OPINION | World Economic Forum
Populism comes to the fore
Daniel Shakhani highlights what he saw as the main themes from his fourth trip to Davos
I
t is the most anticipated date in the
calendar for most chief executives,
heads of state, philanthropists and
entrepreneurs annually. The World
Economic Forum is the only gathering
on the planet where one can meet and
convene ideas with so many people
from different walks of life in such a short
period of time.
As a British-born inventor, entrepreneur,
financier and philanthropist and having
now attended the forum on the fourth
occasion, I am often asked what do I
actually learn and how does that change
my view of the world.
It is the depth of knowledge within the
minds of the attendees that I wish I could
just bottle up and take back home. The
latest thinking being shared with global
leaders that can implement and drive
change more readily than most. If you
had your own personal boardroom there
couldn’t be a richer pool of talent worth
drawing upon for advice on personal
or professional matters. There were an
impressive calibre of delegates, probably
the most divergent in views since WEF was
founded back in 1974 by Klaus Schwab.
For me, there were three themes which
stood out at this year’s event:
• Responsible leadership and wellbeing
in the workplace
• Technology and innovation driving
solutions and scale
• The disconnect between those in power
and the broader population leading to
political change globally and greater risk
US president Donald Trump was not at
Davos but he still commanded the most
air time alongside the Chinese president
who leveraged the opportunity to position
his country to take advantage of the
evolving populist culture which led to
Brexit and Trump.
The impact of populism was a major
concern. How it manifests itself in the
coming years is likely to be one of the
most important drivers of markets.
It will be harder to predict economic
turmoil and, as risks rise, we have to
invest knowing there is more uncertainty
than ever before so more capital within
corporates is flowing to company
dofonline.co.uk
shareholder buybacks and dividend
payouts.
A breakfast with Sir Martin Sorrell
and Thomas Friedman, author of Thank
You for Being Late, was just so insightful
and thought provoking and Friedman’s
book is now top of my reading list.
One of his quotes which I particularly
remember was: “What is the biggest
disease in society today? It is not cancer
or heart disease, but isolation. It is the
pronounced isolation that so many
people are experiencing that is the
pathology of today.”
We live at a time where we are at a
crossroad. The theme of responsible
leadership has raised the question of
whether chief executives simply give lip
service to the topic of social responsibility.
There is a need to drive the re-connection
of the electorate and political class, a
re-democratisation of the countries
and bridge the equality between the
richest and the poorest in society. Wealth
inequality has grown to the stage where
62 of the world’s richest people own as
much as the poorest half of humanity
combined, according to Oxfam.
The power within this 0.01% of society
to make systemic changes that can
drive social change has never been
more evident. Bill Gates describes it as
innovating to zero where you find ways
to eliminate polio until we have zero
cases across the planet. The power of
connecting company workforces and
corporate social responsibility agendas
together with communities where they
operate has never been stronger.
Sheryl Sandberg touched on the fact
that Facebook has now enabled any user
to have a connection with another person
within three degrees of separation. In the
next five years that will likely fall to two
degrees. There has never been a time
where we are more connected yet most
people can’t keep up with the pace of
change in technology.
Klaus Schwab touches on this in his
book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution,
another publication I would recommend.
I believe around 20 online companies will
dominate the web in the not-too-distant
future and we are already seeing that
Daniel Shakhani and
Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg
with Facebook in connecting 1.6 billion
people, Google dominating search and
Amazon in online shopping taking over
traditional bricks and mortar companies
like Walmart.
When it comes to automation and jobs,
whether robots or alternative intelligence
has the impact many futurists predict, it is
in our power to ensure it does not control
our lives and is used for specific tasks
where we can genuinely leverage the
benefits for the greater good of society.
The informed will tell you robots simply
can’t rationalise in the same way human
beings do today.
One of the key themes was wellbeing
of employees and the overall mental and
financial health of our workforce globally.
This is all about taking good care of your
human capital. We have seen that with
the rise of platforms like Thrive Global
founder Arianna Huffington who was
backed by Jack Ma. Often employers used
to think financial issues and mental health
were left at home, never brought into the
workplace. That has changed with Prime
Minister Theresa May actively speaking
about such topics, Prince William
lobbying on the topic and government
instigating reviews to be completed by
government on interventions which will
have a long-term impact.
The values we live by – at home and
within our working environment – drive
culture and loyalty. If we can instil this
into our communities and children, that
will be by far the greatest investment we
can make in our lifetimes. Q
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
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