About Ted
Ted C. Fishman is an internationally bestselling author, veteran journalist, and former commodities trader whose work transforms complex global trends into compelling narratives that reveal how the world's biggest forces shape everyday life. He has worked with heads of state, legislators and has organized and taught in executive education programs.
His influential, groundbreaking books explore the rise of China as a global superpower and the profound implications of worldwide population aging on everyone young and old. Fishman current book project, for W.W. Norton explores concrete's central role in modern civilization, how the material has led to longer and better lives, enabled nearly all modern technology while at the same time posing deep challenges to the planet. Fishman is an optimist and believes that with smart planning, concrete could continue to offer its vast benefits and come to the aid of a planet with a changing climate.
Speaker
An accomplished speaker, Fishman has addressed hundreds of audiences worldwide as a keynote speaker, panelist, and moderator. His presentations combine engaging storytelling with deep knowledge of global economics. He makes complex trends accessible and relevant to diverse audiences. Organizations that have hosted him include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Aspen Institute Congressional Program, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, The Economist, Yale School of Management, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business, and numerous Fortune 500 companies, institutional investors, government groups and trade associations.
Bestselling Author
Fishman's first book, China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World (2005, revised 2009), became an international bestseller translated into twenty-five languages and published in 40 international editions. The book offered a prescient look at China's economic emergence and its effects on businesses and individuals worldwide.
In Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World's Population and How it Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival, and Nation Against Nation (2010), Fishman examines how global demographic shifts drive economic change and reshape fundamental human relationships across families, workplaces, and nations.
Fishman’s books are often featured in academic curricula and are widely cited in academic literature.
The Concrete Book
Fishman's forthcoming book delves into what he considers possibly the single most important and connecting foundational resource for the world. His recent reporting on concrete has appeared in Fast Company, IEEE Spectrum, and other leading publications, examining everything from sustainable cement innovations to the architectural marvels that concrete has made possible. The book pulls together Fishman’s extensive research, on-the-ground reporting, and hundreds of interviews to reveal the paradox at concrete's core: the same material that has profoundly improved human life is now central to the climate crisis we must solve.
Journalist and Commentator
Fishman's essays, features, and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Fast Company, National Geographic, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine (where he served as Contributing Editor, 1994-2005), Esquire, Gentleman's Quarterly, IEEE Spectrum, Chicago Magazine, and many other prominent publications. These include many, such as Money, Smart Money, the Asian Wall Street Journal and others, that are no longer and whose demise he is only partly responsible for.
From 1994 to 2019, he served on USA Today's Board of Contributors, writing regular opinion pieces on economics, globalization, social trends and arts and culture. Fishman’s regular column in Esquire covered a wide-range of business and financial topics. Fishman has made hundreds of media appearances, on ABC, CNN, Fox, BBC, CNBC, PBS, NPR, WGN, Public Radio International, Sky News (UK), Public Radio International's Marketplace Radio, and the Canadian and Australian broadcast corporations
Former Trader
From 1985 to 1992, Fishman was a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he traded currencies, cattle, and equity stock indexes. He ran his own derivatives trading firm during this period. Fishman brings that real-world financial market experience to his journalism and writing.
Education and Fellowships
Fishman graduated from Princeton University in 1980 with an A.B. in Philosophy. He studied creative writing for three years with Joyce Carol Oates.
Currently a fellow with the Indonesian Scholarship and Research Support Foundation (ISRSF) a Jakarta-based non-profit, his fellowships include Neubauer Visiting Fellow (2018-19) at the Neubauer Collegium, University of Chicago; Stanford Center on Longevity (2008-2009); U.S. Chamber Foundation (2010-2013); and the Foundation for American Communications (1995). He also received support from the Rockefeller Foundation and Princeton-in-Asia Foundation for teaching in Indonesia.
Teaching and Volunteer Work
From 2006 to 2010, Fishman designed, implemented, and lectured at an intensive course in Shanghai for top executives at global corporations at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.
He has served as a founding board member of Young Chicago Authors and the Indonesia America Innovation Exchange Foundation, as well as a board member of Music Theater Works. He has been comedic lyricist for The University of Chicago Revels, Chicago A Cappella and Music Theater Works. He has long-served as an alumnus volunteer for Princeton University.
Fishman has lived and worked in Japan and Indonesia. He currently lives in Chicago.
Ted's Photography
Ted is an avid photographer. His photographs have appeared in very small local as well as very large national and global publications.
Press & Media
Ted C. Fishman is available for interviews, commentary, and speaking engagements on topics including concrete and the built environment, climate, global demographics and aging, China's economic influence, the rise of Southeast Asia, and the intersection of economics and everyday life.
For press inquiries, interview requests, or speaking opportunities, please reach out directly.