Free the Leaders; Urgent: Decision-makers boxed in by short-term, national interests need a new platform to attack global problems.

Byline: Klaus Schwab (Schwab is founder of the World Economic Forum.)

As the list of challenges facing the world grows ever longer and the time to address them grows shorter, global leadership and governance have reached a defining moment. Dangers that transcend national boundaries like terrorism, environmental degradation and financial instability accentuate the increasing complexity, fragility and interdependence of the world in which we live. Now, more than ever, the world is faced with realities that call for collective and decisive action.

We as a global community have yet to establish a framework for shaping our common global destiny. We need a global governance system that encourages collective action and yet does not blunt the leadership necessary to achieve those goals.

Clearly, our present system of global governance is very poorly equipped to handle the challenges of the global agenda. And it is not hard to see why. "Short-termism" prevails as our public and corporate leaders face an average tenure of less than five years. National interest dominates to the detriment of global interest in an antiquated system based on national sovereignty. Existing institutions tend to be compartmentalized with separate organizations for security, health, labor, environment and trade--and are thus ill-equipped to address the interrelated challenges facing us. Most importantly, decision-making has been the province of politicians, overlooking the fact that no lone actor--be it government, a business or civil society--can meet adequately the challenges on the global agenda.

The inadequacies of the existing governance structures must be reformed and leaders must be set free. As the secretary-general of the United Nations urged during last year's General Assembly, "We must not shy away from questions about the adequacy, and effectiveness, of the rules and instruments at our disposal."

Beyond the structural reforms we also need to nurture truly global leaders--champions that can rise above narrow interests. These ...