When tycoons and world leaders meet – as they will at a conference today on inclusive capitalism in London, featuring the Prince of Wales, Bill Clinton and Christine Lagarde – you never see them exchange cards. If they do, I doubt they hang on to them. At the end of an international gathering a couple of years ago, someone went to check a billionaire speaker’s room in case he had left anything behind. The guest had tidied it himself – bed made, furniture neatly arranged. The only evidence of his stay was in the bin: business cards from dozens of hopeful high-level networkers.
各界大亨與世界級領袖見面時，比如有威爾斯親王(Prince of Wales)、比爾•柯林頓(Bill Clinton)和克莉絲蒂娜•拉加德(Christine Lagarde)出席的5月27日在倫敦舉行的包容性資本主義大會(Conference on Inclusive Capitalism)，你從來看不到他們交換名片。就算他們交換了名片，我也懷疑他們是否就會把名片儲存起來。幾年前，一場國際會議結束後，有人到一位身價上億的會議發言人的房間，檢查後者是否落下什麼沒有帶走。這位客人已經自己收拾了房間——牀鋪整理過了，傢俱也擺放整齊。他曾在這間房間住過的唯一證據，就是在垃圾桶中的幾十張有前途的高級交際人士的名片。