Zak Dychtwald is the Founder and CEO of Young China Group, a think tank and consultancy focusing on China’s emerging identity on the world stage and the evolving East and West millennial mindset. He is the author of “Young China: How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World”, which explores a wide and deep range of identity questions impacting the country’s emerging young generation.
Zak Dychtwald is a Columbia University graduate and fluent Mandarin speaker. He has spoken at forums and summits across the world as an Expert and Authority in his field.
Zak Dychtwald Lecture Topics
- Post-Covid Young China – The new state of Chinese consumption, collaboration, and competition
- What do these protests mean and how has COVID impacted Young China’s view of their government?
- How has China’s middle class fared during this extended restrictive period?
- How is consumer confidence after the last year of shut- and slow-down?
- What are young people craving after nearly three years of COVID restrictions?
- How will the National People’s Congress define the regulatory 5-year future for China?
- What new workforce considerations are there, and will young people return to the high-pressure 1st tier city lifestyle they sought before?
- How are new competitive dynamics and “re-globalization” impacting China’s prospects?
Young China: How China’s Millennial Mindset Will Change Their Country, the World, and Your Industry
We often obsess over American Millennials. What are they loyal to? What are their values? Who will they vote for? Will they even vote? What do they want to buy? And yet, when we think China, we often just think of the “China Market”—no nuance necessary. Chinese millennials are already becoming the most powerful consumer class in the world, redefining every industry they touch. China’s 420 million millennials outnumber American millennials by 5x. It’s time to understand the world’s consumers of today and tomorrow.
This session will answer, why does China have generation gulfs compared to our generation gaps? How is “Old China” different than “Young China”? What do American millennials stack up against Chinese millennials? What do they want that is different in their products? In the workplace? For themselves, their families, and their countries? How does a generation of single children understand community, family, technology, and leisure?
How China’s “Millennial Mindset” Will Redefine Global Innovation and Your Business
Despite the stereotypes of “copycat China,” Chinese millennials were bred for highspeed disruption. For rising Young China, how does a lifetime of rapid growth lead to a hyper adaptive innovation ecosystem? How do China’s generation gulfs impact the way the world sees China? In what ways does an ecosystem of rapid change make for a culture of adaptation and early adoption?
In this session, based on research for Zak’s upcoming feature in Harvard Business Review, we will rethink the role China will play in the future of innovation and your organization through the lens of its millennials—as a collaborator, competitor, and engine of global disruption.
Will Young China be the consumer engine they were before COVID? For areas like travel and luxury, it less a question of “what?” – an enormous release of pent up demand – and more a question of “when?” For other consumer sectors, the answers are less obvious after a year of an on-again-off-again economy that has left more young people counting their RMB than getting ready to splurge.
Zak Dychtwald speaks about the attitudes and consumer drivers of China’s 417 million millennials—who they are, how they stack up against global millennials, their impact on global innovation, what they want, and why they want it. This generation redefines every market they touch, and Zak gives you an insider’s guide into understanding how this generation is changing the world.
Zak Dychtwald has spoken at the Aspen Institute Ideas Festival, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, WTTC Global Summit (speaking directly after President Obama), Virtuoso Travel Week & Symposium, Google Next Billion Users, Schroders Investments CEO Roundtable x 6, Citic Investments Global Summit, Hong Kong, World Youth Forum in Egypt and TEDxHangzhou.