Getting the inside view from the WEF top brass, Klaus Schwab included

HAD THE IDEAL START to Davos 2015 yesterday among a group of media leaders lunching with the WEF founder and chairperson Klaus Schwab and his lieutenants. They outlined the highlights of the week and afterwards, a couple of those managing directors shared their thoughts in more detail – policy specialist and  long-term project head Rick Samans explained why a record 44 heads of government isn’t a good sign, and  technology leader Jeremy Jurgens let me video him showing off one of the WEF’s latest innovations.

But 76 year old Klaus Schwab was very much the star of the show, as he shall be throughout the week. There wasn’t much to smile about in what his MDs shared, but Klaus explained that until Sunday, the Davos weather had been really awful. But when WEF participants arrived, the sun suddenly came out. Said Schwab: “I’d like to think that will be a metaphor for this week’s meetings. After the conversations, when they leave we hope participants will go home and make the world a better place.” More listening and less telling is precisely what the world needs right now. Davos is as good a place as any for it to start.