Dr Patrick
Dixon is often described in the media as Europe's leading
Futurist and has been ranked as one
of
the
20 most influential
business
thinkers
alive today (Thinkers
50 - 2005). Chairman of Global Change Ltd, he is author of twelve books (485,000 in print
in 26 languages). Titles
include Building a Better Business, Futurewise, The Genetic Revolution,
The Truth
about Westminster, The Truth about Drugs and The Truth about
AIDS.
Dr Dixon has spoken to audiences in 51 countries and is one
of the world's most sought after keynote speakers at corporate conferences and client
events. His multimedia vision of the future
is experienced by up to 3,000 people a time, in up to five countries
a week.
Challenging, hard-hitting, provocative, dynamic, passionate and
practical as well as entertaining, motivating people to change,
backed by data and original research - watch videos.
He advises multinational
company boards and senior teams on strategic implications of
a wide range
of
global
trends
such
as the new economy, the digital society, financial services,
biotechnology, health care, geopolitical issues, lifestyle changes,
marketing issues, consumer behaviour, employee motivation, public policy, business
ethics and corporate social responsibility.
His clients include Microsoft, IBM, UBS, Google, World Bank, Siemens,
Ford, ABN AMRO, Freshfields, Sara Lee, Prudential, Aviva, Barclays, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Hewlett
Packard,
Gillette, Roche, BASF, Credit Suisse, Forbes, Fortune, Royal
Bank of Scotland, Zurich Financial Services, Tetrapak, Unisys,
BT,
BBC,
Fedex, UNIDO, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and
the American Management Association. He
was a Fellow of the World Economic Forum (Davos) in 1997 and contributed to the World Economic Forum Governor's Meeting of the Travel and Tourism Industry in 2005. He has also taught on executive / MBA programmes at seven
business schools.
Originally a physician by training, Dr Dixon has a Web TV site which is visited
by up to 500,000 different people a month (10 million since
1996)
and
radio/TV
studio
in his home from which he broadcasts worldwide for the BBC and others, as well as delivering interactive lectures to as many as 7 different national conferences simultaneously (World Bank).
He has
appeared
on
many
TV
stations, including CNN, CNBC, Fox News, Sky News and ITV commenting
on global events and ethical issues, with features in the Financial Times,
Times, Telegraph and Time magazine (see media
log).
Planning a corporate event? Watch videos / slides, and read feedback
Answers to common questions:
Q: Where does medicine fit in?
Dr Dixon (MA MBBS) is
a graduate of Kings College Cambridge (1978) and University
of
London,
Charing
Cross Hospital
Medical
School (1982).
In
1978, while a medical student he took a sabbatical (first of many) to found the IT startup Medicom,
selling medical software solutions
in the UK and the Middle East, based
on
early personal
computers.
After qualifying as a physician he cared for those dying
of cancer at St Joseph's Hospice and then as part of the
Community Care Team based at University College Hospital London,
while
also continuing IT consulting part-time. In 1988 he launched
the international AIDS agency ACET,
following publication of his first book "The
Truth about AIDS". ACET is now an alliance of independent
AIDS care and prevention programmes
in
places
such
as the UK,
Ireland, Uganda,
Zimbabwe, Thailand,
India, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine
and Russia. Different country operations are now spawning their
own partnerships and project relationships in many other
nations, as part of a growing international movement to save
lives and
offer
compassionate care. The Alliance has also distributed over 180,000 free copies of Dr Dxon's book "AIDS and You" to those requesting them in developing countries, along with a new global edition of "The Truth about AIDS". Although heavily involved on a day to day basis in supporting
the Alliance, with several international partner visits each year, Dr Dixon has not treated patients for a decade. Many corporate clients particularly appreciate this
"other dimension": a sharp business perspective that is
broader than - say - economics
or marketing,
and
interpreting future trends in a holistic way.
Q: How did the consulting / lecturing
begin?
Having seen at first hand how a timely book
can provoke public debate about the future, change how people
think, alter life-decisions they take, and facilitate
a movement, Dr Dixon began to
research and write
a book a year, about
different issues and practical, effective responses. As with
"The Truth about AIDS", many received significant media coverage,
and for a while Dr Dixon
was health
correspondent
to IRN (Reuters). By 1996, corporations
began requesting lectures,
seminars
and advice, including UBS. Dr Dixon was a Fellow of the World
Economic Forum in 1997 and this further accelerated demand
from multinationals for lectures and consulting on issues ranging
from e-banking to geo-political change, brand development, risk managment, ethics and leadership. Since
1999 he has been represented by Leigh Bureau - a community
of
150
global
thinkers including Peter Drucker and Michael Porter. Dr Dixon
combines corporate activity and business school classroom teaching
with
ongoing
support
for ACET International Alliance.
