Power Players say they Don't Control Agenda

POWER PLAYERS SAY THEY DON'T CONTROL AGENDA
[SOURCE: MarketWatch, AUTHOR: William Watts]
Being the boss just doesn't carry the same weight it used to when it comes to setting the global agenda -- but that's OK, a high-powered mix of politicians and executives agreed Friday. The Internet and other media and communications platforms have given regular folk around the world more power to set the agenda, but politicians haven't yet caught on, said Gordon Brown, the U.K.'s chancellor of the exchequer, in a panel discussion focused on the rather fuzzy concept of exactly who sets the global agenda. Politicians "remain stuck in the slow lane of the information superhighway," Brown said. Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group , said the proliferation of new media platforms and sources of information has extended the marketplace metaphor to the world of ideas. And while leaders shouldn't necessarily go with the flow of every social movement that springs up, they should look closely at what's feeding discontent and recognize that there may be a legitimate reason for it, he noted. On the issue of globalization, for instance, "there are people who really are being left out," Blankfein said. But that doesn't mean the Internet should drive decision-making, said media magnate Rupert Murdoch. "We shouldn't all lie down and say let's poll the Internet," he said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/davos-power-players-say-they/story...

* 'It's like networking on steroids'
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070129/davos29.art.htm