The State of the World Forum was founded in 1995 by Jim Garrison with Mikhail Gorbachev, who served as the Convening Chairman.
Global Leadership Network
The Forum was established to create a global leadership network comprised of eminent individuals ranging from Heads of State to grass roots organisers, Nobel Laureates to business leaders, policy makers to social activists drawn from the governmental, business and civil society sectors, committed to discerning and implementing those principles, values and actions necessary to guide humanity wisely as it gives shape to an increasingly global and interdependent world.
Working with partners worldwide, State of the World Forum seeks to serve as an incubator, catalyst and integrator for innovative leaders and institutions working to gather creative solutions to critical global challenges.
It believes in cross-sectoral leadership; we believe in dialogue; we also believe that dialogue must lead to actions that make a real difference in the world.
Transforming Conversations That Matter Into Actions That Make A Difference
The guiding principle of all of its endeavours is to transform conversations that matter into actions that make a difference. In this regard, the Forum challenges all stakeholders who come together to transform what they have come to know about the world into constructive actions.
State of the World Forum Gatherings
The Forum has a long history of convening highly diverse sectors from around the world and a wide spectrum of disciplines, including Heads of State, Nobel Laureates, social analysts, grassroots activists, business executives, scientists, policy-makers, senior military officers, politicians, spiritual leaders, artists, academicians, and many others, ensuring gender parity among speakers and the inclusion of youth.
Forum gatherings also cover the full spectrum of human concerns, from the scientifically secular to the spiritually profound; and from the most controversially political to the most personally transformative.
The ethos of these gatherings is that at this unique transitional moment in history, questions are more important than answers, dialogue more constructive than dogma. All participants and all issues are given equal place in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The Forum promotes a heightened sense of personal and civic responsibility by exploring new models of thought, action, communication and participation.
Strategic Initiatives and Spin-Off Organisations
In and through the conferences it convenes, the Forum challenges its participants to transform thought into deed, dialogue into action. Forum gatherings thus consistently yield concrete results and often catalyze the development of ongoing Forum projects, called Strategic Initiatives, which address pressing global issues and forge international partnerships.
To date the Forum has developed a number of action-oriented Strategic Initiatives with partners worldwide and spawned several non-profit organizations.
For more, see www.worldforum.org