Musings from a first time World Economic Forum attendee

Srikrishna Ramakarthikeyan is a Young Global Leader and Founding Partner and Head, Global Strategy and Sales, HCL Technologies, USA*

I have, like many people around the world, grown up reading about views and policy opinions coming out of industry and political leaders from around the world during the World Economic Forum events. Thus, it was with a nervous anticipation and excitement that I went to Vienna, being a first time participant.

The city of Vienna is stunningly beautiful, reminding you of Austria’s pre-eminent position in Europe till about a century ago. The security around the city and the venues were imposing and will put many airport security procedures to shame. The government of Austria, which was visibly present throughout the event, had clearly gone out of the way in making the many government and business leaders present feel welcome and secure.

From my normal, apparently complex world of deals, bookings, billings, profit improvement, customer satisfaction, customer escalations, next year budgets, training & development and other such issues, the door suddenly opened to a new world of far weightier issues. A world where people were worried about sustainability, social inequity, corruption, energy, food and water security. A world full of opinions and actions on such issues that impact our lives around the world on a daily basis.

I met several fellow Young Global Leaders (YGLs) that had dedicated some of most of their lives to making the world a better place to live in. A Young Woman who scours the streets of London to find homeless central and East European immigrants and help them relocate to their countries. A highly successful lawyer that has vowed to change his country and founded a new political party formed on the principles of honesty and meritocracy.

In contrast to these, my life seemed rather boring, certainly selfish. I was reminded of a speech by Toni Morrison at a recent commencement speech “The pursuit of personal success in isolation of a social cause is meaningless”. I felt guilty. Enough to be spurred to action.

*Srikrishna Ramakarthikeyan attended the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia in Vienna, Austria 8-9 June 2011 and guest blogged for the Forum.