Skip to main content

Virtual Showcase - 99%: How we’ve been screwed, and how consultants can help

Cost of living crisis, energy crisis, health crisis, permacrisis: it’s hard to find a description of the world today that doesn’t have that six letter word in it somewhere. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion that the vast majority of people are worse off today than their predecessors whether you measure that in monetary, psychological or other terms.

But does it have to be that way? And can management consultants do anything to help?

These are the questions we’re posing at our February Showcase where we’re very pleased to welcome Mark E Thomas, author, activist and former management consultant to discuss it. Mark’s 2019 book 99%: How We’ve Been Screwed and How to Fight Back was a Financial Times book of the year and it clearly lays out how the current economic approach and the assumptions that underpin it could lead to a societal breakdown in much of the western world by 2050.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There is action we can take now to build a society worth living in and management consultants are potentially well placed to contribute. To find out how – and to participate in what we think will be a very lively discussion – do join our Showcase on 8th February 2023.

In this video Nick Bush introduces the event.

Speakers

Mark E Thomas

Mark is the author of 99%. He has spent most of his career in business; for many years he ran the Strategy practice at PA Consulting Group.

During this time, he began to explore whether the tools and techniques of business strategy could be applied to understanding the health and stability of countries. This research led him to the uncomfortable conclusion that many developed countries – including the US and the UK – are unwittingly pursuing economic policies which will result in the unwinding of 20th century civilisation before we reach the year 2050. Hearteningly, he also concluded that this fate is entirely avoidable.

Mark is also the author of The Complete CEO, and The Zombie Economy. Mark is a Visiting Professor at IE Business School and has a degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University.

Timetable

16:00 Introduction

16:05 Mark Thomas

16:40 Q&A

17:00 Informal discussion

17:30 Close