Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change

My brother Matthew and I just returned from a truly amazing event that we just have to share with YoungEntrepreneur.com readers. The event was the 40 th annual St. Gallen Symposium , held at the University of St. Gallen Switzerland. For the past 40 years, this event has brought together some of the greatest minds in business, politics, and civil society. The St. Gallen Symposium offers a strong focus on entrepreneurialism and bringing people of varying cultures and generations together for inspirational, in-depth discussions on the issues concerning the business and social climate throughout the world today. For its 40 th anniversary, the St. Gallen Symposium adopted the theme of, “ Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change .” While entrepreneurialism has always driven the event, this theme recognizes the climate throughout the world today that is taking an atmosphere of economic fear and uncertainty and turning it into hope and opportunity through entrepreneurship. It also recognizes the youngest generation of entrepreneurs who tend to be particularly open to fresh ideas that don’t necessarily fit into traditional areas of economics. It was remarkable to see corporate leaders coming together, with students and young entrepreneurs, to dialogue about the state of the world economy, the challenges, and above all, the opportunities that lie in front of us. It was especially refreshing to see the recognition by corporate, educational, and governmental bodies that young entrepreneurs are an important key to getting the world out of the economic mess we’ve found ourselves in. Entrepreneurs play a key role in all economies around the world – as innovators, as leaders, and as the embodiment of a society’s values and ambitions. It therefore comes as no surprise that, in times of crisis, major hopes are pinned on them to guide the economy out of troubled waters. The rights or wrongs of this are open to debate, but it’s clear that just about everyone realizes that all the things entrepreneurs stand for are the same things that are necessary to bring about an economic turnaround. Among the speakers were board members from financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and UBS, CEOs and executives from large corporations, including Royal Dutch Shell and Anheuser-Busch, government representatives ranging from the Minister for the Economy of France to Switzerland’s State Secretary & Director for Economic Affairs, and many more. What was most exciting was the inclusion of some great entrepreneurial minds, including Morten Lund, founder of Skype, Mixt Greens co-founder, Leslie Silverglide, and CEO of Grace Vineyard, Judy Leissner. The sessions for the event were broken into plenary sessions addressing all attendees and work and background sessions in the form of breakouts where specific topics were addressed, such as Social Entrepreneurship, Creating Wealth through Entrepreneurship, and Leadership with Passion. Below are some of the featured speakers and highlights that help convey some of the powerful messages from this very important event – “Entrepreneurs – Agents of Change.” We’d also like to take this opportunity to personally thank Dominik, Rolf, and Sebastian, who led the Leaders of Tomorrow through a well-planned and thought-provoking session!