For the past two years, World Economic Forum was held primarily online. This year’s forum had some hopes of achieving the long awaited goal, a live meeting in the city of Davos. However, this was not the case.

WEF 2022 one more time represened a global platform for world leaders to share and discuss their plans for 2022, with the main theme: State of the World.

World Economic Forum was opened by the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, who stated "The momentum of the world either flourishes or declines; the state of the world either progresses or regresses." Reflected the pandemic which will affect the future of humanity, he invited leaders of the world to embrace cooperation and strong confidence while jointly defeat the pandemic but also its economic global impacts and much needed recovery.

He empasized the importance of open global economy and new drivers of economic growth, new modes of social life and new

pathways for people-to-people exchange, in a bid to facilitate cross-border trade, keeping industrial and supply chains secure and smooth, and promote steady and solid progress in global economic recovery.

On development agenda President Xi shared that The Human Development Index has declined for the first time in 30 years. The

world's poor population has increased by more than 100 million. Nearly 800 million people live in hunger. Difficulties are mounting in food security, education, employment, medicine, health and other areas important to people's livelihoods. Some developing countries have fallen back into poverty and instability due to the pandemic. Many in developed countries are also living through a hard time.

On climate change, the Chinese president said that China stands ready to help the international community realize the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development and to achieve carbon neutrality in the long term. He outlined that China would honour its word to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 followed by specific industry plans towards carbon neutrality. Xi pointed out that China has the world’s biggest carbon market and clean energy capability.

Xi also cautioned that “weaponizing economic, scientific and technological issues will gravely undercut international efforts to tackle common challenges”. He said: “Developed countries should take the lead in honouring their emission reductions, deliver on their commitment to financial and technological support and create conditions for developing countries to address climate change,” he added.

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Day one of five-days Davos event continued with the topic of GDP and understanding of its faster growth in some countries. The OECD says GDP growth in half the G20 major economies is still below pre pandemic levels. However, Countries including India and Turkey saw strong GDP growth in the third quarter of 2021, While other countries, including China, Australia and Japan, saw their GDP slow or fall.

India, Saudi Arabia, France and Turkey are leading the bounceback from COVID-19 across the G20 forum of the world’s major economies, according to new data.

Overall, the 20-member G20 area grew its GDP by 1.7% between the second and the third quarter of 2021. This is up from “moderate” quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.4% in Q2, and contrasts with a slowing trend in the 38-member OECD area. The growth rate here shrank between the second and third quarters from 1.7% to 1.1%.

The spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is expected to lead to a downgrade of global economic growth projections from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 25 January.

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Live from space

This year Davos participants were joining not only from all over the globe, but live from space, for the first time.

Astronaut Matthias Maurer joined - live from the ISS, 250 miles above Earth - a session at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda event and gave a very interesting perspective what is the role of space in fighting climate change and resource rationalize usage.

He added that the cross-country and international collaboration aboard the space station should also be a model for how the world tackles major challenges, such as climate change. From his view, Maurer described the beauty of the planet, but also pointed out that he could see the impact of climate change from space.

Being able to acctually see nature being destroyed or challenged, every day, like floods last week in Brasil, burning rainforest or melting of the glaciers, changes the perspective of the urgeness of saving the planet Earth. That is one of the reasons Astronaut Matthias Maurer believes space tourism can be useful. At the same time the awarness of the recources is an absolute must and reduction of the emissions of any kind.

He enlightened now experiments taking place in space and data collected and afterwords used by scientists are helping our Earth isuues being deeply understood, solutions probed and implemented for the sake of all Earth habitats.

Asked about astronaut everyday routine he explained what kind of sports they are practicing in zero gravity, such as a bicycle without a saddle because they don't sit, but just float but more importantly Matthias stated how much important  perspectives he gets strollong around the Earth 16 times every day for the past six months.

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Corporate empathy keeps top talent closer

According to research on global workers, 41% of the workforce are considering changing jobs this year. Today’s empowered  employees have taken the driver’s seat. They’ve got their foot on the throttle, both hands on the wheel, and are enjoying the ride for all it’s worth.

