Meet The Leader

More than $150 trillion moves across borders each year through the global financial system, the vast majority of it still denominated in dollars. As geopolitical tensions fragment trade relationships and middle powers look to diversify their financial exposure, alternative currencies are gaining quiet traction, such as the recent renewal of a 200-billion-yuan swap line between the Bank of Canada and the People's Bank of China.

How might a growing willingness among these economies to transact in alternative currencies reshape the structure, stability and sovereignty of the international financial system?
Speakers:
Diana Choyleva, Founder and Chief Economist, Enodo Economics, Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute
Robin Harding, Asia Editor, The Financial Times
Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Senior Fellow, China Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Ashor Nick Sarupen, Deputy Minister of Finance, Ministry of Finance of South Africa
Zhu Ning, Deputy Dean and Professor of Finance, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance
This is the full audio from a session at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 in Dalian, China on 23-25 June, 2026. Watch it here:  https://www.weforum.org/meetings/annual-meeting-of-the-new-champions-2026/sessions/renminbi-and-the-world/
Catch up on all the action from World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 at wef.ch/amnc26 and across social media using the hashtag #AMNC26.
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Hiring managers are struggling to find the talent they need, while job seekers face one of the toughest markets in recent memory. Jonas Prising, Chair and CEO of ManpowerGroup, explains what is driving these pressures—from the economic cycle and geopolitical shifts to major demographic changes.
He also examines AI's growing role in hiring and recruiting. While technology can make the process faster, it does not necessarily make it more accurate. For Prising, human judgment remains essential to recognizing potential, assessing fit and making better hiring decisions.
How cyclical economic shifts, not structural AI-driven changes, are shaping employer confidence

How big demographic shifts could push employers to tap underutilized parts of the global workforce

How AI can increase speed of hiring but not always its accuracy

How Manpower uses AI in hiring and recruiting and what leaders can learn

Prising also discusses ManpowerGroup's recent research on employment trends, the early boss that changed how he leads and his take on whether big predictions for the future will become a reality.  
Subscribe to Meet The Leader for more conversations on AI, hiring, leadership and the future of work.
About this episode:

ManpowerGroup
Manpower: https://www.manpowergroup.com/en 

Report: Great Talent Shortage: https://www.manpowergroup.com/de/news-releases/news/global-talent-shortage-reaches-turning-point-as-ai-skills-claim-top-spot
Report: Q3 2026 ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey: https://www.manpowergroup.com/en/insights/report/q3-2026-manpowergroup-employment-outlook-survey 
Book recommendation - True North by Bill George: https://billgeorge.org/book/true-north/ 

World Economic Forum:
Report: Chief People Officer Outlook report: https://www.weforum.org/publications/chief-people-officers-outlook-may-2026/ 
 
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In a fast-moving world, the ability to pause and reflect gives leaders a valuable edge: the clarity to make better decisions, sidestep conflict and know when to pivot or keep going. 
Shogun Mahadumrongkul is the founder of incubator Avant Labs and a three-time ordained Buddhist monk. He believes in leadership informed by mindfulness and compassion. In this conversation, he shares practical lessons from Zen Buddhism and meditation that apply directly to modern leadership, from adopting a "beginner's mind" and managing ego to separating signal from noise.

You'll learn:
How pausing before reacting can improve emotional regulation and conflict management

Why a beginner's mindset can make leaders more adaptable

How mindfulness can help you focus, make clearer decisions and recognize when it's time to change course

Shogun also explores moral leadership, why values matter in the age of AI, and his belief in playing the long-term game rather than chasing short-term gains.
Subscribe to Meet The Leader for more conversations on leadership, decision-making, AI and the ideas changing how we work.

About this episode:
Avant Labs: https://www.avantlabs.tech/

Zenful Institute: https://zenfulinstitute.com/

About Global Shapers:
Global Shapers 2024 -2025 Annual Report: https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-shapers-community-annual-report-2024-2025/
Read - Blog: What young leaders are telling us about the future: 5 signals from the World Economic Forum's youth summit
https://www.weforum.org/stories/youth/young-leaders-youth-5-signals/
Watch - Entrepreneurship for a New Era | Next Generation Now 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcj5FsdSbU4&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.weforum.org%2F

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In this episode of Meet the Leader, five founders share books that have helped them drive sector-leading innovation and navigate uncertainty — from classics like Isaac Asimov's Foundation series to modern favorites like The Purpose Driven Life and Brotopia. Their recommendations reveal the unique challenges founders face as well as key lessons on resilience, purpose, AI, fundraising and leading through change.
What you'll learn:
The key role books still play for top innovators, even in our AI era

Why a learning mindset matters to shape a tech-driven future.

How digging into purpose helps founders navigate uncertainty

Books referenced in this episode:
Kian Katanforoosh, Founder and CEO Workera
Recommendation: Asimov's Foundation series 
Sam Yang, Founder, Xandar Kardian: 
Recommendation: A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Sarah Fleischer, co-founder, tozero
Recommendation: Hard Things About Hard Things, Marc Andreessen
Emilie Bodoin, CEO and Chairman, Pure Lithium Corporation
Recommendation: Brotopia by Emily Chang
Jeremy Allaire, CEO and Founder, Circle
Recommendation: Typhoon by Joseph Conrad
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What do you do when life changes in an instant—and the future you expected disappears? Advocate, activist and author Katie Piper explains how she rebuilt her life after surviving an acid attack on a London street at 24 driven by a man she'd briefly dated. The ordeal lead her to rethink her purpose, eventually founding a burn-rehabilitation charity and helping survivors like herself reframe "Why me?" as "What now?" It's a special conversation about resilience, personal reinvention and leading through adversity.
You'll learn:
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Katie Piper is a bestselling author, television presenter and founder of the Katie Piper Foundation, which supports burn survivors through rehabilitation. She is also a survivor of male violence and an advocate for people with burns and visible differences.
This conversation explores resilience, purpose, trauma recovery, inclusive leadership and turning pain into purpose. Follow Meet the Leader on YouTube, Spotify or podcast apps, and subscribe for more conversations with people shaping the world

This interview was recorded in January 2026 at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos Switzerland.
About this episode
Read - Book: Beautiful, Katie Piper: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0091940761?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
Watch - Davos 2026 session: Scars of Survival: How I Rebuilt My Life: https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/sessions/scars-of-survival-how-i-rebuilt-my-life/
Connect - Foundation: https://www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk/


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