A Conversation with Mirek Dušek on What World Leaders Are Most Worried About Now, the Intersection of AI Opportunity and Risk

"It is really about the intersection of opportunity and risk. How do you invest at the right time while also managing the risk that some assets may lose value in the future" 

This was Mirek Dušek's answer when Techsauce asked what global business leaders are most concerned about right now.

Dušek is Managing Director, Chief Business Officer and Head of Global Programming at the World Economic Forum (WEF). He oversees the overall programming of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC), better known as Summer Davos. The 17th edition was held in Dalian, China, from 23 to 25 June 2026 under the theme Innovating at Scale. Techsauce travelled to Dalian to attend the meeting and spoke with him in depth.

The Faster the World Changes, the More Leaders Need to Think Long Term

Over the past six months, the world has gone through a series of geopolitical, economic and technological shifts. The question that follows is how WEF decides the central theme of each meeting when everything is changing this quickly.

Dušek explained that WEF's philosophy is to help leaders from all walks of life come together to think about the long term. The faster the system changes, the more urgent it becomes to do more long-term thinking and long-term building. "Amid what is a very fast-changing situation, there is this acute urgency to actually do more long-term thinking and more long-term building," he said.

That idea is reflected in the scale of the meeting itself. This year in Dalian, more than 1,700 leaders from around the world gathered, including participants from China, Asia and other regions. The main Davos meeting in Switzerland brings together more than 3,000 leaders. At this scale, WEF uses convening power to bring people who do not usually sit in the same conversations into the same room, at the same time, to think about the same issues.

The Knowledge Leaders Need Is No Longer Easy to Find

Dušek pointed out that with change moving this quickly, much of the knowledge leaders need to make decisions, whether on investment or other issues, is not readily available. That makes the chance to exchange views with the right people, in a trusted environment, more important than ever.

Compared with 10 years ago, he has seen CEOs of large companies, startup leaders and even policymakers become far more open and curious. They are listening more carefully, taking notes in sessions and working together to figure out how to deal with these risks while also capturing the huge opportunities they see in the world economy.

Put simply, a meeting like AMNC is not only a stage for announcing visions. It also responds to a knowledge gap that no single organization can solve on its own anymore.

The Intersection of Opportunity and Risk

AI is the clearest example of this intersection. The question leaders have to answer is how to invest at the right time while also managing the risk that some assets may lose value in the future. In this context, stranded assets refer to assets or infrastructure that have already been invested in but become obsolete or unusable faster than expected.

In an environment changing this quickly, Dušek said organizations need to be constructively paranoid, meaning they need to watch risks carefully and rationally, rather than become directionless or fearful. Organizations that were never competitors in the past could quickly become competitors in the near future.

Yet the question he emphasized most is who to partner with. Sometimes organizations need to partner with policymakers to understand the broader infrastructure build-out around AI. At other times, it is about partnerships between unicorn startups and incumbent players. Dušek sees this as one of the most important questions on leaders' minds right now.

He did not dismiss geopolitical risk. Many leaders are clearly grappling with it. But he said WEF is more interested in the long-term imperatives facing business leaders.

Trust Is the Most Expensive Currency

When the conversation turned to trust, which many now see as one of the most valuable currencies of this moment, Techsauce asked how trust can be built among key stakeholders, including policymakers, business leaders and society.

Dušek answered, "It's a very good question," before explaining that there is a lot of science around trust. Ultimately, he said, it comes down to showing up and engaging in a sustainable way. It is very difficult to build trust on the first occasion. Trust requires showing results, doing so in a predictable way, continuing to show up, engaging, showing interest and listening. He sees this as the key ingredient in building trust.

He acknowledged that the world now operates in a more contested and fragmented landscape, particularly geopolitically. That makes every occasion to show up and engage an important step in building trust. This is also the role WEF chooses to play in this equation.

The short conversation with Dušek shows that Summer Davos is not merely an annual conference. It is an attempt to answer one of the hardest questions for leaders today: how to invest in time, manage risk and build trust at the same time, in a world that does not wait for anyone to think slowly.