Rachel Botsman Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerRachel Botsman

Author & Trust Expert

Rachel Botsman is a leading authority on trust in the modern world, known for connecting history, technology, and human behaviour in fresh and engaging ways. She is the author of three influential books – What’s Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust?, and How To Trust & Be Trusted. Her... Read more

Biography

Rachel Botsman is a leading authority on trust in the modern world, known for connecting history, technology, and human behaviour in fresh and engaging ways. She is the author of three influential books – What’s Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust?, and How To Trust & Be Trusted. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, Financial Times, Time Magazine, and Fast Company. She also writes Rethink, a newsletter with more than 90,000 subscribers worldwide.

Rachel is a world-renowned speaker, celebrated for her clear insights and warm, engaging storytelling. She has spoken on global stages from TED to the World Economic Forum and delivered keynotes for organizations including Salesforce, Goldman Sachs, Adobe, Gartner, and EY. Her TED talks have been viewed more than five million times, and she is consistently rated a favourite speaker at major events.

Alongside her writing and teaching, Rachel explores how art and design can spark new ways of thinking. Her installation Roots of Trust was featured at the London Design Biennale, where audiences were invited to experience trust not as an abstract concept but as a living system.

Rachel was the first Trust Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, where she teaches leaders and entrepreneurs how to lead with trust in a changing world. Recognized as one of the world’s top 30 management thinkers and honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, she has worked on every continent, except, so far, Antarctica.

“What a session! We got some really positive feedback about the content but also about the virtual report that you managed to create.” Mastercard
“She kept our 2000 delegates on the edge of their seats for over an hour not only with the quality of her content but also with her humour and engaging speaking style.” CIPD
“Her talk at Microsoft Research both provoked and inspired, setting off an active conversation that continues to this day and world-wide within the company.” Microsoft
“Not one single day has gone by since the event without external and internal commendations on your engagement with our audience. Your message really connected and impacted the entire audience. It was also evident via our social engagement metrics.” Adobe
“Rachel is a genuine world class speaker who knows how to stir thinking and encourage an audience to open their minds.” Commonwealth Bank
“Rachel’s insightful session was engaging and authentic. She really made a personalised connection. The informal, open-ended format and seamless online experience allowed our audience to ask questions and engage in a lively conversation with her.” KPMG

Popular Talks by Rachel Botsman

  • Designing and Innovating with Trust

    Why do some innovations fail and others succeed? Trust is the key differentiator. Rachel maps out principles for designing for trust in ways that help new ideas succeed. She also shares how to consider the unintended consequences of new technologies.

  • Rethinking Trust at Work

    Trust is both the foundation and the result of a strong culture. In this keynote, Rachel reframes how trust really works within dynamic team environments and offers clear frameworks for embedding trust into leadership and organizational culture.

  • The Importance of Trust in Hybrid Working

    With hybrid work here to stay, Rachel helps leaders navigate new power dynamics and employee expectations through the lens of trust. This includes keeping teams connected and aligned with values, even across digital divides.

  • Trusting Leadership in Uncertain Times

    This topic focuses on the mindset shift leaders need to make in uncertainty—redefining strength, confidence, and the link between trust, doubt, and humility.

  • Rethinking Trust & Tech

    Explores the evolving relationship between trust and emerging technologies. Ideal for discussions around AI, innovation risk, and how to mitigate trust erosion in digital transformation.

  • Leading with Trust in Uncertain Times

    When the world feels complex and fast-moving, trust becomes a powerful source of clarity and confidence. It gives people the courage to take smart risks, collaborate across teams, and lean into change instead of resisting it. Yet despite how often we use the word, trust is still clouded...

  • Trust by Design: What Makes Innovation Stick

    Why do some innovations fail while others succeed? The difference is rarely the technology; it’s whether people trust it enough to make the leap. Every breakthrough depends on what Rachel calls a Trust Leap: the decision to embrace a new way of working, creating, or connecting. Yet too...

  • Rethinking the New Rules of Trust & AI

    AI is rapidly reshaping how we make decisions, create, work, and even trust one another. But here’s the challenge: most of the questions about trust and AI are framed incorrectly. The real issue is not whether people should trust AI, but how we design AI systems to be...