Davos, Switzerland and the World Economic Forum was…well, simply amazing! Just look at this photo, of me and Loic Le Meur, the creator of a French company that was acuired by Six Apart, for which he is now a director, and which now controls approximately 50% of the entire Blog market worldwide, enjoying an outdoor lunch (at about 10 degrees I might add…) overlooking beautiful Davos. It doesn’t get much better than this…
Oh, but it did. You see, the real attraction at Davos are the people. From the incredible people that make up the wonderful Swiss village of Davos, or the Swiss village of Kloster, where we stayed during the World Economic Forum, or WEF as it is called by veteran attendees, to the 2,500 CEOs and world leaders that are delegates to the World Economic Forum, 
to the incredible staff of the World Economic Forum — individuals such as Martina, the person in charge of the North American Young Global Leader attendees (thank you for everything Marina! You were great…), to Fiona, and Nicole Schwab and the others. And last but certainly not least, the founder and visionary of the World Economic Forum himself, Professor Klaus Schwab. A great, great man, with a head, and a heart focused on "making a difference" in the world. And now he has created the Forum of Young Global Leaders, of which I am now involved. As I said, …he has only just begun!
What an incredible week. From my conversations with a great U.S. Senator, the Hon. John McCain, to being on the receiving end of a limited audience seminar on the state of the world environment by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, to shaking hands and speaking briefly with a leader and man that other men literally tried to poison, but God may have had another plan, Victor A. Yushchenko, the newly elected President of Ukraine. One of the many unique individuals I met in Davos was fellow YGL, Larry Page, co-founder and president, products, for Google (the cool guy in the blue jacket in the photo)
. A very cool guy, and someone with a positive and sincere spirit. We did not talk very much because we were too busy trying to make a meaningful contribution during our round table session for the Young Global Leaders with regard to our "Year 2020" agenda, but no doubt we were on the same page. Energy is a very powerful thing… A new friend in HOPE, no doubt.
My wife, our new young friend "Larry" from New York, and comedian and actor Chris Tucker and I all hung out until very, very late one evening following the conclusion of the formal program — trying to talk our way through an entire series of the world’s, and a few of Black America’s many challenges. In the end, I don’t know if we actually did anything that evening that will actually help someone, but we sure had some incredible Swiss hot chocolate, some great memories, and somewhere along the way developed what will probably be a lifelong friendship between us. "…If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plan."
And no — we did not actually hang out with Bill Clinton! Next time…
With HOPE