Lila’s blog updates for work are here:
- Thoughts from Davos: Crisis creates opportunity
- More Thoughts from Davos - IT industry as Magnet and Catalyst
We just finished the trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos. What an incredible time to be with all the world leaders. The discussions were so global in scope: the current finance economy and what to do about the recession, the effects of the recession on: political stability, country protectionism, education, global warming, donations, the digital divide, developing nations, etc., and the overall globalization of everything we do. I only participated in two days of the conference, but watched all the major debates/discussions in the hotel room after my days on the slopes. The weather couldn’t have been better – it was uber perfect - sunny, wind still, and just around freezing.
Since all the hotel rooms were booked with world leaders and CEOs – the slopes were basically empty. No lift lines and very few people to have to ski around. Lila was extremely active in all the events and the evening networking & social events. I had my friend, David, visiting in from Boston so we skipped most of the conference events while he was there for four days. However on the two other days while David wasn’t there, I met many extremely cool people. I don’t do very well in the overcrowded, cocktail type, meet & greet engagements. These social buttery fly type introductions are just too much for me to handle for more than a few hours (I prefer the smaller, more intimate and focused discussions). However Lila was totally in her element, networking with all the worlds movers and shakers until the wee hours of the morning. Overall it was quite exciting to spend multiple days thinking about the global, macroeconomic environment we live in.
Before the WEF event – our trip to Sonoma County was wonderful. It was a great three days of Lila and I getting to spend some quality time together. The fresh area was a wonderful change from China & the Vegas conference settings. We enjoyed some great food and wonderful wine. The tours of the micro wineries was very special since we were 1:1 w/ the wine makers or overall vineyard manager. It provided great insights into the wine making business, as well as some great barrel samples of upcoming wines. We even had a nice stop with our personal sommelier at Ledson. He pulled out a $150 bottle of cab for us to try (probably the most expensive current vintage wine either of us has ever tried). We called just about 1 hour before we arrived, but everything for a private wine tour was setup perfectly -- > meat, cheese, chocolate tasting plate, a private room w/ every available wine available for our tasting, and our favorite wine buddy. They even printed a special welcome invitation/letter for us. It was just the cherry on top of the great overall weekend!
We are on the flight from Switzerland back to San Francisco now. We have a overnight layover, then back on a plane to China in the morning. Our total flight/transit time in airports is 35 hours! Overall, a great few weeks of travel for work and pleasure.
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