Can the WEF survive after the new Klaus Schwab allegations?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is going through a new public relations (PR) crisis after the latest allegations against the organisation and Klaus Schwab, its founder.
New Klaus Schwab allegations
In a long piece, the Wall Street Journal wrote that the agency was dodged with a toxic workplace where women and black people were degraded.
The journal cited several instances, such as when Klaus Schswab ordered the human resource manager to lay off most employees aged over 50. The goal was to ensure that the organisation had a lower average of the workforce.
The paper also mentioned the case when Klaus Schwab promoted a young lady to become the head initiatives on startups. Schwab later pushed her out after discovering that she was pregnant and could not continue working at the same pace. The journal cited one colleague, who said:
“It was distressing to witness colleagues visibly withdraw from themselves with the onslaught of harassment at the hands of high-level staff, going from social and cheerful to self-isolating, avoiding eye contact, sharing nightmares for years after.”
The Wall Street Journal also noted that the agency had a reputation of being discriminatory against black bpeople. In it, it highlighted situations where black peiople wee called the N-word and where they were passed over in promotions.
Most tellingly, the paper also noted that most women at the organisation were warned about Klaus Schwab himself. He had weird behaviours such as making uncomfortable comments about their appearance. He even told a board member to tell Barbara Erskine, a former communication director to lose weight.
World Economic Forum has faced criticism
The new allegations came a few weeks after Klaus Schwab, who is 86 years, announced that he would resign at the end of the year. He will be replaced Borge Brende, a low-key executive who served as the country’s foreign minister.
They also came at a time when the World Economic Forum has faced substantial criticism and public relation issues. Most critics argue that the agency has fostered a culture of elitism, where high-level executives and leaders make decisions affecting over 7 billion people.
Davos, its annual event, has also been accused of hypocricy since many attendees travel by private jets while lecturing most people to cut their emissions.
Similarly, its 2020 theme of The Great Reset attracted criticism and conspiracy theories. Critics argued that the WEF used the pandemic to promote controversial issues like banning fossil fuels, introducing CBDCs, and disrupting the agricultural sector.
Additionally, the World Economic Forum has been accused of promoting stakeholder capitalism and Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) issues. Some well-notable individuals like Warren Buffett have criticised these narratives and argued that companies should focus on making profits.
Further, the WEF has been accused of hypocricy, especially on taxes. While the organisation promotes things like a minimum tax policy, it pays no taxes since it operates as a non-profit organisation.
Therefore, there are questions about whether the World Economic Forum and the idea of Davos Man will continue after the new allegations and after Schwab’s retirement.
So, will the WEF survive the new allegations and Schwab’s retirement? I believe that the organisation will continue doing well over the years. For one, it is a giant organisation that makes over $400 million each year and has over 1,000 employees. Most of these workers are in Geneva and New York.
The organisation has also grown bigger than Klaus Schwab himself. Its board of trustees is also made of the who is who in business and policy sectors. Some of the members are Al Gore, the former Vice President of the United States, Mukesh Ambani, Marc Benioff, Larry Fink, Christine Lagarde, and David Rubenstein.
In most cases, such periods of public relations issues lead to a reset and substantial changes. For example, companies like Meta Platforms and Apple have gone through such public relations issues and bounced back.
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