I’ve been working around the world now for over forty years and have always had a strong feeling that doing business with, and getting to know, people from other cultures than mine, was a useful thing to do with one’s life.
So I’ve never been able to grasp the antipathy (sometimes bordering on hysteria) shown towards foreigners, globalisation and multinational companies. More than that, my belief is that growth in our own national economy is supported greatly by the presence of motivated immigrants.
Recently I met with the distinguished academic Sir Christopher Ball and, preparing for the meeting, I viewed on YouTube a lecture he gave at the University of Virginia on the university of the future. A theme through his talk was the words of Thomas Jefferson in his Inaugural Address on becoming President of the United States in 1801.
Jefferson committed himself (and the nation) to: “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations.”
That, for me, is the heart of the matter.
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