Gillian Tett

Gillian Tett is a distinguished journalist and social anthropologist who combines deep expertise in financial markets with a unique cultural lens to decode complex economic forces. As Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and a columnist for the Financial Times, she holds a PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge and famously predicted the 2008 financial crisis years before it unfolded, earning her Journalist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards alongside the Wincott Prize and British Business Journalist of the Year. Her audiences gain practical frameworks for understanding emerging risks, from AI's impact on global conflict to the hidden patterns shaping trade and technology, equipping leaders to anticipate disruption and make informed strategic decisions in an increasingly uncertain world.

Three years before the 2008 financial crisis became headline news, Gillian Tett assembled a specialised team at the Financial Times to investigate capital markets, a decision that would establish her as one of the few journalists to predict the global meltdown. By 2007, her warnings about the looming catastrophe were already making waves, long before regulators, banks, or mainstream media grasped the scale of what was unfolding. Her early coverage of credit derivatives and the shadow banking system earned her Journalist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards, British Business Journalist of the Year in 2008, and the Wincott Prize in 2007. That foresight was rooted not just in financial expertise but in her PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge University, which taught her to identify hidden patterns and cultural blind spots that others overlook.

Today, Gillian serves as Provost of King's College, Cambridge, whilst continuing as a columnist and editorial board member at the Financial Times, where she writes on economic, financial, political, and social issues. She co-founded FT Moral Money, the twice-weekly sustainability newsletter, and previously chaired the FT editorial board and served as US managing editor. Her career has spanned roles as capital markets editor, Tokyo bureau chief during Japan's lost decade, and economics reporter in Russia and Brussels. She is the author of several books, including Fool's Gold, which chronicles how J.P. Morgan's innovations in credit derivatives spiralled into financial disaster, and Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life, which applies anthropological thinking to modern business challenges. In 2024, she received an Order of the British Empire for services to journalism. Fluent in French and Russian, with knowledge of Japanese and Tajik, her global perspective informs her analysis of emerging risks, from artificial intelligence in military conflict to China's strategic approach to subsidies and the financialisation of Western economies.

Gillian equips audiences with practical frameworks for understanding complexity and anticipating disruption in uncertain times. Whether exploring how technological innovation reshapes warfare, why investor complacency towards geopolitical threats endangers markets, or how subsidies and trade policy are redrawing competitive advantage, she translates intricate economic forces into actionable insight. Her anthropological lens reveals the cultural assumptions and institutional behaviours that create systemic risk, helping leaders recognise warning signs before they become crises. Audiences leave her presentations with a sharper ability to decode hidden patterns, challenge conventional thinking, and make strategic decisions grounded in a deeper understanding of how financial, political, and technological systems truly operate.