He is also
Patron of
NEAC, Patron
of Choices, on advisory boards of Hope
HIV, the global AIDS orphans initiative, the development
agency Links International, Marriage Matters, Parentwise, CMF
and ISAAC, a regular contributor to UK Christian
events
such as Spring Harvest and an associate of Pioneer.
Q: And the website? How did it start? Where do
all the visitors come from?
The website began in 1995 as a
personal storehouse for press articles and other writing. Without
any
advertising,
people began to arrive in large numbers, using search engines.
The site has been developed in response to traffic patterns,
adding to popular pages and topics, with extra resources including
presentations, videos, and the entire text of six books, all
available on an unrestricted non-pay basis as a public service. On
a busy day, around 22,500 diffferent people spend almost 2,600
hours
on
the site amongst more than 30,000 pages.
That's
the
same amount
of time as you would clock up in a year working more than 16
hours a day, 5 days a week with no vacation
-
not
including
time
spent
reading
offline
up to 2,000
book
chapters, equivalent to the same individual reading a couple of entire
books almost every workday evening. Visitors come from
every country in the world, and read pages in many different
languages. 4
million
more individuals are expected over the next 12 months - 65% from the US where already an estimated 3% of all web surfers have already visited this site at least once. Around half of all visitors are in management, and most of the rest are in full-time education. All
pages except three have been authored by Dr Dixon, who maintains the site, updating new information while on the move. More than 20,000 other websites refer to the content of this site.
Q: Why give so much "intellectual capital" away with free online videos, books and other resources?
Because it gives pleasure and help to many millions of people. In contrast, many business speakers are very protective of their "intellectual capital", preferring to hoard rather than give away, anxious about articles, presentations, books or corporate videos being online, maybe a reflection of how fragile and vulnerable they feel, at the thought of someone taking their material and exploiting it. That's last-century thinking. The future is about a world where information is free, ideas are widely broadcast, use and adaptation encouraged (acknowledging the source). The real added-value of course is knowing exactly how to apply ideas to build a better kind of future for your own business, yourself, family, community and wider world.
Q: Talking of family - what about life outside of "work" ? Is there one?
In all these commitments, he is passionate about
long-term relationships, family and work-life balance, works
mainly from home / virtually, and frequently takes time off
during the day to offset travel and intensive work patterns.
48 years old, happily married to Sheila for more than 27 years,
with four children aged 15-22 in West London, where the family
is involved together in the life of a local church. Recreations
include gardening, watercolour painting, playing the piano,
home cinema movies, walking, watching waves on a windy beach
or embers of a winter fire - with frequent breaks from all
technology including mobile phones and e-mail - he has received as many as 1,430 messages in a single day, mainly as a result of the website.
Publications:
Books:
Building a Better Business - Profile Books published 2005
Futurewise - Harper Collins 1998, 2001, Profile Books 2003, reprinted 2004, 4th edition 2007
The Genetic Revolution - Kingsway 1993,1995
The Truth about Westminster - Kingsway 1995
The Truth about Drugs - Hodder 1996
The Truth about AIDS - Kingsway / ACET Int All 1987,1989,1994, new edition 2004
AIDS and Young People - Kingsway 1989,
AIDS and You - Kingsway / ACET Int All
1990, new edition 2004
The Rising Price of Love - Kingsway 1994
Signs of Revival - Kingsway 1994,1995
Out of the Ghetto - Word 1995
Island of Bolay - Harper Collins
Cyberchurch - Kingsway 1996
Book Chapters:
Impact of new technology on corporate banking - Chapter in Handbuch Firmenkundengeschaft -ed Juncker and Priewasser - Fritz Knapp Verlag 2002
Articles: Numerous - see media log
Wake up to stronger tribes and a longer life - Financial Times
Death of National Stock Exchanges
Why market research doesn't work when predicting the future
Lessons for corporates from non-profits
Drug testing in the workplace
The death of shareholder value
The office can really get under your skin
Auditing trends
Designer babies
Future of human cloning
* This website contains many thousands of pages and videos authored by Dr Patrick Dixon and published only here - more than 10 million unique visitors and up to 88 million words requested each day
Videos:
Future of phones, computers, consumer choices and lifestyle changes in emerging markets - staged multimedia event for 450 of MTN's global leadership team - South Africa 2007.
Future customer trends, consumers, marketing, products and services - event for 350 clients of Siemens, mostly Chief Technology Offices, or Chief Information Officers, from multinationals.
Future of the European Petrochemical Industry - logistics and supply chain - half hour keynote presentation for the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA). This is an example of a highly customised presentation for a specific audience.
More videos
Information about how Dr Dixon works with clients to create highly successful events
Watch
lecture on the future of food (RealVideo) for 700 people
Watch short TV documentary about Dr Dixon
Video / Articles by Patrick Dixon - 24 million requests in year - 10 million visitors - Conference Speech/Event? 
