Reshaping the world needs unity and decisiveness

Since the turn of the century, globalization has helped bring hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. At the same time, many of these people have become customers of the global economy, clustering in new urban areas requiring infrastructure and resources, increasing the importance of supply chain resilience and crisis management capabilities.

Greenhouse gas emissions have continued on an unremittingly upward trajectory, while the global community's efforts to coordinate a response around this complex tragedy of the commons have collapsed.

Global financial markets have demonstrated all too starkly how unidentified risks and uncoordinated responses can have a catastrophic impact across the globe.

Meanwhile, the accelerating march of technology has changed everything that touches our daily lives, from our ability to create community to the source and make-up of our energy. And the use of technology by governments and business has fundamentally brought into focus the nature of privacy and what it means to be an individual in modern society.

Each of these examples shows the dual nature of our modern interconnected world - the shining upside and the complex and unpredictable downside - calling for more and better coordination of mitigation and response capabilities at the global level.

As world leaders gather in Davos, the absence of an immediate crisis should provide critical space for leaders to focus on long-term thinking. The theme of the meeting "The Reshaping of the World: The Consequences for Society, Politics and Business" speaks to the need for leaders to fundamentally reassess the forces reshaping the world, so they can predict and respond more effectively to the changes that we know are coming.

If our ingenuity and interconnectedness are to improve lives rather than reinforce the worst fears of the anti-globalization protests, leaders will need to rise above the endless maelstrom of short-term crises. While having their discussions this week, the leaders should remember they will influence the state of the world not only in 2014, or in 10 years, but also beyond that to our long-term collective future.

We cannot afford to allow the next era of globalization to create as many risks and inequities as it does opportunities. The reshaping of the world demands collective insights and collaborative action.

The author is the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

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