Todd Buchholz
Trend Forecaster, Investor & Author
Todd Buchholz
Trend Forecaster, Investor & Author
Biography
Todd Buchholz “lights up economics with a wickedly sparkling wit,” says the Associated Press. He recently jousted with James Carville and Ben Stein, and Successful Meetings Magazine named him one of the “21 Top Speakers for the 21st Century.” His editorials in The Wall Street Journal and commentaries on PBS correctly forecast the 2021 explosion in inflation, the 2014 collapse of energy prices, and the downgrade of the US debt rating. The New York Times has turned to him to decipher terrorist threats and the job market. Buchholz entertains his audiences and shows them how to thrive in a challenging economy, while gearing up for future prosperity.
A former White House director of economic policy, a managing director of the legendary $20 billion Tiger hedge fund, and an award-winning economics teacher at Harvard, Buchholz targets his entertaining remarks to the cutting edge of economics, finance, and business strategy. He has advised presidents and Treasury secretaries, is a frequent commentator on ABC News, PBS, and CBS, hosted his own special on CNBC, and appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO show. Buchholz has debated such luminaries as Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and has served as a Fellow at Cambridge University, and in 2024 was named a Fellow at Yale University’s Branford College.
Buchholz has authored numerous books that have been translated into a dozen languages and are used in universities worldwide, including Harvard, Duke, and Oxford. The Wall Street Journal named his book The Price of Prosperity a “must read,” and his book Rush was named a “top ten: book by Publishers Weekly, and has been praised by the Financial Times, Toronto Globe & Mail, L.A. Times, and the BBC, among many others.
Buchholz is also author of the best-selling New Ideas from Dead Economists, New Ideas from Dead CEOs, Market Shock, From Here to Economy, and Lasting Lessons from the Corner Office, which were lavishly praised by The New York Times and Financial Times.
Buchholz has penned articles for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Reader’s Digest. He delivered a lecture at the White House entitled “Clarity, Honesty, and Modesty in Economics,” and has been a keynote speaker before such groups as Microsoft, IBM, Goldman Sachs, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the Korean Broadcasting System.
Buchholz won the Allyn Young Teaching Prize at Harvard and holds advanced degrees in economics and law from Cambridge and Harvard. He also holds several engineering and design patents and is a co-producer of the Broadway smash “Jersey Boys” and the London hit “Glory Ride.”
Speaker Videos
Business Strategies, Finance, and the Economy
Speech Topics
How to Tackle & Embrace AI
AI is disrupting the way we do business, even faster than the Internet, the PC, and television did in past decades. Former White House Director of Economic Policy Todd Buchholz, author of Market Shock and New Ideas from Dead CEOs, tackles the startling implications of AI technology — when to harness it, and how to discern hype. As finance, tech, and industrial firms like Morgan Stanley, Apple, and Tesla rush to file patents, Todd explains where the AI revolution is going and how AI will impact inflation, oil prices, and interest rates. A former managing director of the legendary Tiger hedge fund, Todd's writing on technology and the economy have been praised in the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, and he has been featured on media programs from ABC to the BBC. Organizations like the Pentagon and Goldman Sachs have placed Todd’s works on their recommended reading lists, and Todd has delivered provocative and insightful keynotes before the world’s leading companies, and audiences at Stanford, Harvard, and Cambridge, among others.
- Discover how to harness AI to lower costs and expand markets
- Pinpoint how AI will change financial markets, disrupting inflation and interest rate expectations
- Reveal how AI will overhaul the job market, creating vast new opportunities, while also requiring retraining
- Decode when AI is used effectively versus when it’s used merely to hype
What You Must Know About Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies
The “Blockchain” can disrupt the way we do business, just as the Internet, the PC, and television did in past decades. Former White House Director of Economic Policy Todd Buchholz, author of Market Shock and New Ideas from Dead CEOs, tackles the startling implications of blockchain technology, and the crypto-currencies that employ it, including Bitcoin. His writing on technology and the economy have been praised in the Wall Street Journal, on ABC News, and on the BBC. As finance, tech, and supply-chain firms from Bank of America and Mastercard to UPS, IBM and Apple rush to file patents, Todd explains where the blockchain revolution and crypto-currencies are going and what your company needs to know. Todd has delivered provocative and insightful keynotes before the world’s leading companies, and has lectured at Stanford, Harvard, University of Chicago, and many others.
Prosperity Ahead – Or Not?
As President Donald Trump promises to reshape policy from taxation to healthcare to foreign affairs, governments and companies must grapple with crucial questions: Can the new President’s tax cuts prod the economy to roar ahead, despite worldwide worries over Brexit and trade disputes? Will the Fed keep its independence? Can the president repeal Obamacare and Dodd-Frank, while fostering a new era of deregulation? Will the U.S. build up bigger and bigger debts without tackling entitlements? What’s at stake for the economy, the financial markets and geopolitics, amid foreign policy crises in Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and China? Todd Buchholz has delivered keynotes at the White House, Treasury Department, UK Parliament and stock exchanges from Mexico City to Tokyo to Abu Dhabi. His just-released book The Price of Prosperity is ranked #1 on Amazon for government and received rave reviews from advisers to Donald Trump, as well as from Hillary Clinton. On a nationwide radio show, Trump counselor Stephen Bannon “congratulated Buchholz for so presciently analyzing today’s economic issues.” By “connecting the dots” of the world economy, Todd will inspire you and help you develop a timely vision for the economy, the financial markets, and the dramatic impact of the presidential election.
