A New Year with Changes at the Top?

A very Happy New Year to all, a year which promises changes at the top?

2007 will be a year where change will happen at the top. After ten years of Tony Blair, Britain will have a new Prime Minister. France will at last get a new- generation President after a dozen years under Jacques Chirac. At the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea takes over from Kofi Annan as Secretary-General. Having taken office in September 2006, Shinzo Abe will start what he hopes will be his first year as Prime Minister of Japan. Even in America, a sense of impending change will be in the air, as Republicans lose their dominance in Washington, DC and George Bush enters his last quarter in the White House.

On the leaders agenda will be: Climate Change which will be an unignorable item for all of them. A second preoccupation will be managing shifts in global power. Barring a sudden slump in America, the world economy should grow at a healthy rate; but growth in the rich countries will average little more than 2% compared with 7%-plus in emerging markets, led by China. It is becoming all too clear that the world's political structures are becoming creaky and in this vein, the European Union turns 50 in March and suffering something of a midlife crisis. The spotlight will be on Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who will take up the EU Presidency for the first half of the year and will hopefully inject new life into it?

This is also the year that sees a Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean and the 50^th anniversary of the Pina Colada!

As we all reflect on what lies ahead and finalise our work and personal plans for the next 12 months, you may find the links below a source of inspiration. Harvey Nash/Impact Executives once again was the headline sponsor for the CBI Annual Conference in November, a fascinating day and half listening to political and business leaders giving their personal view of the world and perhaps more importantly what the future holds for us all. I have attached links to our CBI Conference website where you can now find a podcast by our own Harvey Nash Group CEO Albert Ellis. You will also find transcripts of the major speeches given at the CBI conference, by the likes of Gordon Brown, Bertie Ahern, Lakshmi Mittal and Henry Poulson.

To view Albert Ellis podcast http://www.harveynash.com/video/interview/player.html

To visit full CBI site, inc transcripts of key speeches http://journal.harveynash.com/cbi_conference/

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful 2007, it promises to be a magnificent year. Good Luck and Enjoy!

Thank you to the Economist for some of the inspiration behind this posting.