It's easy to see the benefits of global meeting in Davos, but the CEO of HCL wonders if there are better uses of the 75,000 executive hours.
By Vineet Nayar, contributor
At the opening session
What am I doing here?
Maybe it was the change of climate or the jet lag or something I ate. But as I arrived in Davos today and gazed up at the snowy peaks, that's the question I was asking myself.
Wait a minute – everybody wants to come to the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos. Attendees get to rub shoulders with 2,500 of the world's most prominent political and business leaders, academicians and social entrepreneurs. They get to listen to the views and counterviews of influential and innovative people on important global challenges. If they're a speaker or panelist, as many are, they get to suggest ways to tackle those challenges. And – let's admit it – most of us are here partly to be seen here.
But yesterday I wondered: Is Davos just a grand and glorious version of the Sunday soapbox scene at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park, a place for speeches that, while they may have some effect on people's thinking, have very little effect on society's action?
Do the issues being debated at Davos by the world's movers and shakers, in both public and private forums, result in significant change?
In short, does the event create more light than heat?
Don't get me wrong. The WEF annual meeting not only deals with crucial and timely issues but also features sessions whose speakers give those discussions a sense of real immediacy. As I was reading the Financial Times yesterday, a number of articles – the outlook for the eurozone bail-out bond, President Obama's endorsement of a spending freeze, Russia's aim to reduce its own budget deficit by attracting foreign investment – raised issues that would be hashed out in this week's Davos sessions by people who could influence their outcome.
I also appreciate the fact that WEF makes significant contribution to solving global challenges through their research and programs. For example, a comprehensive study issued in conjunction with the 2011 Davos meeting concludes that the financial crisis has reduced the ability of global governance systems to deal with ever more frequent and severe global risks – an important and sobering finding.
Vineet Nayar
So what's bothering me?
As I walked through this small Alpine town, I felt some discomfort about the cost and time invested in the event. A newly renovated and expanded convention center will be used primarily for the forum gathering. Some 26,000 people, including 9,000 police and security personnel, descend on Davos for the week, roughly 10 people for each of the 2,500 delegates. The cost in time alone of those 1,400 company chairmen, CEOs and business leaders who attend is staggering – by my calculation, an expenditure of roughly 75,000 "CEO-hours." What if all this talent and influence were applied directly to the solution of some of the problems that besiege the world?
And I'm still haunted by my mental image of Hyde Park Speakers' Corner, elevated in tone and transported to the Swiss Alps. Do all the words have an impact commensurate with the potential and the expectations?
I'm hoping I have some answers to questions like these by the end of the week. In the meantime, I'd welcome your thoughts.
Vineet Nayar is the vice chairman and CEO of HCL Technologies, a global IT services provider, and the author of the book Employees First, Customers Second.
A good and timely question. Vineet, as an IT man, can give an answer right away - those who want to say something important can telecommute to Davos, saving a lot of resources. Those who just need to check their very private accounts in the Swiss banks have to appear in person
I tend to agree with this analysis. I have been trying to gauge the Gen Y followership to this event and realize that it has absolutely no interest value. Considering most impact and amplification happens through that generation; how much of an impact will this have
While I tend to agree with Mr. Niyar point of view as to whether it is neccessary for 75,000 CEO's hours to be spend at the WEF, I do think that it would be a lot more difficult if not nearly impossible to gather as many as many as 1,400 business leaders from aroind the globe together to work together as a team towards one goal. That of solving the worlds most pressing problems and finding a solution that would satisfy not only themselves but their allies in the business world and one that would pass muster with the politicos at each of the 150 or so countries who must also ok any deals/solutions affecting their very own populations. While I do know that Davos' WEF is not perfect, it is one of the best forums that we ordinary, read little people, have for the powers that be to at least aknowledge some of the issues, financial or enviromental, facing the globe and its out of control growing population.
The fact that so many CEO eyes are on Top 10 problems in this focussed time, in my view, is sufficient to ignite the fire ball which hopefully will lead to a solution. Equally important are take aways and follow-thru. So it is not all the wasted.
Well said Vineet. Not just CEO's,Cabinet ministers from india..uhh... Its not affordable at least for Indian government ministers spending money by taking from World bank. By the way..do you have any information on black money stashed on Swiss banks? Looks like you bored with Davos conferences..Would you please go and get account names of Indian people who got account there...please do the thing which the government incompetent to do..whining about non disclosure agreement.
Interesting article Mr. Nayar. I read an article which mentioned that most of the heated discussion such as financial regulation of banks was not an agenda item this year. Also, a few key banks such as Goldman Sachs would not be participating in the WEF year. Hearing this makes me question the effectiveness of the forum and whether or not CEO time is spent better within their own businesses.
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