A Toast To Survival
Mingling with the world’s most prominent business leaders, politicians and regulators isn’t usually an easy task, but it became a wonderfully cozy business during Thursday’s “CNBC/FT Nightcap” party at Davos’ glitzy Belvedere.
Plus, it had a mission: The party offered a home to the restless (after a long day of sessions), the adventurous (we’re talking dangerously icy roads) and the hungry and thirsty (I must have eaten five brownies while chasing the champagne lady.).
Extravagance aside, the mood at the party would best be described by an expression used abundantly by many of the world’s CEOs at the moment: Cautiously optimistic, yes.
There were tentative questions of whether business was picking up, what customers are doing and what the guest themselves heard from their colleagues on the crowded hallways and closed meetings of this year’s meeting.
Following last year’s subdued mood in Davos, the crowded (yet civilized) CNBC party offered a sense of normality (if you believe that glamorous parties are normal), a healthy gathering of business leaders feeling relieved that the world economy is recovering.
And when business as a topic was brushed aside, it was the search for yet more of the bubbly or an attempt at sighting one of the high-profile guests such as Mr. Trichet or the PM of Iceland.
Eclipse the burden that still lays on many of the guests who were racking their brains about debt levels, regulation and economic hope during the day, it was just a bunch of people enjoying themselves, chatting and catching up with old friends after a long day of sessions and broadcasts. Normal.