One pandemic positive was meant to be the downfall of Davos after 52 long years of tendentious Alpine waffle. But no. “The good and the great” (who usually are neither and always include Dr Iqbal Survé) have once again flocked to the World Economic Forum to ponder this year’s jargon-jumble theme — Cooperation in a Fragmented World — with a prominent appearance from the 99-year-old Henry Kissinger.  

Yes, that Henry Kissinger whose worldview was outdated 40 years ago and who won the most tainted Nobel Peace Prize in history for grudgingly caving into almost all the demands made by the North Vietnamese to end the war he had played a massive and secretive role in criminally propagating (read William Shawcross’s devastating book Sideshow for all the evidence you need in this regard).

At least our president had the good sense to cancel his attendance at Davos in the face of the Eskom shambles but he clearly lacked the good sense to decline to attend in the first place. He, and anyone else who gathered there, have completely failed to read the zeitgeist. Davos is not the place to be seen. It is the place not to be seen anywhere near, precisely because it is such a monumental gathering of the establishment.

Being at Davos is not a sign that you have made it, it is a very sure sign that you don’t get it. “It” being a deep distrust of the established order in every form (and of old male talking heads in particular), and a view that a smug, self-important, financially elite, talk shop in the disconnected world of the Swiss Alps generates nothing other than big expense accounts, hot air and carbon emissions.

In the run-up to the Brexit vote in 2016, a prominent UK businessman confidently told me that Britain would remain in the EU because not one single major organisation — political party, trade union, business grouping, media house — was in favour of leaving. I remember observing that’s exactly the reason why Brexit might succeed. If ALL of the establishment says one thing, then the majority will take that as a cue to be otherwise. Ditto with Trump.

The devoted Davosians still don’t get this.

They also lack the self-awareness to see how utterly useless their musings have been in the real world. In January 2008 they all pondered “The Power of Collaborative Innovation”. Shortly after, the globe went sub-primal and collapsed in ways that no one at Davos had forewarned us of.

A year later they were back like Humpty Dumpty to put themselves together again under the umbrella of “Shaping the post-crisis world”. Just check the breathtaking arrogance in that assumption that the musings at Davos are shaping the world. Such hubris gives credence to the New World Order conspiracy whackos because 84-year-old WEF founder, Klaus Schwab, genuinely believes that like-minded heavyweights and technocrats should run things on a global scale.

Schwab reminds me of another deluded, aged Swiss resident, Sepp Blatter, in his desire to be seen as important as heads of state and his spectral Chairman-For-Life presence.  The WEF is also similar to Fifa in its curious tax-free “international body” status in Switzerland and a history of ethics scandals.

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A few years back, in a different life, my assistance was sought to gain the chief executive of a middling South African financial services company some media exposure for his presence in Davos. I inquired why it was thought to be a good idea that anyone should know that the CEO was burning company rands in an expensive Swiss resort listening to Bono speak rather than sing (yes, it was that time, now mercifully past, when Bono was our self-proclaimed moral conscience).

The purpose, I was informed, was to position him as a thought leader. My sarcastic response was that to be a thought leader you first needed to have some leading thoughts rather than safe, recycled, middle-of-the-road jargon. You can see I was not cut out for this PR lark but my core point was that no one would be impressed.

His shareholders would see no value in him dining in Davos. They wanted him at whatever the coal face of an insurance business is… fixing underwriting margins and suchlike. And his staff would be positively grumpy as they calculated the business class airfares and wine list euros having just been informed that times were tough, salary increases would be minimal, and an upgrade to the malfunctioning laptop was rejected because capex was maxed out.

What exactly does an SA business leader learn in Davos that is of tangible use to the company which employs them that they cannot pick up from reading or viewing material?

They certainly gain personal benefits — a break from the grindstone, some elite shoulder-rubbing, round-the-clock electricity, a decent Chablis and maybe a contact or two. But that’s what they are, personal benefits that all go out the door when the CE exits the job. None of it lingers to the benefit of the company. So, if you want to attend Davos, take unpaid or study leave.

And please spare me the “relationship-building” thing. That nonsense has been used for decades to justify businessmen spending many work hours on the golf course. An idea, thankfully, now as outdated as Bono. DM