From Davos to Doha

Today was the last day of the Responsible Leadership Seminar. As explained by Kristin the focus yesterday moved from personal leadership to corporate leadership. A very central part in that debate was the recent meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos where many of the worlds greatest leaders have been meeting to discuss the solutions for the current economic crisis.

Today the focus moved from Davos to Doha, from the World Economic Forum to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and from corporate responsibility to the responsibilities in global politics. It was the big, hairy, audacious subjects of world hunger, global warming and world peace that were on the table. Nothing less! The overarching question was how business and trade can play its role in solving these issues. In more detail the discussion touched on the dangers of using protectionism in times of crisis, on the enormous expectations to the Obama administration and on the shift of power from West to East.

The subjects were covered in a discussion between the audience and five different expert panels. All of it was planned and orchestrated by Profesor Jean-Pierre Lehmann who will be teaching us in 'Global Political Economy' two weeks from now. I believe we all look forward to that after todays session. The MBA students made up a good part of the audience and were very actively involved in the discussion. If you ask me, the best and most insightful questions came from the MBAs!

I find these enormous subjects very interesting and extremely important, but also somewhat hard to relate to. What can I do about it right here and now? To be honest, I found it much easier to relate to mondays discussion on corporate responsibilities. The one thing that I will remember the most from this summit is without a doubt the speech that CEO of TNT, Peter Bakker, gave yesterday.

Peter told a fascinating story of how he and TNT started buying rice instead of sponsoring Formula one, how he visits refugee camps instead of attending F1 champagne brunches, how he swapped the Porsche with a Prius and how he gets both employees and shareholders onboard. Most CEOs today would not last more than a couple of minutes if they were pulled on stage to tell about their ambitions for corporate social responsibilities. Peter had 300 people spellbound for two hours straight! It was obvious how deeply he believes in what he does and why he does it. It was like attending a pep-rally. Yes, we can! Someone should send this guy on a roadshow around the world!