Drucker forum reflects on future

In the grand setting of Ferstel Palace, Vienna, Austria, memories of Menger, Hayek, Freud and Kohr are lingering at the gala dinner of the fourth Global Peter Drucker Forum, named for the Austrian-born writer, teacher and consultant who has been labelled “the man who invented management”.

Drucker liked to call himself a social ecologist – someone who deals with the man-made social environment in which we operate. For two days last month, an eclectic mix of about 300 corporate executives, entrepreneurs and academics gathered in the Austrian capital to debate and reflect on the future of capitalism, and consider global trends resulting from:
l The worldwide credit crisis.
l An imperative to reconcile profitand social justice, or, as mentioned by Georg Kraft-Kinz, deputy chief executive of Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien, “economic success needs to be combined with welfare”.
l The talent war in which “talent won”, according to Siemens general counsel Peter Solmssen.
l The need to rekindle economic elasticity by fostering entrepreneurship.
l The impact of social media in traditional and emerging economies.

The conference was thought-provoking and innovative, especially in challenging the hitherto sacrosanct concept of shareholder value, which was for once not tagged as necessary evil but as in great need of repackaging, according to Roger Martin, dean of Rotman School of Management.

The notion of “comprehensive profit”– profit that would harmoniously balance short-termism and sustainability – was presented and debated, as were different operating models, such as customer-owned companies, non-profit organisations, global partnerships and state-owned entities.

This desire to show potential paths for the evolution of capitalism was discussed in terms of the role of education and the need for constant learning at corporations.

Thomas Sattelberger, vice-president of the European Foundation for Management Development, said: “Corporations act as [a set] environment where not enough space is given to developing new mental maps of thinking.”

Business schools would become laboratories for the creation of ideas and the development of minds. The forum contributed first to encouraging a different way of thinking – breaking free from some of the old models to create a paradigm shift with a community of kindred spirits ready to help.

Second, counter-intuitively, the community that gathered in Vienna was largely European, arriving perhaps with predefined psyches and patterns of operation. Outside Europe, there may be a broader discussion.

As a Brazil-based executive of a prominent pharma-ceutical company said: “There is an emerging theme in Brazil that capitalism is too important for us to leave to the capitalists.

Emerging countries want to create their model of capitalism and of leadership that talks to them, makes sense for them.”