The Longevity Book Club:
A Conversation with Noreena Hertz
October 4, 2023

Economist and international best-selling author Noreena Hertz combines over a decade of research with firsthand reporting to bring us The Lonely Century: a hopeful and empowering vision for how to heal our fractured communities and restore connection in our lives. On October 4th, Ken and Martha met with Noreena to discuss her bold and thought-provoking account of how we built a lonely world, how the pandemic accelerated the problem, and what we must do to come together again.

Noreena Hertz, Named by The Observer as “one of the world’s leading thinkers” and by Vogue as “one of the world’s most inspiring women,” economist Noreena Hertz is a bestselling author, board member and keynote speaker. Her best-selling books, The Silent Takeover, The Debt Threat and Eyes Wide Open are published in more than twenty countries. Her latest book is the international bestseller The Lonely Century – A Call to Reconnect, which was chosen by The Daily Telegraph, Wired, and El Mundo, amongst other publications, as a Book of the Year. As a global economist, whose work intersects the nexus of economics, technology, politics and society – and a pioneering and renowned thinker on ESG, the post-millennial generation and community building – Noreena also advises some of the largest organizations and most senior leaders in the world on strategy and transformation. She sits on the boards of Nasdaq-listed companies Mattel and Warner Music Group and also the board of the HR Tech Company, Workhuman. She has served on Citigroup’s Politics and Economics Global Advisory Board, the Inclusive Capitalism Taskforce’s Advisory Group, and RWE’s Digital Transformation Board, and her thinking served as the inspiration for Bono’s Product ‘Red’.

As a visionary thinker, Noreena is also frequently sought after as a Keynote Speaker and has given keynote speeches at TED, The World Economic Forum in Davos and Google Zeitgeist as well as for leading global corporations, sharing platforms with such luminaries as President Bill Clinton, Professor Stephen Hawking and David Beckham amongst others. Her opinion pieces have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Die Zeit, El Pais, and The South China Morning Post. Noreena also makes frequent television appearances around the world including on flagship television shows such as CBS’ This Morning, BBC’s Question Time, NHK’s Global Debate. She has created and hosted four television documentaries; hosted her own show on the US’ largest radio network Sirius XM, and served as the economics editor for the UK’s leading commercial television network, ITV. Noreena has a PhD from Cambridge University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Having spent 10 years at the University of Cambridge, in 2014 she moved to University College London where she is an Honorary Professor at the Institute for Global Prosperity.