I wonder if some executives were taken aback--as I was--by the staggering amount of dramatic change I spoke about and heard all about today. I have several examples like the rapid rise of the multi-polar world, which is all about growth in economic influence and interdependence of emerging countries with developed countries. I told the audience that the multi-polar world phenomenon is the biggest global economic trend in the past 100 years.

My colleague, Mark Foster, said that 97 percent of 438 million people to be added to the global workforce by 2050 will come from developing countries. And, I learned that India, Africa, the Philippines and Singapore are emerging markets in specific ways.

I heard Mark say that India has greater than 25 percent of the global IT workforce. Africa is one of the world's fastest growing wireless telephony markets. In the Philippines more than 100 million people are making mobile payments. And Singapore is the second-largest lender of money in the world--$42 billion in 2007/08.

Another topic that struck me centered on the war for talent. I knew the war for talent around the world was intensifying, but I was struck by the alarming statistic Mark shared. In the next five years 55 percent of the workforce in the aerospace and defense industries will retire.

I’ve got to go back inside and listen to some more.