The Big Trends Shaping the World Today; Asheville Ideas Fest Keynote with Thomas L. Friedman

Thomas Friedman is the bestselling author of The World is Flat and New York Times foreign affairs columnist. He is renowned for his direct reporting and accessible analysis of complex issues shaping the world. According to Foreign Policy magazine, “Friedman doesn’t just report on events; he helps shape them.” The winner of three Pulitzer Prizes, he has covered monumental stories from around the globe for The New York Times since 1981. With clear and compelling language, Friedman discusses the opportunities and challenges that “accelerations,” including technology and connectivity, present. He also explores solutions — on a local and global level — to ensure the future of work, skills, income, and prosperity.

He has written seven books since 1989 that have sold 10 million copies in 40 different languages. They include From Beirut to Jerusalem, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, The World is Flat and, most recently, his latest bestseller, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, in which Friedman offers a blueprint for overcoming the stresses and challenges of a world being transformed by technology, globalization, and climate change.

Ranked #2 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “influential business thinkers,” named one of 2011’s Thinkers50, and featured in Foreign Policy’s Top Global Thinkers in 2013, Friedman is considered one of “America’s Best Leaders” by US News & World Report. He is a frequent guest on programs such as Meet the Press, and Morning Joe. And his TV documentaries, “Searching for the Roots of 9/11”; “The Other Side of Outsourcing”, and “Addicted to Oil”, have aired on the Discovery Channel. Friedman was featured in Showtime’s climate change documentary series Years of Living Dangerously, executive produced by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.