Peter Drucker Challenge Essay Contest 2020 (Fully Funded)

Since the late Middle Ages, the notion of the “Renaissance Man” has celebrated those people who are well-rounded, broadly knowledgeable and capable across the arts and the sciences, and able to approach problems holistically. This year marks the five hundredth year since the passing of the world’s most famous Renaissance Man: Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian polymath who simultaneously excelled as scientist, engineer, writer, artist, and musician.

Today, highly educated people tend more toward specialization, but in settings that still encourage cross-disciplinary thinking, people are more likely to …

Challenge outdated assumptions and conventions of thought and behavior,
Explore and discover new realms of artistic, physical, and intellectual achievement, and
Develop different and broader visions of themselves.

The renowned twentieth-century thinker Peter Drucker offers a modern exemplar of a Renaissance Man in the field of management—itself a multidisciplinary subject. In an age when the work of running organizations was typically approached as an engineering and optimization challenge, he described management as a “liberal art.” Its best practitioners, he insisted, have always drawn on the wisdom, self-knowledge, and enlightened understanding that comes with a liberal education and continually refined their “art” through practice and application.*

Drucker lived long after da Vinci, yet shared some of the Renaissance master’s fundamental traits. Both were unusual in their intellect and talents; each was driven by an insatiable curiosity about the world around him; neither conformed to the mainstream mind-set. Like da Vinci, Drucker was born in a period of great social change, when the need for continuity (and reverence of tradition) was challenged by the need for innovation (and radical thinking). Both adopted a whole-systems perspective as they looked for connections and patterns.** For leaders, organizations, governments, and individuals today, both offer inspiring examples of the power of breaking rigid thinking patterns.

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Benefit:

A cash prize of 1.500 EUR (to be handed over at Awards ceremony)
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Free participation and waived registration fee (regular fee +/- € 2,000) for the 12th Global Peter Drucker Forum to be held in Vienna on October 29-30, 2020 at the Imperial Palace (Hofburg) (including conference bag and brochure, buffet lunches, and coffee breaks at the conference venue)
Invitation to pre-conference events on October 28:
Morning: Drucker Forum Specials (more to come)
Afternoon: Drucker Challenge Get-Together (with partner) – opportunity to network with peers, Drucker Challenge team and Jury in a Viennese cosy atmosphere!
Evening: Networking Reception at House of Industry (with partner) – opportunity to mingle with the Drucker Forum family
Invitation to the Gala event on October 29 with seated dinner and Awards ceremony (with partner)
Sightseeing or Museum tour with an experienced guide (upon request)
Opportunity to win the Special Recognition Award for the most original essay
Certificate with ranking
on this website plus Drucker Forum newsletter and Forum Community newsletter. Your essay may be re-published by your university/company with credits given to Peter Drucker Society Europe
Invitation to join the exclusive Drucker Challenge Alumni Community on social media networks
One-year-all-access subscription to the Harvard Business Review
Ranking list and publication of essay
Funding of travel expenses: Your international travel and accommodation costs for attending the Forum will be reimbursed based on our travel process & policy. If you need visa to travel to Austria, we will advise early travel arrangements.

For more information about the prize, please visit here

General requirements

You must be 18-35 years old (inclusive of both ages)
You must have been selected no more than once (or not at all) among the top 10 since 2010

Essay category requirements
You can submit one essay to participate as either a student or a professional
(please mention your main occupation in the submission form)

Student category

You are a part-time or full-time student (bachelor, master, MBA, or PhD) or you are seeking your first opportunity after the completion of your last degree

Professional category
You are a

manager of people, projects, budgets, and/or processes
an entrepreneur or business owner
licensed professional
social volunteer or community leader

Essay Format:

Words
1500 to 3000 (excluding footnotes and any graphics) as PDF or word document
Font size
12 points
Language
English
Anonymity
Your name must not be included anywhere in the essay
Exclusivity
Entries must be produced exclusively by you (no group work) for the specific purpose of this competition, and must not have been published elsewhere

How to Apply: