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The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.

Rutger Bregman

Moral Ambition is about taking action, enacting positive change—doing as much good with your career as possible.

Historian | New York Times Bestselling Author of Humankind: A Hopeful History, Utopia for Realists, and Moral Ambition

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Poverty Isn’t a Lack of Character; It’s a Lack of Cash (14:58)

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The ROI of an Optimistic View on People (45:27)

Lavin Exclusive Speaker

Historian Rutger Bregman’s three hugely optimistic bestselling books have sold over two million copies and been translated into 46 languages—a striking body of work that has inspired a chorus of everyday readers, changemakers, and policy leaders. His latest, 2025’s Moral Ambition, has been called by Trevor Noah “a call to action for humanity.” Rutger’s other instant classics, Humankind and Utopia for Realists, were both New York Times bestsellers. Called “the Dutch wunderkind of new ideas” by The Guardian, he helps keynote audiences not only envision a better future; he lays out a bold plan to actually achieve it.

Rutger’s latest book is Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference, in which he argues that millions of people are stuck in mindless or harmful jobs. The antidote is “Moral Ambition”—the will to be among the best, in a career dedicated to the best solutions to the world’s biggest problems. Russell Crowe calls it “a book of weight, wit, and incitement,” while Timothy Snyder (On Tyranny) writes that it “gives us hope, humor and guidance at a time when all are in short supply.”

Rutger’s previous book, Humankind: a Hopeful History, makes a new argument: that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good. Called “a masterly work of intellectual provocation” by The Times of London, it is being turned into a major documentary series. In his first book, Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There, Rutger shows that we can construct a society with visionary ideas that are, in fact, wholly implementable. The Guardian proclaimed that “he has a big future shaping the future.”

TED calls Rutger “one of Europe’s most prominent young thinkers.” His popular TED Talk, “Poverty Isn’t a Lack of Character; It’s a Lack of Cash,” was selected by curator Chris Anderson as one of the top ten talks of the year. Elsewhere, Rutger has appeared in conversation with Yuval Noah Harari, with Jon Stewart (on The Daily Show), with Seth Meyers (on Late Night) and on stages around the world, including, notably, at the Davos World Economic Forum, where he went viral for telling a room full of billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes.

Rutger was born in Renesse, the Netherlands. His father was a pastor, his mother a special needs teacher. He studied history at Utrecht University and UCLA. Initially considering a career as an academic historian, Rutger instead ventured into journalism. He is the co-founder of The School for Moral Ambition, an initiative that helps people take steps toward an impactful career.

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Alison Wood Brooks

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Derek Thompson

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Clint Smith

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Speech Topics

Leadership

Moral AmbitionStop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference

What if the secret to a fulfilling career isn’t personal achievement, but collective progress? In a world where so many talented people feel stuck in unfulfilling or even harmful jobs, Rutger Bregman offers a bold alternative: moral ambition—the drive to be the best by doing the most good. The New York Times bestselling author of three books and one of the world’s most influential voices on economics and ethics, Rutger shows how reframing your career around impact—rather than prestige—can transform your life and the world around you.

In this inspiring and practical keynote, Rutger explains his call to action of “moral ambition”: the idealism of an activist and the ambition of an entrepreneur. He offers concrete examples of individuals who’ve pivoted from profit to purpose, strategies for making high-impact choices in your career, and the data behind why doing good doesn’t mean giving up on success. And he draws on the great movements of history—from the abolitionists to the suffragettes—to show how we can and must build a coalition of people who want to make the world better. Audiences will walk away with a renewed sense of purpose and a roadmap for using their skills to tackle society’s greatest challenges.

Because if the average career consists of 2000 workweeks, why waste them?

Politics & Society

The Case for HopeWhy Believing in People Can Save Democracy, Work, and the Planet

We’re told that people are selfish, greedy, and irrational. But what if that’s not true? What if most people are, in fact, fundamentally decent—and our biggest mistake is designing institutions that assume otherwise?

In this revelatory talk based on his international bestseller Humankind, historian Rutger Bregman turns centuries of cynical thinking on its head and makes a compelling case for radical optimism.

Drawing on cutting-edge psychology, anthropology, and real-world case studies—from crisis zones to classrooms, from Machiavelli to Freud—Rutger shows that we’re hardwired for kindness, and explains how reimagining human nature can lead to more resilient governments, workplaces, and communities. You’ll learn why people behave better in crisis than we expect, how trust-based models outperform top-down control, and why believing in the good can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The result is a powerful new vision for a society built on trust, cooperation, and shared humanity—exactly what we need in this moment of global reckoning.

Activism & Humanitarianism

Utopia for RealistsHow Bold Ideas Become Common Sense

Universal basic income. A 15-hour workweek. Open borders. At first glance, they sound impossible. But history tells us that today’s “radical” ideas are often tomorrow’s common sense.

In this provocative keynote, Utopia for Realists author Rutger Bregman challenges us to dream bigger—and shows how to turn those dreams into real, lasting change.

With wit and clarity, Rutger takes audiences on a tour of history’s biggest ideas—from a Canadian city that completely eradicated poverty to a forgotten moment where a U.S. president nearly implemented basic income. He unpacks why utopian thinking is essential not only to progress but to survival, especially as AI and automation transform the economy.

Whether you’re a policymaker, business leader, or just someone who believes the future can be better, this talk will challenge your assumptions, energize your thinking, and equip you with real tools to push the world forward.