Meet The Leader World Economic Forum

As Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith leads a team of professionals across business, legal and corporate affairs, tackling issues that stand at the crossroads of technology and society. In this wide-ranging discussion recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos, he shares how these issues have shaped his thoughts on innovation and how they have informed his book and podcast Tools & Weapons. The 30-year Microsoft veteran also shares the career lessons that have changed him, how he leverages AI in his everyday work, why he thinks leaders must learn to be better storytellers and the tech blindspots they'd do well to avoid.

Living longer than ever will mean we’ll need to prepare for our later years in ways we've never done before. While financial education and making savings last is always paramount, the World Economic Forum's recent Longevity Economy Principles report drives home the need to make sure we also prepare to live those extended years with purpose, changing the way we approach everything from careers to community. Annette Mosman, the CEO of APG (one of the world’s largest pension investors) shares how she approaches the long-term as well as the trends she sees on the horizon -- and how they could change how workers and leaders take on everything from training to career development and advancement. 

Longevity Economy Principles Report: https://www.weforum.org/publications/longevity-economy-principles-the-foundation-for-a-financially-resilient-future/

Norsk Hydro was founded nearly 120 years ago to tackle global famine. Today, it has evolved to take on a bigger challenge: climate change. The company focuses on low- and no-carbon aluminium, a material that will be key in electric vehicles, construction and comprises 2% of emissions. CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim shares the unique technologies and partnerships that are helping to drive a green energy transition. She also takes us through her unique path to the top job, one that has spanned a range of roles, from plant manager to auditor to HR leader. She shares how seemingly unrelated roles can help you better understand yourself and how you can contribute as a leader -- better motivating people and tapping the full capabilities of your team. 

This episode was recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, 2024. 

SUGI is a unique global organization that brings pocket forests -- ultra-dense, biodiverse forests leveraging the proven Japanese Miyawaki Method -- to cities all over the world. The group has built 200 pocket forests in 42 cities so far, with each providing a key form of "urban acupuncture" that can protect biodiversity, restore ecosystems, and even better reconnect people to nature. Founder and CEO Elise Van Middelem shares more about SUGi and how it got started - and the unique ways these projects are reviving places from England to Cameroon. 
This interview was recorded at the Urban Transformation Summit in Detroit, Michigan in October 2023. 

Photo by Joya Berrow

What workers want - and what keeps them motivated - has changed drastically in recent years. And with big technological and demographic shifts driving labor shortages, knowing how to both retrain and retain your workforce will be more important than ever. Randstad CEO Sander Van't Noordende will share insights from the talent firm's annual Workmonitor survey, giving a one-of-a-kind snapshot on how workers are thinking about everything from ambition, to purpose, to flexibility and pay. He'll also share what new habits leaders will need to adopt (including the value of microfeedback) and how leaders should be approaching everything from how they connect with workers to how they future proof their talent pipelines. 


Recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos, 2024. 

Transcript here: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/how-leaders-must-adapt-randstad-sander-vant-noordende

As a busy mom working in tech, Ritu Narayan understood the chaos school logistics can bring to kids and parents. Her personal experience inspired her to found Zum, a startup providing an end-to-end solution for districts with optimized bus routes, one including bus fleets to match different-sized schools, and an approach that makes school transit transparent and efficient for the first time in a century. The startup was launched originally as an on-demand service and she shares the key questions that helped her pivot the company for scale -- questions that can help any founder make a big shift happen. She also discusses the unexpected impact wrangling family logistics can have on parents' work lives (even nudging some moms out of the workforce altogether) and how tackling that can boost opportunity for parents and kids alike.

This episode was recorded at the World Economic Forum's Urban Transformation Summit in Detroit in October 2023.