WGS in Dubai: Common future of the world is at stake; it's important to re-globalise, says founder of WEF

According to Klaus Schwab, world at the moment is going through many systemic processes and structural changes starting with economic transformation

Published: Tue 14 Feb 2023, 12:06 AM

By
Lamya Tawfik

Photo: Shihab

The World Government Summit is an important forum to discuss and reflect about the future which is essential when living in a fragmented world a global leader said on Sunday.

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum was speaking about and at the World Government Summit on Monday. He said that while people say that the world has become deglobalised he thinks it’s important to re-globalise. “We have to strengthen cooperation because we are faced with issues that are of existential importance for humankind,” he said.

The common future of the world is at stake, according to Klaus saying that instead of thinking that the world is going through multiple crises, he thinks that the world in which we live is caught in deep systematic transformation processes.

“There’s a difference between a crisis and a transformation. If you’re in a crisis you want to go back to the original point as soon as possible, to correct it. But in a transformational process you want to manage change and to come out in the end of the transformation in a better position in comparison to where you started off,” explained Klaus.

He said that the world at the moment is going through many systemic processes and structural changes starting with economic transformation. “I think we should not underestimate the reshaping of global supply chains which is happening now. The political transformation – we are moving from a world more or less dominated by a superpower into a patchwork of a multi-power world,” he said.

The power of technology mustn’t be underestimated, according to Klaus. “Our life in 10 years from now will be completely different and very much affected and who masters those technologies in some way will be the masters of the world, but what does it mean for governments?” he asked.

Klaus stressed that it is important to be ambitious. “We have to see the opportunities because, through joint efforts, we can make this world a better place by using the capabilities we have. Ambition is very important,” he said.

Speed and adaptability – the permanent upscaling and rescaling is also important and so is resilience which he described as “the capability to bounce back after unpleasant surprises.”

Leadership, according to Klaus, is the most important factor when it comes to mastering the future. He described it as comprising of five dimensions: soul, brain, heart, muscle and good nerves. “The soul which stands for purpose and ambition, brain for professionalism for permanently upgrading your capabilities, heart for passion – you must have passion otherwise you will fail, muscle for the capability to translate our vision into action into impact and good nerves for resilience to withstand difficult situations,” he said.

Over three days, from February 13 to 15, more than 20 presidents and 250 government and private sector leaders from more than 150 countries will discuss topics affecting governments around the world during the World Government Summit.

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