Davos
Farewell, Switzerland: A Davos post-mortem
February 2, 2011: 10:53 AM ET
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From Jamie Dimon's defense of bankers, Mike Duke's less than rosy economic outlook, to the talking (and not talking) about the political turmoil in Egypt, here's a look at some of this year's highlights at Davos.
Toward the end of another long day in Davos last week I phoned home to San Francisco, where the day was just starting. My four-year-old daughter asked me: "Why is your work in Switzerland, Daddy?" A most wonderfully astute question, I thought, though I was unable to give her a satisfactorily succinct response. Upon my return, my wife asked, as perceptively as her daughter: "So, what do people talk about in Davos?"
I've thought quite a lot about these two questions. My "work," such as it was, shifted at the end of January to Davos, site of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum and its endless panels, institutional meals, hallway conversations, slippery sidewalks, lavish and ear-thumping parties and, yes, a few ski runs. I went for the same reason I assume everyone else goes: Because I got invited and for the opportunity to rub shoulders with the people who are the tops in their fields across the globe, primarily in business and public service.
As for what people talk about, I think I've boiled that down to a simple answer now too: Other than general schmoozing and catching up with old friends and new (shoutout to journalists Daniel Gross and Peter Lattman) as well as ex-journalist Rik Kirkland and his always awesome wife Vicky), most everyone in Davos is advancing their agenda, or, as the case may be, agendas. More
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Why Davos was worth the trip
There was a whole lot of talk at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. But how much of it will turn into meaningful action?
By Vineet Nayar, contributor
When I arrived in Davos, Switzerland, last Tuesday for my fourth WorldEconomic Forum annual meeting, I found myself asking an odd question: What am I doing here?
As described in a previous post, I kept thinking about the investment made in the 5-day event -- including MORE
Jan 31, 2011 3:45 PM ET -
Browsers get more (but not enough) privacy
As several major web browsers begin to adopt stronger privacy measures, here are a few things that policymakers and business leaders should keep in mind.
By Michael Fertik, contributor
This week in Davos, the World Economic Forum is convening several sessions on digital privacy. (I am moderating one and panelizing and participating in others.) The WEF has taken a leadership role in this field, emphasizing the importance of privacy in the context MORE
Jan 28, 2011 4:11 PM ET -
In Davos, Egypt takes a back seat to economic issues
The world's heavyweights are gathered to talk about carefully selected topics. An uprising doesn't make it on the official agenda.
There are a few big stories this year in the sessions at Davos: The developed world's massive deficits, the rise of developing countries, the future of the euro.
Off the mountain top, there is only one big story: Egypt.
Davos, of course, is its own world, 1,600 miles from Cairo MORE
Jan 28, 2011 12:52 PM ET -
Apotheker on risk and (over)optimism
I met for the first time this afternoon with Leo Apotheker, the new CEO and president of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). We agreed not to discuss HP matters, given that he isn't quite ready to discuss his grand plan for the company. (Yes, I traveled halfway around the world to meet the guy next door.)
Apotheker is as charming and pleasant as I'd been told. If he has any ill will for my MORE
Jan 28, 2011 10:57 AM ET -
A CEO at Davos asks: Is Davos worth it?
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
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 MORE
Jan 26, 2011 5:47 PM ETPosted in: Davos, World Economic Forum -
Sorrell on running a multinational
A good ad man can summarize complex thoughts in a way that's understandable to anyone, even a journalist. Martin Sorrell, CEO of advertising conglomerate WPP, did just that Wednesday morning in explaining his approach to global investing for WPP's business. As part of a panel on the economy on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sorrell likened WPP's world view to the way U.S. football clubs MORE
Jan 26, 2011 3:40 PM ET -
Rogoff on the economy: Not my biggest worry
One consensus so far from the World Economic Forum is an unsurprising one: The global outlook is better this year than last.
I found a perversely upbeat assessment of the economy today when I talked to Kenneth Rogoff, the Harvard economist who co-wrote the well received tome "This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly." I asked him the same open-ended question I'm asking everyone in Davos: What's the biggest MORE
Jan 26, 2011 3:21 PM ET -
Of green tech, white snow and red-hot air
Critics like to fault the Davos conference for being a lot of hot-air conversations that might just as well take place somewhere else. This is fair, but incomplete.
It began snowing Tuesday evening as I rolled into Davos, Switzerland, from Zurich, and it doesn't appear to have stopped. For even a mediocre skier such as myself the sight of gently falling snow and the sound of snowplows MORE
Jan 26, 2011 12:58 AM ET -
Ms. Sandberg goes to Davos
The Facebook executive explains how she'll take advantage of the unique pow-wow in Switzerland to pursue the cause of disadvantaged women and girls.
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, has done very well for herself. A veteran of McKinsey, the Clinton Treasury Department, Google and now Facebook, she attends the World Economic Forum in Davos as much to promote causes as to further Facebook's agenda. I called her ahead of MORE
Jan 24, 2011 6:00 AM ET
