Davos QUOTES OF THE DAY

“Deflation is the darth vader of the economyAnthony Scaramucci

“For ecommerce, the most important thing is trust.”
Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group, China

“Every company will be broken into, every government will be broken into”
John Chambers of CISCO on cybersecurity

“Martin Luther King never said I have a plan, he said I have a dream.”@jonasgahrstore talks #ShapingPolitics #ShapingDavos #wef15

“We are the first generation that can end poverty, and perhaps the last generation that can fight climate change”
Ban Ki-moon #wef15 #wef

“Money evaporates, mentoring is forever” Will.i.Am.

“Excessive inequality is not good for sustainable growth … if you increase the income share of the poorest it has a multiplying effect on growth.” These views, once considered extreme, are now mainstream”

Christine Lagarde

“We can’t change minds without knowing what’s in them.”John Kerry

#globaltrade is the single most important driver of peace, says @DeutschePostDHL CEO Frank Appel #wef15

“You have to have trust in the public sector. There should be no corruption. [In Sweden], because people have trust in the public sector to make use of the money, they pay it and tax evasion is very low.” (and focus on providing services that the market won’t provide – like subsidised childcare). Taxes in Italy are almost as high as in Sweden, but the money goes to the highest-paid politicians, highest-paid senior civil servants, and a big civil service – [there is] no market-driven provision of services which will create jobs,”

Economics nobel prize winner Pissarides on Trust in Sweden versus Trust in Italy

Davos FACT OF THE DAY

OK, two facts,

  • In the 1990s the big three US motor vehicle companies – Chrysler, Ford and General Motors – collectively hired 1.2 million employees. Today, the big three companies in Silicon Valley – Google, Facebook and Apple – together employ a total 134,000 people.
  • Edelman client, Tupperware CEO Rick Goings, revealed that Tupperware is the biggest seller of cook books in France

Why are these topics missing from Davos chat?

  • Terror and the fall-out from Paris attacks. This may change when President Hollande speaks at 11.30 today
  • There are no protests … is this a sign of all NGOs now being “in the tent?”
  • Greece: not many worried by the elections this weekend, nor do they think ECB quantative easing is going to solve much. Quite a few think national bank-operated QE would be more effective within the Eurozone

In tech we trust? Best points

“In Tech We Trust” – summary of most important points made

Marc Benioff – Salesforce

  • “We need immediate disclosure and total transparency about cybersecurity otherwise we cannot get back the trust.”
  • (this will mean, amongst other things) “We need more public private partnerships”
  • “Take email for example – people just don’t know where it is stored or what is happening with it. That has to change”
  • “Governments need to look after our rights and provide a data safety net.”

Marissa Mayer:

  • “A personalized internet is a better internet, but it involves trade-offs. You have to give up some data to get some service benefits. And it means you need to use the cloud. But you need to get people to trust it.
  • “The users own their data they should be able to examine it and port it, and have control”

Continue reading In tech we trust? Best points

Great quotes from Davos 2015

“When the wind of change blows, some build walls, while others build windmills”

China’s Premier Li Keqiang 
European Central Bank’s quantitative easing program“can buy time, but cannot fix structural problems of economies,” Commissioner for the Euro Dombrovskis said

Youth unemployment is “now a pandemic”

Dominic Barton, CEO McKinsey

“I must say I am very pleased and a little bit proud to be part of the European Union.”

Angela Merkel


“Deflation and stagnation are the risks of our time…
(on ECD quantative easing decision) Necessity should not be confused with sufficiency.”
Larry Summers,  Harvard University

Edelman Trust Barometer Highlights

From Wednesday AM breakfast launch

Details on the results here

MAIN POINTS FROM RICHARD EDELMAN

  • 16 years since battle of WTO Seattle inspired the barometer
  • 2015 first time we have seen evaporation of trust across all institutions.
  • NGOs focussind outwards instead of on home and that is part of the reason for drop
  • Online search has taken over. Millenials turn to born digital media
  • Government stopped going down and went sidewards, but still not seen as a trusted partner.
  • Business has been enjoying a peace dividend since 2009, but now again more than half distrust business.
  • For the first time #trust in the technology sector went backwards, and it’s because of #privacy and security
  • We find profoundly that a developing market headquartered company is not welcome as an investor or a factory owner.
  • Family business has a 30 to 40 point trust edge of larger in developed markets. Not true in developing markets
  • Huge support for government tackling inequality, for regulating the 1%. The Thomas Piketty message has gotten through.
  • Leadership matters but it is not a pretty picture. Less than 30% trust CEOs.
  • Friends and family by far the most trusted content creators and sharers.
  • 51% think the pace of change/innovation is too quick, but only a quarter support govt to address that.
  • 80% of respondents said they believed business can make a profit AND help society
  • Operational success does not provide trust – it is engagement and integrity that do most to built and defend trust.
  • Trust matters more than 80% of people will only buy from a trusted company
  • License to operate is not enough – you need a license to lead, and for that you need trust.
  • Government is not bad, government is your partner, as are NGOs.
  • Pay tax. Number one reason why UK doesn’t trust business is failure to pay taxes.

