It is hard to predict the future. Someone once said that the Internet was a fad. Amazon hit the road a year after a futurist claimed that online shopping was irrelevant. There is room for failure when trying to predict the future. However, I dare to paint the contour lines of the future, based on the impressions I got last week at the World Economic Forum Davos 2022 summit.
Obviously, the topics calling for an immediate attention, took some space on the agenda. Climate change. Sustainability. Geopolitical instability. Supply chain.
However, there is more to it. Artificial Intelligence has a significant impact on our lives already, as we literally have it at our fingertips, and it is embedded in many services we as citizens and consumers use. During the pandemic, scientists did not work alone. Algorithms also played a role, designing and accelerating the development of vaccines.
Focus today is how we can deploy an ethic and responsible usage of AI. A very important topic already being discussed, also in Denmark where I spend most of my time.
Diversity and Equity. Not just as a political heading but also painting the perspectives for the global economy, leveraging on potential in every individual, giving the World access to more resources. From my professional point of view this is highly interesting and relevant. We already experience the DEI measures as a demand from our clients, so I am not surprised that this topic took some bandwidth at Davos!
The Metaverse. Maybe as hard to perceive as when somebody introduced us to the Internet for the first time? The populistic definition is that this is kind of a future iteration of the Internet. Multiple, virtual spaces. In a World becoming more digital, this topic is definitively to be kept an eye with!
Mentioning the Metaverse, inevitably, we have to look at cryptocurrency, as these are fundamental for a digital economy. NFTs, The Non-Fungible Tokens, have crept into our vocabulary lately, and we can ask ourselves why leaders of nations are looking into this trend? Because the digital economy can create a completely new transparency, building trust. Something, most governments around the World are striving for. Especially trust is an issue, leaders are focusing on globally.
Boiling all of this down to my line of business, people, it plays a significant role when we are going to identify tomorrow’s leadership profiles. In our working habitats, we also see Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) define the playing ground of tomorrow’s executives. Equality, diversity, is also no longer abstract themes, at least not in my every day perspective.
Well, obviously, more is to come! I am looking forward to drilling down in what roles I see all of these movements will play. Stay tuned!