It has become fashionable to deride the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos as an endless talkfest or worse, a secret cabal of evil tyrants bent on controlling the world. For several years, violent protesters sought to disrupt the Meeting as if breaking the windows of McDonalds on the Promenade could turn back the forces of globalization.
So why do I go when there are so many competing demands for a CEO's time?
First, because it is a very convenient opportunity to schedule group and bilateral meetings with customers, suppliers, partners, government officials and representatives of charitable organizations and NGOs. Why take separate trips to Redmond, Palo Alto, Moscow and Mumbai when you know key individuals are likely to be crowded into this small Swiss ski village, conveniently early in the year?
Second, because it is useful to calibrate ones thinking with business and other leaders from all over the world. Will there be a short and sharp recession in the US or a long protracted one which drags the rest of the world with it? Will Asia be "de-coupled" and what are you seeing in your business as we start the year? Taken to an extreme, this form of calibration can lead to dangerous "group-think" and lemming like behavior; however, it is undoubtedly useful to take soundings.
Third, because one might actually learn something. I find it uniquely educational to shut my mouth and open my ears. Amid all the self-promotion are some very smart people sharing their knowledge of domains from cosmology to art, from sovereign wealth funds to molecular biology.
Fourth, because one can contribute something back. Whether through the mainstream WEF panels and governors meetings, or in outside meetings, attendees do raise their thoughts beyond the short-term issues affecting their business or organization, and train their minds on what can be done to help solve some of the more intractable global problems, like government corruption, or the provision of decent healthcare or global warming. Just because come these issues are not fully resolved come the weekend when delegates head home, does not mean that their efforts are not sincere or that no concrete follow-up action ever occurs. Only cynicism guarantees failure.
Fifth, and finally, because the mountains are beautiful, the snow is deep and I can fit in a day of skiing over the weekend. Many of us are "normal" people too and should not be embarrassed to say so and act so.