Davos, Modi and Globalization

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is right. Isn’t it about time a world leader stepped forward, with kindness and grace, to say yes to moving forward together and no to the ‘It’s Mine!’ way of doing global business? All for one and one for all means none are left behind at least that is the intent, made loud and clear. ‘It’s Mine’ is reminiscent of a child holding onto his favorite toy for dear life, saving it all for himself. What good comes from keeping all the best stuff for oneself? For starters, there’s no one to share with.

Prime Minister Modi’s speech on Jan 23rd, 2018 at WEF, Davos was grace in action. He clearly is among the most articulate and persuasive global leaders. He certainly rings true in his concern for the greater global good. No one in political office will ever be all things to everyone, but laying out the hopes and promises of both India and the world deserves appreciation. At a time when rhetoric, personal egos and aggrandizement are thick around the world, we must learn to spot — and appreciate — positive ideals at every chance. We may have to work harder to identify the good from the bad but everything doesn’t have to be a perfect 10 to have great value. We can appreciate and give credit where credit is due.

Only recently India was working hard to keep its promise as an economic force. It trailed many countries just a short time ago. This year at Davos, it became apparent that the world is sitting up and taking notice. In 2018 India is clearly a contender for not only the premiere emerging economy in the world, but as the premiere economy, period. Prime Minister Modi’s call for globalization was exactly what we needed to hear, and it will no doubt hit the fearful where it hurts. The truth is that globalization is not a one size fits all approach. The nuance between ‘globalization’ and ‘global’ deserves our attention, too. Globalization can be misconstrued as promoting a lack of individualism or creating a single, shared identity around the world. It is not about taking away culture. It is not about creating a plain vanilla world. It is about making sense where sense can be made. It is about economies, workforces, food supplies and more coming together to benefit the entire world. It is about people. It is about business.

We must go forward, not backward. We must get out of the practice of thinking about ourselves only. We are one small part of this world, a world that will take us into the unknown and leave us to fend for ourselves if we are not careful. We must acknowledge that our actions need not be based in fear.

Certainly globalization will have its challenges. But thinking – and acting – globally is the right thing. The global good is the greater good.