Pocket Change: Trump, “Common Sense,” and “The Intelligent Age”
iStock credit: Bulat Silvia
While Americans on Monday were watching a parade of billionaires and debating about what constitutes a Nazi salute during the re-inauguration of President Donald Trump, the world’s elite were gathering in Davos under the banner of “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”
There's something darkly comic about the contrast: while executives gathered at the most elite conference in the world to wax philosophical about AI ethics, climate action, and rebuilding trust, the new leader of the largest economy in the world signed executive orders repealing guidelines to reduce the potential risks of AI, removed the U.S. from the World Health Organization, and backed out of the Paris Climate Agreement (again) – all under the banner of “a revolution of common sense.”
The same leaders who are nodding along in Davos about "cultivating wisdom alongside innovation" are the ones enabling this administration’s dismantling of the very guardrails they claim to support. They want to have it both ways: appearing thoughtful and responsible on the global stage while quietly operating in fear of the new administration – or outright celebrating the coming deregulation agenda.
The deference tech leaders showed to the new president yesterday was particularly striking given the collective power those platforms have over our lives. Will their enthusiasm over being part of Trump’s inner circle last when this president wants to access the private, encrypted communication of American citizens? When he asks them to tweak their content moderation to support his political allies?
We’re witnessing a masterclass in corporate doublespeak right now, and it reveals something profound about the cynical state of leadership in 2025 – and why people have so many grievances against elite institutions, and are wondering why they even exist.
Executives will claim that this is just business as usual, and that political environments shift. (And after all, this is an administration that has threatened to wield its new regulatory powers against its perceived enemies. So what’s wrong with a little deference to power?)
Business is business – but your values should be your values, and those also shouldn't depend on who sits in the Oval Office. Your people are always watching, and they're looking to you for signals about what really matters. Staying true to your principles even when – especially when – they're being challenged is what demonstrates integrity.
Political winds will change. But trust is earned through consistency over time. Ironically, Trump himself is a demonstration of this: he’s always shown us exactly who he is.
