In choosing the theme of “Creative Resilience” we are not expressing nostalgic yearning to go back to the past. No CEO should be, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, closing her eyes and repeating “there’s no place like home.” Does our new term bring to mind another famous one: creative destruction? If so, good (and appropriate for a conference inspired by Peter Drucker, whose family counted Joseph Schumpeter as a friend). But note the twist, in joining Schumpeter’s call for creative dynamism we are also optimistic that organizations need not be destroyed in the process. A well-led enterprise can learn to survive deep blows and still surge forward.

This year’s conference will explore what it means to build creative resilience as a capacity—as a new set of reflexes at every level of the organization, and throughout its ecosystem of suppliers, customers, and other partners. We’ll draw on real-world stories and research findings from multiple disciplines to spur creative dialogue in Vienna—and new insights for us all for preparing our teams and institutions for future waves of disruption.

Join us in this important effort to bring innovation to the very core of how institutions are managed.