Well I came to this passage and thought it was the first thing the World Economic Forum have said in a while that I agree with. “A significant part of the global elite lost the sense of solidarity when it was needed.” But of course it was from the head of the WEF, so he couldn’t help himself adding to the end of the sentence “more than ever before” a particularly efficient way of signalling that one’s lack of concern with substantive matters when a cheap rhetorical cliché might be deployed.
Anyway it then went on to press a few of my buttons – for instance on deliberative democracy, before descending into more blather about “systems leadership”. What we need is “systems leaders” apparently. Srsly. And thus the business class proceeds on its merry, utterly atheoretical way. And just in case we find out what a “systems leader” is, how do we get one of those into a position of political power? Well there aren’t any tips on that alas.
In recent years we have witnessed many executive pen a piece post WEF Davos interpreting the world to us. It has become a right of passage/indicating that you attended or your boss attended or someone in your organisation attended (or you work for an organisation that is in on the inside) and that you are passing down (almost in a Moses like manner) the articles of faith for the year ahead. No doubt there will be many on Linkedin post http://www.davoshome.com/ in January – perhaps like its cousin trickle down economics – it is becoming difficult not to find it all cliched and wanting. Will be very interesting to see how 2016 and the year ahead is interpreted – and why should we listen anymore; noting outsiders like mike moore, scott adams and everald compton have provided more precise commentary and predicted the US elections when others didnt.