahead: Gray Rhinos and Black Swans” – the presentation that grew into THE GRAY RHINO.

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