Davos

January 24, 2025

Amid a surge of executive action since President Trump took office, organizations are focused on staying agile, getting ahead of reputational risks to their business, and developing communications strategies that meet the moment. In this edition, we’ll cover how to navigate executive orders, what’s driving the conversation at Davos, and key media and tech industry shifts impacting our work.

Have a specific question or topic you’d like us to cover? A comment on something we’ve written? We welcome the conversation. Email us at insights@gga.nyc.

Trump administration spotlight: Bracing for impact

On Monday, President Trump declared “the golden age of America begins right now” and signed a flurry of executive orders aligned with his promises on the campaign trail:

• Ending DEI programs within the federal government

• • Directing federal agencies to investigate private-sector DEI initiatives
  • A federal hiring freeze
  • Ending birthright citizenship

• U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization

• U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement 

• 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian exports

Preparedness is key: Working together, we can align your internal stakeholders to address important questions raised by these actions:

1. How do these developments impact our business, from employees to supply chains? How do we communicate guidance to employees when the implications of many actions are unclear?
2. Will we maintain or change our approach to DEI, from how we talk about it, to which initiatives we champion, to the advocacy groups we support? Will our threshold for engagement in current events change compared to previous years? 
3. Will our threshold for engagement in current events change compared to previous years?

What they’re saying: Global Gateway Advisors is tracking public responses by companies, organizations, and their leaders to inform your planning.

Go deeper: Before the U.S. presidential election, DEI programs were becoming increasingly politicized and controversial, and the scrutiny is expected to intensify under the Trump administration. We recently outlined why DEI policies matter and how we see them evolving.

Davos 2025 Dispatch: AI and the world under Trump 2.0

Across the Atlantic, global CEOs and C-suite leaders gathered in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. While there were some notable high-profile absences this year, including President Trump himself, who appeared virtually, the event maintained its reputation as one of the world’s leading gathering spots for corporate and executive thought leadership and customer engagement. 

What they’re saying: Conversations centered around the strength of the U.S. economy and significant optimism for AI-powered innovation and agents to drive business and ROI. World leaders, policymakers, and CEOs spoke about progress in manufacturing, decarbonization, climate action, and health. 

On their radar:

• Trump policy impacts: The potential of Trump’s proposed policies on immigration, tariffs, and other areas to create uncertainty in a fragile U.S. economy and labor market, which serves as the bedrock of the global outlook.
• Geopolitical tensions: Conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine have critical implications for global energy and food security.

On the ground: Global Gateway Advisors provided onsite support for the Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. delegation, including subsidiaries Indeed and Glassdoor, in engaging leading companies and top-tier media with its unparalleled data and perspective on the key drivers redefining work in the Age of AI.

• Future of jobs: On Bloomberg TV, Recruit CEO Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba sat down with Haslinda Amin to discuss the future of work, AI, and more. Asked about the process of securing a job, Deko shared, “People need more of a career advisor type experience – so with the improvement of technology, it’s not a hypothetical conversation. It’s becoming a real thing, especially in 2025.
• AI: In a Bloomberg House morning panel, Indeed CEO Chris Hyams and Stanford Digital Economy Lab Director Erik Brynjolfsson discussed key trends impacting employees and employers in 2025 and beyond. “Every job is going to change and evolve over the course of the next probably 3 to 5 years,” Hyams said. “And it is going to be an extraordinary time to see how that unfolds and how rapidly things change.”
• DEI: On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong and Chief Worklife Expert and author Adam Grant emphasized that the best-performing companies are those that engage with their employees. “You are going to have to figure out ways to engage a broader talent pool. It’s getting more and more intense for talent.”

What’s next: AI, AI, AI. Businesses will continue to talk about how they’re adapting to the rapidly changing tech landscape to remain competitive and the steps they’re taking to reskill employees and integrate AI throughout their operations. On Tuesday, President Trump announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion for AI infrastructure, involving a joint venture called Stargate by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle.

Media news + moves

• TikTok whiplash: Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law banning the app in the U.S. unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sold the platform by Sunday. Since then, the app shut down in the U.S., but came back online less than 24 hours later. On Monday, President Trump then signed an executive order to delay enforcement of the TikTok ban for 75 days, telling reporters that the U.S. should get half of TikTok.
  
• Meta under a microscope: Meta is set to cut 5% of its workforce based on performance ratings in a new round of layoffs. Those who are cut will be replaced by new hires.
• Washington Post opens the aperture: Amid a severe drop in subscribers and mass exodus of top editorial leaders, the Post debuted a new mission statement: “Riveting Storytelling for All of America.” Hundreds of Post employees have urged Jeff Bezos for a meeting to address concerns about recent editorial decisions that they claim have impacted the outlet’s integrity and transparency.
  
• CNN’s digital pivot: The news network announced plans to lay off around 200 employees as part of a restructuring, shifting the organization’s focus toward a more digitally driven future.
• Maddow returns: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow will be back on air five nights a week for the first 100 days of Trump’s term, as the news organization seeks to mitigate audience declines since the election.