Be an actionist, not an activist

I joined the Delegation of @AdeccoGroup to this year’s WEF “Annual Meeting of New Champions” taking place in Dalian, East China (a mere 2,5 hours drive away from North Korea....). In times marked by Trade “Challenges”, a program built on the Theme of “Leadership 4.0” promised unique insights at the gathering of almost 2’000 Leaders across the region, and the Globe.

And so it was. The “China Economic Outlook” Session set the context: China is currently the 2nd largest, and the fastest growing Economy, currently accounting for 35% of Global Growth, 16% of Global GDP, 50% of Regional GDP. Predictions say that 75% of the Growth is to come from personal consumption. Despite the Cyclical downturn of the Economy expected in the second half of 2019, the potential continues to be tremendous.

Beside moving to a “balanced and Consumer-driven Model”, the transformation of the Giant is visible in the shift of Investments from Manufacturing to AI, Technology, Biotechnology. The next step for the Chinese Economy will be visible once the Chinese Banking and Financial Sector are opened.

Key for me always are the insights on Talent/Skills, the Labour Market. Strong statements were made by key Business Leaders such as Ning Gaoning, Chairman Sinochem Group: “GDP should serve job opportunities: the Labour Market should be most important indicator of a Country’s Growth”. And also China’s Premier Li Keqiang touched on Talent: China’s Workforce is 900 million strong, every year 15 million enter the Market. There are currently 76 million freelancers / Traders, creating 270 million jobs. Staggering figures, it thus came as no surprise when the Premier confirmed that “Employment is one of the 6 pillar elements of Stability”. Had I had the option to ask a question, it would have been when the Talent / HR Sector will be opened in China too...

The “Europe-Eurasia-China Relations” Session gave surprising insights: beside (obviously) highlighting the Belt and Road (BRI) Initiative, the MoU between the Chinese and Swiss Governments signed in May 2019, to foster cooperation on trade, investment and finance for projects in third countries along the routes of the BRI Initiative took centre-stage. Other notes taken: 

- All projects related to the BRI are still supply- driven..., which begs the question of how suitable they are to the local environments. 

- Why does China not apply the same mechanisms applied in BRI to open its own market to foreign buyers?

- The German Automotive Industry would currently be making losses if it was not for China…

- There is (or should be a Link) between the BRI and the UN Sustainable Development Goals Agenda, by making Investments sustainable.

- Important in all China-related matters: the Concept of Reciprocity.

The driver for attending the Meeting being the fact that @AdeccoGroup CEO @AlainDehaze acted as Co-Chair to the Meeting, the following can be retained:

- On Leadership 4.0: a strong perspective on #youth #purpose #communication #interaction - paired with #responsability #LeadershipContract #humility - see also: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/working-with-millennials-leaders-say-humility-works-better-than-bossing-around/

- Youth Jobs: #hire for attitude, train for skills. There is much talk about #agilework, but if people don’t work together, that model does not work! Soft skills are key! 

- ‘Accelerator Network’ Meeting, focusing on closing the Skills Gap, at Country level: we can’t wait for sequential change, as change needs to happen in various areas at the same time. University Professors need to adapt: teach the teachers.

- Technology Transforming Talent: we received the confirmation: Technology is a positive force for Talent…! What we need to “get right” are the biases: algorithms need to be built by diverse Teams! And to cite the UAE Minister for Education: ‘Predicting Jobs is more difficult than predicting Oil’... Key is to focus on Skills, not Jobs (note: that is a universal Truth…).

Lastly, to cite WEF Founder Klaus Schwab who cited UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres: “We are not in a bipolar World anymore, but not in a multipolar World yet either. We are in between, in the chaos”. Let’s contribute to make sense of that.