⚡️Davos Memoirs | Christine Lagarde ⚡️

In Jan 2017, I first got the opportunity to represent the Global Shapers at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

🕰My days usually began at six am, when it was still pitch-dark and -22 degrees outside. On the second day, I missed the shuttle transfer to the congress center and ran five kilometers, in slippery snow, to make it to a breakfast with Christine Lagarde in time. There were 10 of us in the room; Lagarde was keen to hear our views on the future of workforces and the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, gender roles and the economy.

☕️Towards the end of breakfast, she shared an interesting story from when she was finance minister of France. Often presidents of companies would come to report on their strategies; when she asked them about their board composition, they would always say that they would love to have a woman on their board, but they just couldn’t find any, the ones they knew already being fully booked. So, she kept a piece of paper in her bag with the names of 20 women ready on it. Breakfasts like these set the tone of the day and we headed for public sessions, bilateral meetings and working group discussions with a sense of possibility.

📚Read my article published by Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/world-economic-forum-wef-zurich-davos-annual-meeting-4494959/

📺 Watch this year’s Davos agenda live: https://www.weforum.org/events/the-davos-agenda-2022