What I learned at Davos 2020
Last week, I attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. I shared my thoughts with our clients this morning, which you can read here.
I left this year’s Forum with a sense of concern for our increasingly divided world, and a sense of hope for the human spirit at the root of progress. The balance may rest in the concept of trust. It could, as IBM CEO Ginni Rometty told the Forum, define the decade. There’s so much change happening, so quickly, that trust is the new glue, for communities and companies.
Unfortunately, as the Edelman Trust Barometer shows, our trust in governments and media is limited. Companies face a fair degree of scepticism too – but business still enjoys more trust than other institutions. We will need to honour that trust, by investing in the concerns that have divided so many, and by ensuring that the positive power of technology isn’t hampered by lack of trust. Our ability to learn, share and resolve has never been more important. As is our willingness to listen. Angela Merkel put it well when she said “the fact that people aren’t willing to talk with each other fills me with grave concern.”
It’s why forums like Davos are more critical than ever, to bring people together at a time when we’re easily pulled apart. If there was any confidence to bring home, it was in the messages from scores of youth leaders who represent a new generation – one that’s creating a more positive sense of change, and an impatience in those who can’t deliver. As Natasha Wang Mwansa, a 19-year-old girls’ rights activist from Zambia, told the Forum, “It’s not about being young or old. How will you be part of the change we need?”
Here’s more of what I learned at this year’s Forum.
Head of Internal Audit at Paradigm Quest
4 年Well said, excellent take away.
Producer-writer, Co-Founder at Starfield CreatorCo (dba of: Starfield independent Studios Inc).
4 年Thanks for these observations.? In co-production finance dealings with European, American and Asian enterprises over the years, I have found culture to be the biggest driver of trust (or skepticism) in government institutions.? In a quick generalization: American businesses dealing internationally have been, are (and I suspect) will continue to be, the greatest skeptics about government institutions regardless of trends in finance decision making.? The Europeans as a group are much more inclined to trust and rely on governmental institutions participating in a deal.? Canadians can pretty well split the difference in perception of reliability (or trust) in governmental institutions and agencies as deal participants. I doubt very much that trends in trust of governmental business partnerships will every be a greator factor, than the underlying cultural predispositions. P.
Seasoned Collaborator | Skills Wallet | Digital HQ-first Consulting
4 年Thanks for sharing the brief history and your experience Dave McKay. Appreciated.
Chairman & CEO, Inuvo Inc. | Transformational and Change Leadership | Business Growth and Development | Focused on the Future of Advertising & AI, Customer Intelligence, and Consumer Privacy
4 年Dave McKay , the Richard Edelman study was enlightening. Observationally, this divide between people you are highlighting appears to be real. While the report suggests trust in government has been declining in part because of income inequality, its really not a stretch to consider that this same lack of trust could be occurring between people because of that income inequality, and that in turn is possibly fueling a people divide. Change in business trust could be analogous, in the sense that a similar income inequality seems to be growing between the smaller and bigger enterprises of the world. The futures of my two favorite countries are unlimited and these divide challenges are infinitely solvable but naturally become more difficult, when those in charge of solving the problem struggle to communicate and collaborate. World business leaders like you, meeting in Davos and talking about these issues is an incredibly important component in the solution process.