The bitter divide of domestic politics might be enough to blur the accumulating indicators of Los Angeles’ steady rise as a global city.
Don’t let that happen.
We’ve said before that Los Angeles is one of a handful of cities with a legitimate chance to become the capital of the Pacific Rim. The city already has joined the ranks of the world’s major metropolitan markets. The world increasingly puts Los Angeles on par with New York or Washington, D.C., when considering the United States. Los Angeles has become much more than the Dream Machine, coming out of the Great Recession with a tear of growth that will shape the contours of this market for a generation.
Domestic politics matter. There is no shortage of domestic chores that come with such growth and status, and they require political will.
There also is, however, room for an outward and global focus based on intellectual impulses, natural curiosities, artistic engagement and commercial interests.
There is room for the community of business to take a lead on such efforts, building bridges alongside diplomatic channels between our nation and others.
Consider this from the website of the downtown-based Pacific Council on International Policy, which tells us “foreign policy extends beyond the sum of actions taken by policymakers and diplomats. More and more, global thinkers in technology, entertainment, media, business, education, health, science, and the arts serve as brokers of the U.S. relationship with the world.”
The nonprofit organization worked toward just such a mission during its all-day PolicyWest conference on Oct. 12 at the Beverly Hilton.
Subjects ranged from the rise of populism around the world to space as global field for cooperation and competition. Speakers ranged from academics to government officials to private-sector executives (see related item in Page 3 column).
There is no shortage of impressive confabs around here – and it doesn’t take long for the stimulation of the panel discussions or keynotes to recede, taking on an academic or even archival spirit in the mind.
Not so in the wake of the Pacific Council event, thanks to some happenstance that offered a vibrant illustration on why the group and its mission is well-targeted and well-timed in Los Angeles. It came on the Monday following the PolicyWest conference, in the lobby of the same hotel, where Century City-based engineering, design and construction firm AECOM had invited 500 of its top executives from around the world to its annual Global Leadership Conference.
AECOM does work in 150 countries, but it could have been a local chamber of commerce mixer as Chief Executive Michael Burke spent time between sessions with various members of the broadly diverse global contingent who seemed just as comfortable and enthusiastic as he did.
It was, in short, the proof of the Pacific Council’s pudding – a powerful reminder that the community of business holds the power to engage the whole world.