The Price of Prosperity: How to Renew Rich Nations
What’s wrong with America and the modern economy? When rich nations begin to shatter, “everyone has a comfy bed—but fewer people have a reason to get out of it.” Todd Buchholz’s new book The Price of Prosperity is earning rave reviews from leading minds on the Democratic and the Republican side of the aisle, from Larry Summers and Alan Blinder to Larry Kudlow. In this entertaining speech Todd explains the 5 factors that can undermine rich countries, and he puts forth bold solutions to address the eroding work ethic, rising debt loads, and the challenge of patriotism in a multicultural country. Todd takes audiences on a fascinating historical tour, from ancient Sparta to the Habsburg Monarchy to the fall of the Ottomans to identify how rich nations get in trouble, and how they can get out. Here’s what the Wall Street Journal reviewer said about Todd’s approach: “Mr. Buchholz was economic adviser to George H.W. Bush. He has run a hedge fund. He teaches and writes books and is popular with TV talk-show hosts. His book reflects that range of talents in that it has the tone of a provocative and entertaining dinner speech, studded with factoids and witticisms…The result is entertaining and informative…Mr. Buchholz has raised his warning flags in a charming way.” Audiences will come away enlightened, motivated, and uplifted.
How to Compete in a Global Economy
Never before have businesses felt such excruciating pressure to compete. The go-go days of the 1990s turned into the go-sideways days of the 2000’s. What’s next? While enjoying superlow interest rates and riding a roller coaster stock market, firms have struggled to raise prices, even when their costs go up. China poses a threat but also an opportunity for new sales. Loyal customers seem ready to jump to a competitor. How can your company or industry survive and thrive? Can the Fed keep the economy recovering in the Janet Yellen era? Will Congress try yet another “stimulus?” Todd Buchholz, who led the White House Energy Strategy, will help you figure out whether OPEC and Russia can tighten energy supplies again or whether a revolution in natural gas will reinvigorate U.S. factories. Learn how the “scissors economy” opens up new business and investment opportunities. Today might be the very best—or the very worst—time to finance a loan. By “connecting the dots” of the world economy, Todd teaches how to anticipate the new trends that open up fresh opportunities for manufacturing, service and technology companies.
Is the Economy Headed Higher, or Off a Cliff?
The go-go days of the 1990s turned into the go-sideways days of the 2000’s. What’s next? How will China’s erratic growth shake up business? Will commodity inflation unhinge the economy again? Can the Fed keep the economy recovering in the post-Bernanke era? Will Congress try yet another “stimulus?” Todd Buchholz, who led the White House Energy Strategy, will help you figure out whether OPEC will tighten energy supplies again or whether a revolution in natural gas will reinvigorate U.S. factories. Learn how the “scissors economy” opens up new business and investment opportunities. Today might be the very best — or the very worst — time to finance a loan. By “connecting the dots” of the world economy, Todd Buchholz will help you develop a timely vision for the economy and the stock market.
Rush: Why You Need & Love the Rat Race
Todd Buchholz, author of the classic New Ideas from Dead Economists and New Ideas from Dead CEOs, reveals why we need competition to keep us going and going strong. Weaving in everything from neuroeconomics to evolutionary biology to renaissance art to General Motors, Buchholz will convince you that the race to compete has not only made us taller and smarter, it’s what we love and need. In this provocative keynote presentation, Buchholz explains why laid-back firms get entangled in their own red tape and why contented CEOs end up driving their employees to bankruptcy court. While Buchholz argues that businesses need internal competition, he shows how to inspire creative competition, rather than a shark-infested culture. This is a cutting edge presentation that defies and shreds conventional wisdom.
New Ideas from Dead CEOs
Todd Buchholz brings to life history’s greatest CEOs — from Steve Jobs to Ray Kroc to Akio Morita, Estée Lauder to Tom Watson Sr. — and shows how their lives, leadership and lessons can inform and inspire us in today’s chaotic marketplace. How did Sam Walton help create the “scissors economy” and go from being the owner of a single dime store to the CEO of Wal-Mart? How did Estée Lauder, a working-class woman from Queens, convince the shoppers at Saks to buy her cosmetics? How did the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 eventually lead to A.P. Giannini’s success as America’s greatest banker? In this speech, Buchholz answers these questions and shows today’s business managers how to deploy their entrepreneurial secrets to benefit their companies in today’s hyper-competitive global economy. He uses his experience as a White House economist, Harvard scholar and Wall Street professional to show investors what kinds of CEOs to invest with and what kinds of companies to steer away from. In addition, Todd lays out a forecast for the economy and the financial markets. Audiences come away from this keynote presentation with a fresh understanding of the competitive pressures we face today, and a road map to finding success.
China: The Threat & the Opportunity
Everyone knows China offers one billion potential customers. But China also provides one billion workers eager to compete with American workers. The Chinese Communist Party has shed its communist ideology, but it still struggles to keep its people under control. By showing audiences how to anticipate China’s next moves, this original keynote speech presentation by Todd Buchholz will help you take advantage of the incredible business opportunities ahead while avoiding the landmines.
The Hope & Danger Behind World Politics
Since September 11, 2001, the world has changed, looking even more dangerous than during the Cold War era when the Soviet Union aimed missiles at the U.S. In just a few weeks during the winter of 2011, the map of the Middle East turned upside down, reposing dictators and replacing them with…who knows? Todd Buchholz takes his audience on a world tour to gauge the “hot spots” that threaten us. At the same time, though, we must appreciate the successes: the countries that have turned from dictatorships to democracies; the economies that have dumped communism for capitalism. Recently, The New York Times editorial page called on Buchholz to make sense of the terrorism threat. As a former “point man” for the White House during the Gulf War, Todd Buchholz shows his audience how to handle the risks while keeping hope alive in this expansive keynote speech presentation.