The Brief
The gap between what technology can do and what institutions can absorb is the defining risk of the next decade.
Azeem Azhar — author of Exponential, founder of Exponential View, adviser to boards from Goldman Sachs to the World Economic Forum.
The Argument
We find ourselves at a pivotal moment in history. Artificial intelligence, renewable energy, synthetic biology, and a constellation of exponential technologies are reshaping every industry simultaneously. The pace of change is not linear — it is compounding.
Yet our institutions — corporate, governmental, social — were designed for a slower world. The result is an exponential gap: a growing chasm between what technology makes possible and what organisations can actually absorb, govern, and deploy wisely.
This gap is not abstract. It manifests in boardrooms struggling with AI strategy, in energy markets being redrawn by learning curves that defy forecasts, in geopolitical fractures along technology supply chains. Understanding this gap — and building the institutional capacity to close it — is the central challenge of leadership today.
I bring this perspective to leadership teams worldwide: not predictions, but frameworks. Not hype, but the analytical clarity that comes from two decades of building, investing in, and studying exponential technologies.
Where This Matters
Five provocations for your industry
The Future of Work
The question is not how many jobs AI will eliminate. The question is whether your organisation can learn faster than the technology evolves.
Energy
The solar learning curve is the most important economic fact most executives don't know. And it's about to reshape every industry.
Geopolitics
Technology supply chains are the new geography of power. Most boardrooms haven't updated their maps.
Institutions
Technology improves exponentially. Institutions adapt incrementally. This gap is the central challenge of our time.
Financial Services
AI won't replace your analysts. It will replace firms that don't rethink what analysts do.
Trusted by leaders at
Plus: BMW, Coca-Cola, Renault, IKEA, Lego, BBC, BCG, PwC, Sky, Cabinet Office, UNDP, Harvard Business School, University of Oxford, and 50+ other organisations.
What They Say
"Azeem Azhar is one of the best-regarded thought leaders in the industry. But more importantly, he has a broad understanding of the exponential ways technology can be used to solve our biggest problems, shape our society, and bridge cultural divides."
"Azeem is a master at interpreting a dazzling array of trends and illuminating the future."
"Azeem delivers a comprehensive but lively take on the key issues informing what he calls the Exponential Age... Highly recommended!"
"Azeem builds the case for exponential thinking through insightful examples of technologies that have made possible discontinuous leaps forward."
"The Exponential Age presents an audacious spectrum of interconnecting trends... an essential read for leaders and enthusiasts who care about the better future for all."
"Azeem's new book helps bring that directionality to the surface through a dynamic understanding of the connections between economic, social and technological forces."
26M+
articles read annually
286K
newsletter subscribers
HBS
Executive Fellow, Harvard Business School
WEF
Co-chair, Global Futures Council
Recognition
- Vox, Future Perfect 50 — 2023
- Honorary Doctorate, Hult International Business School — 2023
- Thinkers 50 Radar — 2022
- LinkedIn Top Voice — 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Featured in
Financial Times Best Book of 2021
Exponential
How Accelerating Technology is Transforming Business, Politics and Society. A bold exploration of the widening gap between AI, automation, and big data — and our ability to deal with its effects.
"The world is in the midst of [an exponential] transformation, argues Azeem Azhar..."
On the Exponential Age
"Azeem builds the case for exponential thinking through insightful examples of technologies that have made possible discontinuous leaps forward."
"An essential read for leaders and enthusiasts who care about the better future for all."
"Azeem's new book helps bring that directionality to the surface through a dynamic understanding of the connections between economic, social and technological forces."
See for yourself
For Event Organisers
Champion Kit
A 3-page briefing document to help you make the case internally. Includes key outcomes, audience impact data, and preparation process.
Check your email — the Champion Kit is on its way.