Luis Alvarez: Transformphilia

If I had to take just one personal outcome from the World Economic Forum in Davos, it would the opportunity to meet people who want to make things happen. These people have the willingness to act and are already implementing plans to make a difference. They don’t want to be simple observers. They share the determination to transform. Not only do they enable change, they produce it. We should all be contaminated by the same disease: Transformphilia.

We have to leave old models behind us and focus on what is happening now and what is coming next. This applies to the four key topics I have been discussing the most these last few days.

First: employment. To me, this is priority number one. New models and measures to encourage entrepreneurship and the development of small companies must be implemented.

Second: cyber security. Awareness is not enough. Understanding must be followed by proper action plans, which we clearly don’t have, be it at individual, company or government levels.

Third: technology. Technology is the engine of transformation. It can be translated into a hyper connected world, new energy solutions or biotechnological developments. But technology is an opportunity which requires focus and support.

Fourth: innovation. Thinking out of the box was a nice-to-do some time ago. Nowadays, it is mandatory. This applies to governments, who need to open the jaws of their economies; to companies, who need to become more agile and flexible; and to individuals, who need to reinvent their careers in an ever-changing world.

Whatever it is you do at Davos, try to find those individuals who can inspire you. And try to spend some time with them.