faulker031

After two weeks a final reflective moments on the Summit are in place. You might have got it by now that, yes, I am by and large optimistic about the Global Compact and in particular the Summit. On reflection, much of it comes from the one to one interactions I had during the event. I already mentioned Peter Solmssen , Executive VP and General Counsel at Siemens. My first question in meeting those guys always was why on earth they cut out two days of their busy schedule to hang out at this conference. For him it was about giving the corporate world a 'face'. Having an 'intelligent conversation' between parts of society which normally don't talk to each other – business, government, civil society, academia – for him was one of the benefits of this meeting. And I could so see it – not only in the very open, relaxed and engaging way we chatted about these issues, but also in the way he took part in the conference. While Peter represents a big multinational, most of the...

After talking about the G20 weekend in Toronto last week, we are happy to say that the last weekend was slightly different. And uplifting. Not only was THE Queen in town (the English, that is) but many more raunchy, outrageous and beautiful queens (and kings etc. for that matter). It was the weekend of the Pride in Toronto and as always, it was a blast. And even the sky was laughing down – unlike the rainy G20 weekend – scorching weather and a lot of fun. One thing that was striking this time was the dominant presence of big brands and corporations. Many of the wagons in the parade but also a large number of stands along the pedestrian areas represented private businesses. This did not only include the usual suspects, such as brands like Trojan (a condom manufacturer) or the Body Shop, but in fact the main sponsor of the event was one of the major four Canadian banks, TD Bank. And if one looks at the list of sponsors of the Pride you get the picture. Now this can be looked at in two...