Amel Karboul

After the opening of the ESMT Annual Forum by Michael Diekmann, leading CEOs such as Dr. Josef Ackermann, Håkan Samuelsson, James S. Turley, Narayana Murthy and Dr. Dieter Zetsche discussed the effects of the financial crisis on the real economy. The strongest mindset change I could sense was that “I do not know and it is helpful to ask others for support – I am not a genius” became OK for a CEO to say. Personally I do think the discussion could have been more interactive (German way of dealing with authorities may have played a role) and the questions more challenging.

The video shown by the artist Marina Landia was great, she managed to develop a sequence where you could see and feel global leaders behind their faccade – a virtual discussion as a patchwork of interview pieces. This video could have been showed before the panel discussion, it would have surely changed the tone and brought a more reflective and holistic view!

Second day discussions where also very fruitful and the atmosphere inspiring, here some impressions:

• The ESMT support staff was really service oriented, friendly, smiling and helpful – in a way that exceeded by far my expectations.
• All my conversations with leading academics were extremely inspiring. I felt that you were all very open, curious, extremely competent but most importantly with a high degree of respect for others.
• The people I met during breaks and in the panels were a group rich in diversity and very reflective. Many Institutions claim that they are helping connect the world of business with research, education, politics etc. I can tell that it was the first time for me to experience it to this extent within a business school. Many times these worlds are present in the same room but rather as islands, here I could feel and observe substantial dialogue going on.
• Also the diversity in interests, I had conversations about business and leadership obviously but most of them were around topics, like Obama’s Cairo speech, how to bridge differences between Islam and the west, or about French politics up to European woman rights. This is for me a quality criteria and USP of ESMT, attracting people with an open mindset, seeing the business world and organizations within a larger context

The wonderful building, hospitality during Bbq in the garden and Berliner vibrating energy rounded up this impression.

One Response to “Report on 2nd ESMT Annual Forum: CEOs and leading international academic experts analyze economic crisis”

1. A participant’s report on the 2nd ESMT Annual Forum « INTERNATIONAL HAPLIFNET Says:
   August 1st, 2009 at 7:56 am

   [...] The video shown by the artist Marina Landia was great… Read more [...]

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