James Root Keynote Speaker

Senior Partner, Bain & Company; Chair, Bain Futures (2020–present)
Author of The Archetype Effect
Expert in storytelling, branding and human behaviour

James Root's Biography

James Root is a Senior Partner of Bain & Company and Chair of Bain Futures. He the author of The Archetype Effect, offering readers a new way to understand what motivates them at work every day and why they feel how they feel about their job.

During his more than 30 years at Bain, living and working across Europe, North America and Asia, he has served as Managing Partner of Bain’s New York office; as leader of the Asia Pacific Organization Practice; and as Chairman of the Global Nominating Committee

His work has concentrated on corporate transformations involving strategy, organisational change and operational improvement.

During a leave of absence, he was co-founder and President of a Business Process Outsourcing firm based in Malaysia, serving multinationals across Asia Pacific, where he was responsible for the company’s business operations.

He is a Fellow of Hughes Hall College, Cambridge; an Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology; and a Guest Lecturer at the Institute of Business and Finance at Waseda University in Tokyo.

A graduate of Cambridge University and London Business School, James lives in Hong Kong.

The worker of the future

Gig work, remote work, self-managing teams, cross-functional teams, an aging workforce, skill gaps and the ever-expanding universe of AI
The relegation of the professional manager, and the rise of empowered workers with their own ideas about the career paths they want
The many possibilities of AI at work
What can organisations do to work through the disruptions, develop the talent they need and deliver business results?

Why do we go to work?

Why today’s talent management systems are so ill-suited for today’s world of work
The six types of motivation at work
How to build more good jobs for more people

Working Styles

Navigating the natural tensions at work
How leaders are unlike the teams they lead
What is stressing us out at work?
What can firms do to encourage health & wellness at work?

The firm of the future

Changing nature of scale as a competitive advantage
Founder’s Mentality and the Scale Insurgent playbook
Changing role of the professional manager

Older, Younger, Women, Men

Myths about all types of worker
How can firms adapt their talent systems to maximize the contribution of each

Defining your business

Why Business Definition is at the heart of all good strategy

He brings more than three decades of global leadership at Bain & Company, advising organisations on strategy, transformation and operational improvement across Europe, North America and Asia.
He translates deep experience in organisational change into clear, practical insight that helps leaders drive performance and navigate complex business challenges.
He combines executive experience with entrepreneurial perspective, having founded and led a business process outsourcing firm serving multinationals across Asia Pacific.
He is the author of The Archetype Effect, offering a distinctive lens on motivation and behaviour that helps organisations better understand and engage their people.
His academic and teaching roles at leading institutions equip audiences with rigorous, globally informed thinking that strengthens leadership capability and long-term decision-making.