Adventures of a globetrotter

CHANCES ARE you have shared a flight with David Arkless. On average, he travels for 250 days a year and has been doing that for the past 22 years. 'I think my address should be Boeing 747,' he said. 'I'm a multimillionaire in air miles.' He has 2 million miles on Star Alliance, 1.5 million miles on British Airways and another million or so with other carriers. During his travels, Mr Arkless has been shot at, jailed and escorted out of countries but his missions were not undercover or designed to stir up trouble. In fact, he is the global face of Manpower, a leading employment agency. As a corporate affairs senior vice-president, Mr Arkless is responsible for global corporate affairs and represents the company at major international events such as the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. In this capacity, he plays the role of an economist, an adviser and a voice of reason for many governments concerning labour issues. While the job is high profile and comes with its fair share of perquisites, there is also an element of danger. For example, when Mr Arkless started the Manpower office in Moscow 14 years ago, foreign businesspeople were regarded with suspicion. There was a real risk of being shot at or kidnapped, so he hired two bodyguards with Uzi submachine guns to follow him around. In Tanzania, there was a very narrow escape. 'A couple of warlords were trying to shoot down our plane,' he said. 'I get to go to some interesting and unusual places.' The first such adventure was in 1984 during the Iran-Iraq war. At the time, while working as general manager for Hewlett-Packard, Mr Arkless was arrested on spying charges and jailed for more than three months. The company had been selling supercomputers to the Iraqi government supposedly for geological research. However, the CIA found they were being used for other purposes and vetoed any further sales or the shipment of spare parts. 'So I went on a normal visit and was arrested immediately after arrival. The Iraqis said, 'You get your general manager back when we get our inventory'. I was in a cell with about 16 Sudanese and a hole in the floor for a toilet. It wasn't very pleasant.' He said most governments knew the solutions to their problems but, unfortunately, politics got in the way. 'For example, the French government knows that their system is overly bureaucratic and not flexible enough,' he said. 'This makes it too expensive to hire people. But, trying to make the youth sector more flexible was a dumb thing to do. In my experience, it never works when a government tries to force a labour policy on one section of the population.' He said France knew greater flexibility in labour practices would lead to higher productivity, greater competitiveness, economic growth and the creation of more jobs. However, the people who voted politicians into power wanted their existing jobs and benefits protected. While assessing the situation in China, he said the country was forward-looking and appeared determined to dominate the global economy. It was helpful that the prime motivation for many mainland residents was to fulfil their career aspirations. Mr Arkless predicted that in terms of attracting talent and investment, Shanghai would overtake Hong Kong in the next five years. 'It is like a supertanker that nothing can stop,' he said. However, he pointed out that the Chinese threat to American jobs had been exaggerated. Of course, not all governments care to hear his opinions. 'I've been pretty unwelcome for some of the things I've said but making a government uncomfortable is probably a good thing.' Nowadays, Mr Arkless carries a Swiss and two British passports and has to remember which one to use when entering certain countries. 'With a stamp from Israel, I can't get into an Arab country,' he said. 'I've made mistakes in the past and handed officials the wrong passport.' His main aim is to educate governments on labour issues. To do this, he reads as many as 500 newspaper clippings before an important meeting or presentation and then writes summaries and predictions on personalised stationery. Though he is rarely there, Geneva is his home. In the city of jet-setting United Nations and International Red Cross workers, his lifestyle seems almost normal. 'My kids have school friends whose parents are always on overseas trips, so they think I'm absolutely normal. If we lived in London, they would think I'm crazy,' he said. Mr Arkless gets his energy from single shots of espresso. Every day he jogs, plays tennis or goes to the gym. 'In places such as Algeria, the hotels don't have gyms and you can't run outside for fear of being shot at, but you can still work out in your room,' he said. 'It is simply a matter of adapting to circumstances.' When on the ground, Mr Arkless is usually in one place for no more than two or three days - and sometimes it could be for just a few hours. Because he is constantly on the move, everything he needs is easily portable. He has a briefcase that acts as his office, various communication devices always at hand and a laptop that can function anywhere. 'I have a standard-sized carryall bag and never check it in,' he said. 'I always travel light with a couple of suits, a sports jacket, lots of white shirts and different ties.' Two habits have helped keep him going: eating only one main meal a day and never working on a flight. In a plane he reads, sleeps or watches films. 'That's my rule and I never use pills to go to sleep,' he said. 'Never put chemicals inside yourself if you want to live this kind of life.' After stops in London and Athens, Mr Arkless plans to head for one of the Greek islands for his other loves - marine archaeology and diving. 'It's amazing the perspective going down even 10 metres can give you,' he said. Frequent Flier's diary May 8 Geneva May 9 Fly to Paris for meeting May 10 Fly to London for meetings May 11 Fly to Geneva for meetings May 15 Fly to Milwaukee, US, for head office meetings May 16 Interview for Contemporary Times feature 'Living the Brand' (US internal employee publication) May 17 Interview with Executive Grapevine magazine, then fly Milwaukee to London May 19 Fly London to Berlin and attend World Employment Conference 2006, then fly Berlin to London May 20 Fly London to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt May 20-22 World Economic Forum in the Middle East, Sharm el-Sheikh May 22 Fly Sharm el-Sheikh to London May 23 Fly London to Shanghai May 30 Fly Shanghai to Singapore May 31 11th World HR Congress in Singapore, then fly Singapore to London June 6 Fly London to Ningbo, China June 7-9 China Daily International Summit, Ningbo, China June 13 Manpower Employee Outlook Survey interviews - CNBC Squawk Box, Forbes and CNN June 14 Fly London to Tokyo June 15-16 WEF East Asia Roundtable, Tokyo June 16 Fly Tokyo to London June 18 Fly London to Geneva