In a post-pandemic world with low barriers to job migration, today’s leaders would do well to practice something that may not have occurred to them: corporate empathy. The concept is closely related to emotional intelligence: the ability to recognize, reason with, and regulate emotions, both in oneself and in others. Dr. Jochen Menges, Professor of Human Resource Management and Leadership and Director of the Center for Leadership in the Future of Work at the University of Zurich, says, “If leaders are able to read and regulate their own and their team’s emotions, they can better help people navigate uncertainty and inspire people to seize opportunities.”

The factors leading to the “Great Resignation” are well understood. Leaders have pivoted to the question of how to excel in this environment – how to retain their best workers and attract new ones who will help them thrive. Understandably, they view pay increases as one of their primary tools. The Resetting Normal study asked 15,000 workers about their priorities in 2022, and while salary is not unimportant, both culture and wellbeing issues ranked higher for 80% of workers.

Leaders should consider two truths: first, talent turnover is an expensive problem and therefore must be solved. Second, it’s a problem that can be solved. For the most part, employees leave for reasons that are within the control of employers: culture, work environment, growth opportunities, and leadership disconnect. The tools are there to prevent the Great Resignation.

Of course, empathy is making a consistent effort to understand how others feel – putting oneself in someone else’s shoes. The concept is deeply ingrained in our personal lives, but scaling it to global organizations with hundreds or thousands of associates is challenging.

The empathetic organization embraces a culture, starting in the C-suite, that practices and values empathy. That means developing emotional intelligence at the enterprise level, and genuinely listening to and sympathizing with workers’ feelings. Empathy comes naturally to humans. It’s the right thing to do and it also brings business benefits. When employees feel heard, understood and cared for, they work harder, take more risks, and help others succeed. This in turn improves talent retention.

If corporate empathy is appropriate, natural, and beneficial, why is it often lacking? The answer pulls us back to the 20th century, a hierarchical time of stiff upper lips and bottled-up feelings. “Never complain, never explain” went the famed maxim of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. To this day, unfortunately, many leaders fear they will lose respect if they show emotions and empathy in a business context.

Corporate empathy demonstrates the strength of both the individual and the organization. Leaders with empathy are better at connecting with and supporting their employees, ultimately leading to better results. Corporate empathy is a proven key to boosting workforce engagement and talent retention, which in turn produce better business results. What could be stronger than that?

Make no mistake – some organizations are gaining competitive advantage through empathy, according to Dr. Menges, “These companies care for their employees’ emotions, they help employees develop their emotional intelligence, and they embed these principles into the entire organizational system both formally (through HR processes, for example) and informally (through organizational culture).”

Leaders whose organizations lack empathy may wonder how to change the culture. It requires focused, consistent effort that starts at the very top.

Keeping in mind that empathy by its very nature involves listening to others, many leaders have begun retention campaigns with “stay interviews.” Where the notorious exit interview asks employees why they’re leaving, a stay interview asks why they stick around. What motivates them? What improvements would they like to see? How would they like their career to progress?

Another vital component of corporate empathy is learning about, sympathizing with, and responding to employees’ needs. Generational change has shifted priorities, and leaders who fail to respond will lose top talent. In one recent study, 72% of Gen Z employees called it important that their manager “makes time to develop and maintain relationships,” and 64% said it’s important that managers “openly share unique aspects of themselves with the team.” So much for never complain, never explain. A related message from younger workers is that building a more diverse and inclusive workplace is an absolute must.

Responses to worker needs take many forms. During COVID-19 lockdowns, many workers adopted pets and were loath to leave them when office work resumed. Forward-looking leaders have responded with more liberal (yet well-defined) policies allowing dogs and cats in the workplace, deeming such policies an easy way to keep top talent happy. However, the key to corporate empathy, is to listen rather than assume what workers want. Offering perks without understanding employee needs, can be a “hit-and-miss” for talent retention.

Empathy is deeply ingrained in our souls. Now it’s time for leaders to inject it into the corporate soul. As Dr. Menges eloquently puts it, corporate empathy and emotional intelligence are vital and will grow even more so, “As ever more intelligent machines take on what we used to do with our heads and hands, people will increasingly rely on what they are able to do with their hearts.”

By Svetlana Tešić,

Regional Diplomatic Executive, Telenor, NBA board member

Source: www.weforum.org