The human – all too human – nature of innovation
by Charles-Edouard Bouée

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A few days ago, the first artwork made by an artificial intelligence (AI) program sold at Christie’s for €380,000. Judging from the auction price and media attention the blurry portrait of a man received, the first thought for many was that machines have mastered yet one more skill. Not only can they lift heavy loads, drill holes and beat humans at cerebral games like chess and Go – they have now made an incursion into the human realm of imagination and creation. It is true that machines will take over ever more tasks currently performed by humans, and they will fundamentally influence the way we think, work, and live. At this point, it appears we […]

Standing on Peter Drucker’s shoulders to shape the future
by Richard Straub

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Ten years of the Global Peter Drucker Forum: Richard Straub, founder and president, on visions for a better society – and a new paradigm for management This November we are proud to celebrate the first decade of the Global Peter Drucker Forum. It all began in 2009 – the year that Peter Drucker would have turned 100. At that first congress, we had the special honor of welcoming Peter’s widow Doris to Vienna. We had the benefit of her wise advice until 2014, when she died at the age of 104. Her wish at the time has been has been both our legacy and our mission: “Do not make the Drucker Forum a Peter Drucker […]

Fixing Today’s Economy Is About Humans, Not Technology
by Nicolas Colin

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Most of today’s conversations around technology are centered on the successive waves that have been sweeping in since the Internet became a real thing in the early 1990s. We’ve gone from web-based applications to cloud computing to smartphones to artificial intelligence to virtual reality to crypto protocols. Every time, the new “new thing” takes over the conversation and some claim that it will change everything while others are skeptical that it will be ever used at a large scale. One could argue that this concept of technological waves impedes our understanding rather than improving it. It breaks the history of the current technological revolution into separate episodes rather than revealing a continuity essentially fueled by […]

The new normal in lifelong learning
by Johan Roos

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It used to be that a university degree certified that you had enough knowledge to last a lifetime. An occasional book and on-the-job training would fill in the gaps and keep you up-to-date. Now the new normal requires continuous lifelong learning, including regular updating in your knowledge of things you may never have studied, particularly literacy of technology and the humanities. Fortunately, you can obtain all this knowledge in small chunks from a variety of providers — online, face-to-face, or blended learning formats. Here’s why these have become the new normal in lifelong learning. Technology literacy This model is required because technology is making the world increasing efficient, complex, and prone to sudden change. Whatever […]

Communityship beyond Leadership
by Henry Mintzberg

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Richard Straub, who runs the Drucker Forum, tweeted recently about my forthcoming book Bedtime Stories for Managers: “Good to know—maybe one or two preview chapters for the Drucker Forum at the end of the month?” So here is one, related to my contribution on “Leading Smarter Organizations.” Say organization and we see leadership. That’s why those charts are so ubiquitous. They show us who sits on top of whom, but not who talks with whom, when, and about what. Why are we so fixated on formal authority? Is there no more to organizing than bossing? Have a look at Figure 1 to see an Organization. Then look at Figure 2 to see a Re-organization. Figure 1: This is […]

Corporate governance: embracing a new mindset
by Peter Crow

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The limited liability company is a great construct; an efficient vehicle for commerce, through which to pursue an overall aim and to create value over an extended period. What’s more, greater economies of scale are attainable (over what a sole trader or entrepreneur could typically hope to achieve), mixed levels of ownership are possible and, for shareholders, liability is limited to the level of capital invested. Yet for all their benefits, companies are not without flaws—they are social constructions, after all. Even seemingly strong and enduring organisations are susceptible to missteps and failure at the hands of ineffective boards. The societal and economic consequences are not insignificant. When failures occur, blame is typically placed at […]

Trumpeters of Nothingness
by Kenneth Mikkelsen

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As a student I elected to study journalism. I was taught how to discover, craft and tell stories. I was motivated to understand what was behind the choices people made, to gain different perspectives, to hold the powerful to account and to spark critical discussions. Investigative journalists like Woodward and Bernstein were my inspiration. My first job after graduation, however, was with a PR agency. I never felt at peace there but it taught me some valuable lessons about life.  If you wish to work in the service of the highest bidder, to become a master of deception, quick fixes, short cuts and shady deals are all part of it. Each day, I observed how political, economic and corporate interests shaped […]

AI and Quantum Logic to rescue Humanity?
by Thomas Wienold

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The Good News We still have roughly 4 billion years before our sun turns into a red giant and scorches the earth, which will bring the end of life on earth. So why worry? The Not-So-Good News Life on earth may end much before the end of our sun, much sooner – in fact, a little too soon. Why? Because our brains are still rooted in ancient history and behaviors. Trained to survive, to win, to be the number one, to be the strongest, to be a hero. This was coded into our beings as it was necessary to win over wild animals – eat or be eaten! The Consequence There is no wild beast […]