I’m getting ready to head to Vienna Austria to present at the 1^st Global Peter Drucker Forum, celebrating what would have been his 100^th birthday, and I am thrilled.

My admiration for Peter Drucker began years ago as a doctoral student in management, and continues to this day. So, naturally Jan and I were excited to have the great privilege of meeting and speaking on the stage with Peter Drucker at the Delphi Group’s Collaborative Commerce Summit in June 2001 and then again in 2002. What always separated Professor Drucker from the rest of the business thinkers was his ability to present complex ideas in simple, easy to understand terms. He just made sense.

So you can imagine how pleased we were when our paper – Collaborative Networks are the Organization: An Innovation in Organization Design and Management– was accepted for presentation at the Drucker Forum. The paper describes our perspective on how one of Drucker’s most important prognostications is coming to be:

 “The corporation as we know it is unlikely to survive the next 25 years.

Legally and financially, yes. But not structurally and economically.”

In describing the event it is organizing, The Drucker Society of Austria, said: “In the spirit of Peter Drucker, the Conference will place the emphasis on the total societal and cultural context in which management should be seen. It will integrate elements such as the intellectual currents and humanistic thread in Peter Drucker’s thinking, the holistic view on management and the importance of Peter Drucker’s work for future generations. It will create a common platform for a dialogue between managers, Business School and University professors, economists, consultants and other interested parties to discuss the future of management in the light of Peter Drucker’s work.”

Drucker’s prognostication foretold a significant challenge that is upon corporate management and paints the appropriate backdrop to the overarching question for Conference participants, “In today’s increasingly complex and crisis-ridden world, can we expect help from Peter Drucker’s thinking in coping with the challenges for 21st century management, in particular with regard to its role, its legitimacy, and its responsibility?”

Please share with us how you would answer the question. Upon my return I will share a synopsis of the Forum.