Davos diary – Auf Wiedersehen

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This is what I know by Amanda Mackenzie, the Marketing Society’s president, in her final dispatch from Davos.

Saturday afternoon: Well I’m sitting waiting at the departure gate at Zurich airport.

I’m not sure I feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed enough to write with searing wit and insight, but let’s see what happens.

You can read all the clever journalists’ writing yourselves …it’s better informed than anything I’d do so I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about the big issues in that respect.

Where is my head?

Three and a half days of Congress Hall sessions, meetings, formal dinners, informal drinks and chats. I saw multiple presidents, prime ministers, knights, barons, CEOs, chairmen, bishops, professors and people  doing amazing, selfless things with their lives.

I feel proud of Aviva. We were in the room, in the conversations, as a successful global business with real respect for what we do, for customers and the role we are playing on issues stretching from mental health to sustainability, to helping create prosperity and peace of mind. There was much talk of corporates defining what they do in their mission statements…Well, we have one, as well as an employee and customer promise which helps us define how we are going to achieve the mission.  That is something to be proud of and makes us stand out.

The Eurozone

Having been fortunate enough to listen to some of the world’s greatest economists, I know that the Eurozone has a problem. Opinions on how to fix it are as numerous as the books I haven’t read on the subject. I know that options are as distinct as “Don’t even contemplate what could happen,just make sure it all stays together”, through to “Why not? Devaluation has never been a bad thing so go ahead, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s pretty bad already.” On balance, the verdict is that it won’t go beyond Greece and that,  more than probably, they will survive intact in the Euro too.

Trust

I know that trust and people’s faith in capitalism is under immense scrutiny. There’s a lot of debate around whether it will actually survive as we know it, but no one has begun to conceive of what post Lehman capitalism (PLC  -I just invented an acronym) could look like. Everyone is still in the mode of pruning what they have come to know and love. This may well be sufficient, but I wonder if we owe it to society to at least open the lid on what could be?  Not of course forsaking humanity, competitiveness, human nature and fundamental economics.

Human rights

I know that there are still appalling human rights issues across the world. From as simple as a lack of democracy, to the appalling abuses human beings can be served in the name of religion or power or gender. There is a lot of debate around the role of companies in this. I also feel  I personally need to do a whole lot more… with all the debate around salaries and privilege I feel more guilty by the day… and there speaks a lass from Pontefract.

I know that Britain is relaunching as Great again in its Olympic year. I am feeling rather proud of that…but if you read a previous blog it’s a new interpretation of Great, not that jingoistic, nationalistic 100-year-old version.

I know that more than ever, the world is looking to Asia for growth, for its investment back into Europe and the US, and for exporting to. I am not sure the West is sufficiently global or competitive in its thinking yet.

I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts…

Read more diaries from Amanda Mackenzie, Aviva.

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Posted: January 31st, 2012 | Author: Leah.Latimer | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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