The ecosystem leader
by Steve Forbes

Leadership as an area of study is still in its early beginnings. Leaders are grappling with the change from the siloed, hierarchical management styles best suited in an industrial era. We now face the challenge of a new shift towards a model where no single individual has formal control. This shift will require business to break down boundaries between organisations. It will force competitors to become collaborators, and create an environment where team members can become more transient and distributed. All whilst seeking a higher purpose. How do you demonstrate leadership in an ecosystem, when it is harder than ever already? This was the subject of the panel at GDPF2020, titled: Ecosystems Leadership. New Scope, [
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To capitalize on new technology, you have to go beyond it
by Dr Winfried Felser

Parallel plenary #4, 21 November 2019: Capitalizing on new technology and connectivity ‘How can we capitalize on new technology and connectivity?’. When the writer read the announcement of the panel chaired by Mehran Gul, he expected the discussions to center on technology and the buzzwords of the day – ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’, the ‘internet of everything’ or at the very least ‘Collaboration Platforms’ 
 Fortunately this was not the case. The paradox of ‘capitalizing on new technology’ is that technology shows every sign of being the wrong focus. The miracle occurs beyond technology, with a clear focus on innovation and people. Panelists Adam Cheyer, Karenann Terrell, Carsten Linz, Claudia Crummenerl and Amit Bajaj provided a broad range of [
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Cities As Social Ecologies
by Thomas Madreiter & Isabella Mader

The cities of the future we imagined in the 1970ies were about flying cars and beautiful skyscrapers. Where are we now? At micromobility with e-scooters? Where did it all begin? If the Renaissance began in Florence, Smart City began in Silicon Valley. While we know San Francisco as an ideal place to test the latest Smart City tech gadgets their City Government took an interesting decision recently: you now have to demonstrate which public value your technology will bring to the city. What value does your tech bring to the city Cecile Maisonneuve, President of the think tank Fabrique de la CitĂ©, kicked off the Session on “Cities as Social Ecologies” at the 11th Global [
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Tapping the human potential in ecosystems
by Stefan Stern

Friday Nov 22nd 2pm-3pm Zeremoniensaal, Hofburg, Vienna The corporation may be one ecosystem operating within a broader ecosystem. But at its heart remain the people who have to carry out the work that has to be done. This session of the Forum took time to consider the role of people and how they contribute to the wider ecosystem of business. In the chair was Andrew Hill of the Financial Times, and he was joined by Michele Zanini, managing director of Gary Hamel’s Management Lab; Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate professor of organisational behaviour at Insead; Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, author and CEO of the 20-first consultancy; and Bart Weetjens, a social entrepreneur and a Zen priest. Hill opened by recalling the words [
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Networks and Platforms: The New Means of Value Creation
by Christian Sarkar

As the leading management conference in the world, the Global Peter Drucker Forum serves as a conduit of powerful ideas and insights for both business and society. In 2019, the conference theme was The Power of Ecosystems My observations are from the Plenary Session 2, Day 1, from the Global Peter Drucker Forum, 2019. Chaired by Adi Ignatius, Editor-in-chief, Harvard Business Review Group, the panel included: Vinton G. Cerf, VP and chief Internet evangelist, Google; Michael G. Jacobides, Professor, London Business School; Miriam Meckel, Founding publisher ada, Handelsblatt Media Group; Amy Webb, Founder, Future Today Institute; Professor Stern School; Zhang Ruimin, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Haier Group The Biggest Risk for [
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People Centered Transformation: Turning Inspiration into Action
Tony O’Driscoll

At last year’s Global Peter Drucker Forum, attendees engaged in a pre-conference workshop to confront the inconvenient truth that the failure rate in implementing organization transformation initiatives is too high and too costly. The Project Management Institute (PMI) pegs the total cost of impotent transformation efforts at approximately $2 trillion per year – roughly equal to the GDP of Brazil. As things stand, organizations are squandering more than $3 million every minute on efforts that yield little-to-no change. Key questions In facing this stark reality, a number of key questions surfaced: What is causing the need for increased organization transformation? Why can’t we develop strategies that are more resilient to uncertainty? What traps do we [
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Sparking small fires at the Drucker Forum Barcamp
by Isabella Mader

Not a classic panel, nor the speakers you’d expect at a conference like the Global Peter Drucker Forum. The motto: growth happens where there is access to opportunity. The format is targeted at younger-generation participants from two camps: the winners and finalists of the Peter Drucker Challenge, an essay contest for students and young entrepreneurs, and participants in the Talent Award program for corporate career talents nominated by their employers. The shortened ‘Barcamp’ format used within the Global Peter Drucker Forum sees pitches by participants, followed by an audience vote to select the most popular topics that will then be presented in a short talk. Ample discussion time is provided thereafter. To start off the [
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“Managing Oneself” Revisited
by Julia Wang

In a networked world, opportunities for individuals to develop, create and grow are available everywhere. Whether they can successfully capture the opportunity or surf on the wave of the changes, depends heavily on the individual ability to manage oneself. At the 11th Global Drucker Forum on “The Power of Business Ecosystems” on November 21, 2019 in Vienna, one plenary discussion on the theme of “Managing Oneself” drew on Peter Drucker’s 1999 article of the same name to bring new perspectives on leadership, innovation, and organizational resilience and agility in the context of ecosystems today. Art Kleiner, Editor in Chief of PWC Strategy+Business, kicked off the discussion by revisiting Drucker’s original text. According to Drucker, managing [
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