I was quite surprised to read in yesterday's New York Times that the annual World Economic Forum held at Davos, Switzerland was focusing on shifting world power. Its Theme this year is Shaping the Global Agenda: The Shifting Power Equation. I had to find out what they are talking about - If it was not highly classified behind closed doors, as has been usual at Davos. Just recently its public relations mouthpieces have claimed that most of its proceedings are open.

First it is useful to outline the nature of Davos and introduce the issue of Shifting Power at Davos. I am doing this to prepare to discuss an article in yesterday's NY Times entitled Reworking the A-List that I see as evidence for world transformation to Living System Life and Work - In the most unlikely places.

Every January at Davos the world's power elite meet to confer, by private invitation, on how to make the world better, it is claimed. Who exactly it is being made better for is open to question.

For the last three decades a "top-of-the-top" group of the world's movers and shakers - The richest, most powerful, most influential elite from business, finance, government, academia, some press and a smattering of the arts - have participated. These have been, with little doubt, those practiced in the arts of wielding power through top-down command-and-control patterns of leadership/management within the largest, most machine like institutions of linear and collectivist power on Earth.

Of course, if you have previously read any materials written by me, you are aware that I believe evidence continues to increase (think General Motors or Microsoft) that such linear, machine system organizations and leadership/management are no longer working effectively as they once did. Their power and influence peaked in the Western world by the late 1960's or early 1970's - Is now fading, but still remains dominant. Davos represented the remaining dominance, or possibly last gasp, of such power and influence along with that of the collectivist New World Order.

You know that I see already in progress the leading-edge of a Phoenix-like world transformation to the emerging pattern of Living System organization and leadership/management (think WL Gore & Associates, LINUX , or Google). In emerging institutions persons making the most effective contributions work near the outside edges, or periphery, of networks of persons and organizations that are quite flat without pronounced up or down power positions or a command-and-control structure. Such structure and behavior are consistent with Living System Principles.

Now I can go to the core issue of this year's Davos theme of a Shifting Power Equation. Please read the NY Times article by Mark Lander, Reworking the A-List.

Klaus Schwab, the Swiss professor who has organized the Davos conference since 1971, claims that Davos has remained topical by climbing on-board the latest political and business trends. He observes that there is an important shift in global power.

He says, "The power shift is twofold, Power is shifting from the center to the periphery and from the top to the bottom." Mark Lander, the article's author, reports that Schwab, "views the spread of weblogs as more evidence of the changing power equation" and that Schwab, "might have to rethink guidelines for reporting events, which put many of the sessions off the record." I was almost shocked!

Davos, the bastion of elitist, linear and collectivist giant institution power is talking about a Power Shift whose dimensions are inconsistent, in my judgment, with its own basic nature - Conventional Linear, Closed, Machine System Collectivist Power. Maybe they do not see that they are talking about the demise of everything they have stood for. The founder Schwab is talking about power shift that is consistent with world transformation to Living System Life and Work.

In addition his mention of Blogs is fascinating. Blogs are one of the core technologies of Living System network communication and collaboration. You can feel Schwab's pathos in what he says about Blogs. Their power for open communiction may force him to re-think and abandon the previous Closed nature of Davos.

Therefore - from this article I see that Davos has been Infected with Living System Life and Work Principles. I really wonder if they realize what a marvelous disease they have contracted - I don't think so - But the blessing may be that they cannot stop their disease or its spread up to their eventual transformation. It will be interesting to watch their progress. If you go to Wikipedia's article on the World Economic Forum you can get the feeling that some well paid PR Agency has prepared a new sanitized and politically correct version of the remaining Davos reality.

Please keep your eye pealed for more Living System gems in the daily press.

John Clayton Caris