Drucker Forum Program Outline
and Key Questions
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What Do We Mean by Next-Era Leadership?
What does it mean to lead? Defining terms. Identifying the “first principles” that will always hold true (what doesn’t change), and suggesting how “next era” leadership might depart from old models (e.g., thinking of leadership less as a role and more as a process or outcome). And speaking of outcomes: what did Peter Drucker believe about leadership?
What’s Really New about Leadership and the Challenges Facing Leaders? Why do we need a “next” leadership? (Some reasons: heightened innovation imperative, AI, uncertainty / volatility, unfolding “future of work,” demographic trends, unprecedented transparency, calls for “purpose” at work, pressure to take political stances).
What Today’s Leaders Are Up Against
Deep Dives: concurrent sessions exploring several of the new and pressing challenges listed just above, with emphasis on new research shedding light on them and what they demand of “Next Era Leadership.”
Sources of Inspiration: Places Where “Next” is Now
Practical Learnings from Current Cases: Models and Lessons in Next-Era Leadership: Examples of successful deviations from traditional approaches, perspectives on what makes migrating to new models so hard and how to make better progress.
The “Next You” as a Leader
Managing Yourself as a Leader. Concurrent sessions on personal success strategies such as: Using AI tools, working effectively with a coach, using social media, choosing your spots to take political stances, honing your wisdom, building productive leadership habits, Achieving outcomes/results.
How Leadership Development Must Change
The big shift required in leadership development (in mindset/assumptions, “high potential” delivery mechanisms,outcome measurement, and more)
Deep Dives: New Insights from various disciplines that should inform leadership development (whether in corporate programs,coaching relationships, AI offerings, or whatever form). Research-based insights drawing on neuroscience, social psychology, other disciplines. How to cultivate wisdom, judgment, virtue, authenticity, other strengths required for “next era leadership.”
Next-Level Leadership …. Here we consider leadership beyond the walls of the company. Not at the team or firm level but at the sector and ecosystem level, and in political, religious, philanthropic, military realms. Also: is the leadership talent being developed in commercial enterprises equal to the challenges of leading in these other realms?
Essentials for Next-Era Leadership
After a day and a half of immersion into next-era leadership, what do we know about meeting the challenges of the evolving commercial environment? Concurrent deep dives will look at the essentials for: Leading for Innovation, Leading with Purpose, Transformational Leadership, and Leading from the Middle (the leadership exercised by middle managers and team leaders).
Ideas to Take Away
Charles and Elizabeth Handy Memorial Lecture: This year’s honoree offers research-based, highly practical advice on leading teams of knowledge workers.
Fireworks Display: Closing perspectives and advice on next-era leadership by five top thinkers and practitioners.
- New economic conditions, new leadership imperatives
- What does leadership even mean? One thing we know is that it isn’t the same as Positional authority.
- Leading innovation
- How Far Can Leadership be Distributed?: Engaging the Leadership Energies of the Whole Organization
- Leading through Uncertainty and complexity (is it constant “crisis leadership”?)
- How Far Can You Go in “Founder Mode”?
- What we need now from governance?
- The leader’s role in strategy – e.g. idea of “Open strategy” taking hold
- The leadership Health Care Needs to Thrive
- Collective intelligence
- Neuroscience of leadership (and followership)
- Behavioral science / psychology
- Leadership in the Philanthropic Organization
- The Art of the Startup: Tech Innovators and How They Scale
- Next Era Leadership Development – zero evidence that the billions being spent are having any impact at all
- Should Next Era Leaders Be More Political?
- Leading in a Commercial Ecosystem
- Purpose and Leadership
- How Leaders Shape Culture—and Culture Shapes Leaders
- Earning Your Stripes: New Career Pathways to Power and Influence
- Fringe Leadership: Lessons from Influencers, Rabble-Rousers, Mutineers, and Other Energized Agents of Change
- Lazy Leadership: Most Common Signs of a C-Suite that’s Asleep at the Wheel
- Decision-Making Under Increasingly
- Pulling Together a Top Management Dream Team … what should the C-suite look like?
- Raising the next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs / entrepreneurial leaders
- The AI-augmented Leader. How are leaders already using AI tools, and what principles should guide their use of them?
- The Wisdom Deficit: It’s the most important human contribution to enterprise success. How do we make sure it continues to be cultivated, respected, applied?
- The Future of Work and What It Means for Leadership
- The Organizations Known for Leadership Excellence: How They Earned their Reputations, and How They Intend to Keep Them?
- Still Lonely at the Top? What Makes the Job of the CEO So Hard? What resources do they turn to, to maintain high performance as executives?
- Is Your Coach Really Raising Your Game? Keys to choosing a mentor, evaluating your progress, and getting the most out of your investment in “managing yourself”
- It’s All about the Outcomes: Judging Leaders by Results
- What doesn’t change in a Next Era of Leadership?
- Charles Handy Lecture
- Top Takeaways: Six standout participants share their highlights from this year’s Drucker Forum
- Succession challenges. It’s been the CHRO’s biggest process to manage for years: what have we learned?