World leaders and media organizations should stop focusing on economic growth and the rise of the super-rich and start understanding the challenges of the average worker, John Studzinski, vice chairman of Blackstone Group, told CNBC Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Studzinski said looking to worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) as a reliable metric of economic strength was "a bit of a whitewash."

"Isn't the gap at the top something the media is obsessed with?" Studzinski said, before adding: "Obviously the media is going to wine and dine on that for a long time and that isn't going to go away."



"I have a feeling that probably will go all the way back to the Roman Empire … So let's stop talking about that and focus on whether the real working class is actually doing better."