EVERY year for the past 16 years I have been going to the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos. Every year I resolve never to return but every year I go back. I will be there again this week from today to Saturday.
Why? First, it really is a wonderful opportunity to try to understand the economic, political and social forces shaping the global economy. Strategically, I think, all of those involved from WPP gain an insight into what is happening not only in Britain, continental Europe and the United States but also throughout the world.
Second, perhaps more tactically, we can meet key clients and potential clients in a short, concentrated, time-efficient period. About 700 WPP clients will be there this week and there are scores more potential clients.
Davos is a small village in Switzerland, three hours by car from Zurich. It is not easy to get to, so it’s all the more remarkable that business, political and social leaders should clamber up an Alp to be there, particularly at the end of January when the weather is cold and uninviting and the snow abundant. To some, it’s quite amusing to watch middle-aged and elderly chief executives and their partners traipsing through the snow and navigating the ice. Many cannot or will not ski, so they are pretty much trapped for several days.
People also tend to be exceptionally polite and approachable at Davos, not necessarily the case elsewhere. The atmosphere is informal and friendly. And the real work, the real contact in Davos, is not at the plenary sessions or set pieces. Rather it is at the breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings or impromptu sessions, when smaller groups chew over issues of interest together.
One reason I resolve every year not to go back is because the subjects tend to be pretentious and the agenda reads like the vocabulary of Financial Times columnist Martin Lukes. The thought that you can solve the world’s problems in two or three days on a Swiss Alp is challenging to say the least. One year, for instance, I remember reading in the programme that we could have a nightcap with Yasser Arafat in a bar at midnight to resolve Middle Eastern issues! The opportunity to meet media owners is very interesting. Few in the Media Governors (again high on the pretention-meter!) at Davos would miss the chance to hear the thoughts of a Sumner Redstone or a Rupert Murdoch.
A long time ago, the late Robert Maxwell came with his entourage of cameramen and staff and told Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the forum, that its magazine, Global Agenda, would never make it. Too big and too expensive. He was wrong.
Few would miss the opportunity also of meeting Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, who rolled up in the early days of the company to talk about their plans pre-IPO.
Beyond spending time with Paul Allen or Bill Gates you also have the chance to discuss regulatory issues with people such as European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes or Michael Powell, who last year was the outgoing chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission.
There seems to be nothing like Davos. The chance to debate issues firsthand, with business, political and social leaders is unique.
Few conferences rival it. Investment bank Allen & Co’s annual retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, might be one, but it is narrower, focusing on media. The Business Council in America might be another but again it is aligned more to business than to government and non-governmental organisations. Fortune magazine runs a conference in Aspen but it has been irregular and has now dropped to bi-annual.
And IBM, Microsoft and Cisco, to name but a few, host excellent summits, but these focus on the opportunities and challenges facing the companies involved and their industries.
In addition, Schwab is developing mini-forums around the world, for example, in Korea, India, China and Japan. This gives us major opportunities of getting a better understanding of the faster-growing nations in the world. At this week’s forum, the focus will be on India, a democracy with a coalition government that is managing to grow at 8 per cent a year.
One other point, corporate social responsibility is another big part of Davos. Our clients are not just business corporations. Governments, states and cities are looking to develop their organisations from a branding point of view. Equally, institutions and governments demand greater involvement by private companies in public causes. So an appreciation of NGOs, along with the opportunities and threats they pose, is becoming more important.
So when Schwab founded the forum in 1971, he created — against all the odds — an outstanding opportunity to understand strategically what is going on in the world. Long may it last.
An institutional investor said to me last week with more than a little irony: “Do you enjoy saving the world from hunger in Davos?” I pointed out that there are a lot of hungry clients there, too!
THE LINE-UP IN DAVOS
TODAY
- The emergence of China: leading China experts and public figures debate the outlook for the emerging economic titan over the coming 12 months and its implications for the rest of the world
- Angela Merkel: the new German Chancellor addresses delegates for the first time about her strategy for Europe's biggest economy
- Challenges for business: brainstorming with experts led by Larry Summers, the former US Treasury Secretary, and corporate leaders including Sir Martin Sorrell, Ana Botín of Spain’s Santander group, Mukesh Ambani, of India’s Reliance Industries, and Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chief executive of Nestlé
- Why I bring my office to the beach: how technology has stopped us switching off from work — a dinner discussion
TOMORROW
- The first 100 days: chief executives including Richard Clark, head of Merck, discuss how the first days at the top of a company are critical
- Video gaming: is the $28 billion video games industry reshaping our social world, and are the world’s youth being corrupted by it?
- Could a nuclear bomb go off in your city? Experts including Mohamed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, discuss the threat
- What keeps you awake at night? Michael Chertoff, US Homeland Security Secretary, and Robert Mueller, director of the FBI, debate risks to personal and national security
- Energy crisis simulation: guests from the world’s big energy groups, including the head of Saudi Aramco, confront the threat of $120-a-barrel oil
FRIDAY
- Bill Gates for breakfast: the Microsoft founder discusses the latest trends in technology and innovation, and their role in a globalised world
- Gordon Brown: the Chancellor flies in to address delegates
- The Race for the North Pole: a looming battle to search for oil under the melting Arctic ice cap is predicted
- Digital 2.0: what we can expect from the next phase
of the technological revolution is explained by Bill Gates, John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco Systems, and Eric Schmidt, the boss of Google
- US future leadership: John McCain, tipped to be a Republican presidential candidate in 2008, debates with Mark Warner, Governor of Virginia and a potential Democratic nominee, and Senator Joe Biden, another Democratic hopeful
