What do the topics in the title of this post have to do with each other? In a personal sense, these were the themes for three separate conferences/symposia I was a panelist for in October. As the hybrid work world evolves, two were held virtually and one in person. The latter, the 2022 APMP Western Region Conference, brought together proposal managers from the West Coast and elsewhere at the conference center of Disney’s Grand Californian, near Disneyland, for two days of learning and networking.
Although I’m not part of the proposal management world, I was invited to be a panelist by Ajay Patel, the CEO of SMA, one of the top companies in the field. Ajay organized and moderated the panel “New Approaches to Proposals: Learn How Newsrooms and Magazine Editorial Departments Write to a Deadline.” I recently became connected to Ajay through the Peter Drucker world, and my fellow panelists Nick Owchar and Tim Lynch both have ties to that world as well. You can watch a video of the panel here.
The following day I was a panelist for The 3rd Virtual Global Thought Leader Symposium, produced by Dr. Abraham Khoureis. It was the third straight year I’ve been honored to participate. This year’s theme was “How to effectively master your self-confidence and overcome your self-doubts.” My fellow panelists were Dr. Dave Ulrich, Garry Ridge, Dr. Oleg Konovalov, Eddie Turner, Chester Elton, Dr Margie Warrell, Dr. Maja Zelihic, and Lauren Ackerman. You can watch a video of the symposium here. You can also register now for the 2023 symposium, where I will again be a panelist: “Peter Drucker: The Myth, The Man.”
Finally, there was the 2022 Drucker Day Conference, held virtually over two days, but emanating from Seoul, South Korea, under the auspices of the Peter Drucker Society of Korea and New Paradigm Institute. The lifelong learning-based theme was “Building the Sustainable and Resilient Human Capital Platform in the Era of the Digital Transformation.” I was invited to be a panelist for day one by Young Chul Chang, Emeritus professor, Kyung Hee University and co-president of the Peter Drucker Society of Korea. I first met Young Chul in 2007, and have remained friends ever since. He translated my first book for a Korean edition, and was instrumental in getting it published by Design House in 2013.
Most of the presenters and panelists for the conference were from various organizations and universities in Korea, such as Hwy-Chang Moon, Chair Professor at Seoul School of Integrated Sciences and Technologies (aSSIST), and Professor Emeritus in the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University. Opening and closing remarks were made by Kook Hyun Moon, honorary chairman of the Peter Drucker Society of Korea and chairman of the New Paradigm Institute.
One of my fellow panelists, Soo Kheng Sim, is Director of the Innovation Centre at the Institute for Adult Learning, in Singapore. The moderator of my panel and others, as well as a presenter, was Anil Verma, Professor Emeritus at the Rotman School of Management; and former director of the Centre for Industrial Relations & Human Resources, University of Toronto.
In the United States, there were extensive contributions by Thomas Kochan; George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management; Professor Post Tenure at the MIT Sloan School of Management. And in one of the day two panel sessions, Elizabeth Edersheim (author of The Definitive Drucker) and Anna Tavis (author, with Stela Lupushor, of the new book Humans at Work: The Art and Practice of Creating the Hybrid Workplace), described the unique lifelong learning and workforce training initiatives of NYU School of Professional Studies.
Participating in person at the APMP Conference was an all-around joy, as I was reminded of the wonderful benefits of coming together in person, meeting interesting new people, and learning about new topics. But we can’t discount the advantages of the virtual events. They too offer similar benefits for learning and networking, and I hope that as the world slowly opens up to more in-person events, that we don’t forget the substantial reasons to meet virtually.