Am fascinated by the way ideas which surface at the WEF’s annual meeting influence global thinking. Over the past half century, Davos in January becomes an icy California – the West Coast state which has long been an indicator of trends that will spread throughout the USA, and thereafter the rest of the world.
In truth, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Davos week is one of those rare occasions where the super achieving A-type personalities who run the world are no longer the only big fish in their vicinity. This Alpine tank is veritably choked with them, ensuring many of these people are forced to actually listen rather than instruct.
This year’s WEF focus on stakeholder capitalism isn’t exposing a new concept. But now, instead of a “nice to have” it has been positioned as a way out the mess. Every reflective leader knows there’s something really wrong with the status quo. Partly in self-preservation, partly through desperation, Weffers are sure to embrace a rational way to escape the current malaise.
Underpinning stakeholder capitalism is the appreciation that 75% of an employee’s net worth to a business is their values and ethics and only 25% their technical competence. In the world many executives occupy, staff are judged 100% on competence – ie if the guy makes money for shareholders, who cares if he’s screwing people over? Pity it’s taken a crisis for that to be questioned.
