The Century's Leadership Challenge, the 9AM session held in Congress Hall, grappled with the concept of shared norms, the differences in 21st century thinking, gender and generational diversity, and so on. Certainly qualified for the task was the panel of distinguished guests, of which Mr. Ghosn was the lone business leader, including Sharan Burrow (General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation), Salam Fayyad (Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority), Herman Van Rompuy (President, European Council of the European Union), Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva and was moderated by Al Jazeera anchor Riz Khan.
Remarks in opening statements that stood out: Burrow said that wealth must be shared; the Prime Minister Vejjajiva said that three challenges (global action, political process and public private cooperation) are key; Fayyad said that good governance is necessary to identify and own the issues. Words such as "ownership", "responsibility", "commonalities" and "globalization" beg definition, perhaps new definitions, and Vejjajiva, as well as Rompuy, made the case that business and politics are moving beyond the paradigms, albeit slowly.
Mr. Ghosn, who often distills such discussion into concrete examples, made a metaphor out of the electric vehicle plug. He said that there were many efforts being made to standardize the plug for the electric car so that consumers wouldn't have to face difficulty charging their cars in different countries, different locations. "Let's have one plug. It's very simple," he said. He suggested that we come down from the altitude of business and politics and look at the issues not from the regional, national or competitive point of view, but from the perspective of the consumer. That sort of thinking can bridge the height of business and politics with so-called grassroots activities and efforts. Isn't that what Davos is about?