2011 World Economic Forum

The annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF) just concluded in Davos, Switzerland. The opening speaker was Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Some of the well-known American attendees were Bill Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Melinda Gates.

The WEF was created in 1971 by business professor Klaus Schwab and, according to Wikipedia, originally started as a way to teach American management practices to European firms. It has evolved over the years into a place where political leaders meet business leaders to discuss the problems and solutions for the planet.

Looking at the official WEF website shows that this year's conference had topics as varied as Nurturing Africa's Natural Resources, Shakespearean Leadership and Combating Chronic Disease, but one of the most important in my view was The Next Shock - Are We Better Prepared? which I watched on YouTube along with other forums from the conference. Some of the main themes of the conference were sovereign debt, hyper-connectivity and sustainable development.

The three most important things in my opinion that happened during the conference were 1) President Medvedev's speech was transformed into a defiant rallying cry against terrorism because of the latest attack in the Russian capital. 2) WEF participants are looking forward in their planning, assuming that the worst is behind us with the Great Recession. 3) Globalism and a hyper-connected world are here to stay and how to exploit the new economic reality is the WEF focus.

The 2011 policy statement from the WEF states that "the most important task is how to address the problem of unemployment, particularly of the youth and long-term unemployed." I believe that only the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt have jolted this organization into accepting this long-standing truth. While there were forums on corruption, criminals without borders and workplace wellness, the list of the members of WEF tells a vastly different story. When the list of your strategic partners include Nestle, Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods, how can you speak to workplace wellness? When your speakers include Hamid Karsai and Dmitry Medvedev, how can you speak to corruption or criminals without borders?

One of the fundamental conceits of WEF is that global corporations and sovereign states can magically wave a wand to fix the crises of the day. While these leaders talk the talk about the need for sustainable growth and how to efficiently protect the world's resources, they very rarely walk the walk. The fragile world financial system can't absorb another major failure in the next few years, as the world's governments are stressed to the breaking point as it is. Many of the goals of WEF are quite laudable but the multi-nationals of the world are not the ones who will achieve them unless they really do start reaching out to their local communities and stop just looking at their short-term interests.

Sources:
Wikipedia Commons, "World Economic Forum Page", Wikipedia
World Economic Forum, "World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 Full Programme" , World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum, "The Next Shock - Are We Better Prepared?", You Tube