Here's a classic Davos moment. I know a few people here, but not nearly as many as I would at the tech conferences I usually attend. So I hit a little pocket early this evening where I hadn't put together a dinner plan with anyone, and after roaming the conference center for thirty minutes, I decided to take a solitary stroll through the town before heading back to my hotel in Klosters. Out on the streets, there are lots of bustling groups laughing and chatting as they walk down the sidewalks next to me. I'm not feeling sorry for myself exactly -- I like being alone in new cities -- but it does occur to me that it would be nice to be heading out to dinner with an interesting group. And then I see another solitary figure walking down the sidewalk, head down in what I imagine to be lonely dejection. Yet another poor, friendless soul, heading back to his hotel room...

And then I realize that it's Tom Friedman.

Comments

[Dave Munger]

Ha! Great story. So, did you have dinner with Tom Friedman?

[Happolati]

...and 20 years from now some Davos newbie will write tell the world that they saw the veteran Steve Johnson walking alone ...

[Steven Johnson]

Sadly, I did not have dinner with Tom Friedman, since I made the snap judgment that he was probably NOT walking back to his hotel room to dine alone, but rather was more likely headed off to some fabulous party with Bono and Angelina Jolie.

[elzr]

I'd be happy to be that newbie --though I hope I learn from Johnson himself and ask him (that's Johnson again) to share a dinner.