Rachel Botsman

Rachel Botsman

• Globally recognised expert in trust and technology
• Named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of the 50 most influential management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50
• HR Most Influential Thinkers, HR Magazine

Rachel Botsman is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the field of trust and technology and its influence on our lives, work environments, and business conduct. Her expertise in her field has seen her named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, one of the 50 most influential thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and added to Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business.

Rachel Botsman, an Oxford University’s Saïd Business School lecturer, designed and teaches the world’s first MBA course focused on the “Collaborative Economy”. She is currently designing a course on “Trust in the Digital Age.”

Rachel is also the author of two highly acclaimed books. ‘Who Can You Trust? How Technology Brought Us Together – and Why It Could Drive Us Apart’ looks at trust issues in the wild field of technology and artificial intelligence, while ‘What’s Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption is Changing the Way We Live’ sees her predict the rise of sharing economy companies such as Uber Airbnb, and TaskRabbit long before they gained popularity. This concept was named one of the “Ten Ideas That Will Change the World” by TIME.

Besides penning her two books, Rachel regularly writes and comments for The New York Times, The Guardian, and Harvard Business Review, amongst others, and is also a contributing editor for Wired. She is also regularly featured in the media and has been a panel member of interviewee on ABC, SBS, NPR, BBC, and many more.

Rachel Botsman – Speaker

As a speaker, Rachel Botsman has the ability to simplify complex ideas, making them accessible to a wide range of audiences. Amongst her many speaking engagements, she counts various TED talks, Xero, Google, World Business Forum, World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs, and many more, as well as various government agencies.

Speaking Topics

• Rethinking Trust

Trust is both the foundation and the result of strong relationships.  It is fundamental to meaningful interactions with employees and customers. Yet, there are misconceptions about how trust really works. How do you earn trust in the early stages of a relationship and sustain it over time? What does it mean to be a trustworthy leader or brand? Does transparency lead to more trust? Can trust be fixed when it breaks down?  In this session, Rachel will help participants rethink what trust is and why it’s so critical in the digital age. Please note that this keynote can be customized to focus on leadership, culture, or innovation. e.g., ‘Rethinking Trust & Leadership.’

• Trust and The Future of Work

A profound trust shift is happening in our workplaces – the old hierarchal rules of trust are no longer relevant. As employee and cultural dynamics evolve faster than ever before, how can we lead with trust amid all this uncertainty and flux? What does it take to be a trustworthy leader in these trying times? In this talk, Rachel explains the trust shift underway and how leaders can navigate and adapt to new employee expectations.

• Designing and Innovating With Trust

Why do some innovations fail, and others succeed? Trust is often the key differentiator. You can only get people – employees or customers – to use a new product or service if they’re willing to take what Rachel calls a ‘trust leap’ – to take a risk to do something new or different. Based on a decade of research and teaching with Fortune 500 companies and start-ups – Rachel will map out the principles of how you ‘Design for Trust’ in ways that help new ideas succeed. She also shares how designers, entrepreneurs, and leaders can improve practices to ensure new technologies are trustworthy.

• Fireside topic – AI’s Trust Problem

  As AI rapidly expands its role in our lives, an important question is being asked: What level of trust can—and should—we place in AI systems? Renowned trust expert Rachel Botsman brings a different perspective to panels and leadership discussions on what trusting AI really means. She will explain why we need to think differently to earn and maintain trust in AI and propose how we can make AI systems more trustworthy.

  Rachel is available for fireside conversations with leaders or to join panels on the critical and timely topic of trust and AI.