Continue reading Edelman Trust Barometer Highlights

Davos Daily Digest – Tuesday

Fact of the Day: 4,000 hotel badges. 2,000 corporate and 2,000 NGO.

Tweet of the day

From @CNN
Leaders coming to Davos face a harsh reality: The world is in worse shape than a year ago http://cnnmon.ie/1yGJtnc #wef15

Best infographic
http://qz.com/329512/search-and-sort-the-list-of-everyone-attending-davos-this-week/

Quotes of the day

“While there are large forces, globalization, technology…creating large challenges for many workers, there is no excuse or intellectual basis for fatalism,”
Larry Summers

“The world needs a new business model. The global economic system isn’t working for six billion people”
International Trade Union Confederation

“Maximising diversity helps your organization think outside the box.”
Jim Snabe-Hagemann, Global Shapers Innovation Forum

“Passion is what makes you take risks. There is no replacement for that”
Quito Shapers Hub #ShapingInnovation

Cultures of Innovation session highlights
• “Innovation is a lifestyle” @RihadyhShapers
• “Innovation should be measured by the greatness multiplied by the scale of the idea.”
• “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”
• “Maximising diversity helps your organization think outside the box.”
• “As you age you increase the number of assumptions in your brain without even realizing it.”
• “Passion is what makes you take risks. There is no replacement for that” Quito Shapers Hub
• Employees should be able to spend 20% of their time doing whatever they want (as long as it someone relates to the organization)

Davos Quotes of the Day – Tuesday

While there are large forces, globalization, technology…creating large challenges for many workers, there is no excuse or intellectual basis for fatalism,”

Larry Summers

“The world needs a new business model. The global economic system isn’t working for six billion people”

International Trade Union Confederation

“Maximising diversity helps your organization think outside the box.”

Jim Snabe-Hagemann, Global Shapers Innovation Forum

“Passion is what makes you take risks. There is no replacement for that”

Quito Shapers Hub #ShapingInnovation

Davos Daily Digest – Monday

Quotes and Tweets of the Day

  • “We need a hacker mentality towards our institutions” Jorge Sotos, Global Shaper
  • “Trust is nowadays the scarcest global commodity” Global Shapers event on Trust
  • #Trust is not a blank-cheque; it takes place around a precise objective.” Luxembourg GS Hub

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Fact of the Day

  • There will be 1500 CEOs at the WEF. 500 are from Europe, 500 from US, 500 from rest of world

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Breakthrough of the Day:

  • The Global Shapers. Now much more organized, diverse and prominent. They will force Davos to follow in their footsteps from 2016, in addition to what they shape this week.

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My prediction of the week’s emerging theme: trust

Klaus Schwab was last week pushing trust in his preview of the forum, even before mentioning the official theme of “The New Global Context”, saying: “We will look in Davos at all the burning issues like geographical conflicts, the future of the economy, social inclusion, and so on. But the key factor is trust. How can we restore trust in our future in our institutions?”

With Edelman launching their annual trust barometer first thing on Wednesday morning, and the Global Shapers already pushing trust in partnerships today, trust will be on a roll by the time the forum is in full swing.

OTHER NEWS

Gender gap in Davos

Once again Davos has only 17% female participation. The bright spot is that 54% of the under30 year old contingent of Global Shapers are women.

LGBT inclusion issues finally on the agenda at Davos.

Never been headline or session material before, but this is changing – affected by wider social trends and the coming out of Tim Cook.

Inequality is bad … for the rich 

High levels of inequality are not only unfair they are also bad for the rich. This is going to come up again and again this week.

TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION – Disrupting the classroom 

  • The days of the sage on the stage are over. The days of complicated sets of equipment are over – it’s all in a single phone or laptop now.
  • We still need teachers, they will just have a very different job.
  • Teachers will have less involvement with knowledge and much more focused on social skills, character-building and encouraging debate. They will facilitate rather than teach.
  • This is not a downgrade for teachers – their role will be more complex than ever.
  • MOOCs – will force a consolidation of middle-ranking universities
  • Peer-to-peer learning will need to be taken more seriously.