Don’t Forget the Humans: Reflections on the Drucker Forum

By Oriane Kets de Vries ?

The recent Drucker Forum revealed a prevalent theme: our ways of running businesses are outdated, humans have been forgotten in the design of our businesses (described as mechanistic), and we must begin to rethink. Many people are profoundly unhappy. This recognition has sparked a crucial conversation about fundamentally redesigning our business practices to create environments that will engage people and allow them to perform at their best.

Against this backdrop, Generative AI emerged as a central topic, viewed alternatively as a potential threat or saviour. Sarah Toms provided a grounded and optimistic perspective, suggesting that while Gen AI can enhance our work, its implementation must be guided by conscious decisions about values and inclusivity.

However, our focus on AI might distract us from addressing fundamental human needs for creating healthy, sustainable organisations. It seems we are looking for someone, something else, to decide for us and give us answers rather than tackling core organisational challenges.?

Toms addressed Cascio's BANI framework (brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible), a modern interpretation of the traditional VUCA concept. She proposed that addressing these conditions requires acknowledging our illusions: brittleness can be countered with agility rather than strength, anxiety with empathy instead of control, non-linearity with improvisation rather than predictability, and incomprehensibility with diverse perspectives rather than assumed knowledge.?

Robin Dunbar emphasised that mental and physical health correlates strongly with friendship networks, ideally comprising a minimum of five close friends. He outlined a structure of relationship layers, from the innermost circle of loved ones to broader networks of acquaintances. According to Robin, we are driven by our connections, and we have a limit to the number of relationships we can manage depending on their closeness. The tightest circle has just five people – loved ones, followed by successive layers of 15 (good friends), 50 (friends), 150 (meaningful contacts), 500 (acquaintances) and 1500 (people you can recognise). He suggested that organisations should facilitate these connections (moving people from strangers and acquaintances to meaningful contacts) through activities like storytelling. Storytelling is a simple but profound way to build bonds and transmit organisational knowledge.

Gianpiero Petriglieri offered a compelling perspective on organisational purpose, suggesting that if we view organisations as “places where people live” rather than mere production centres, our success metrics expand from speed, efficiency, and profitability to include psychological safety, care, and engagement. He drew on Winnicott's parental care theory, proposing that organisations should provide "holding environments" that allow people to process stress and reflect before acting.

Amy Edmondson 's contributions in the field of psychological safety dovetail with Gianpiero’s comments, and stress that such holding, safe environments create the conditions for us to “fail intelligently” or, in the context of situations like the pandemic, as Alexander Alonso, PhD SHRM-SCP said, to move from “post-traumatic trauma” to “post-traumatic” learning.

Leadership's role in shaping the organisational environment emerged as another crucial theme. My father, Manfred Kets de Vries , highlighted how executives often underestimate their impact on organisational culture. This is particularly relevant given current workplace challenges, where only 23% of employees feel engaged, and nearly two-thirds of employees experiencing negative stress, anxiety and depression symptoms with workload, lack of control, lack of support and senior staff members being the leading causes of stress. This, coupled with constant exposure to global issues like climate change, economic uncertainty, and political polarisation, breeds anxiety, disengagement and paralysis. This societal context is ideal for despots (populist father figures) to take advantage.?Do we want this kind of society for our children?

In his discourse on leadership shortcomings, Alexander Alonso, PhD SHRM-SCP highlighted several critical "sins" that impede effective organisational management. Leaders often struggle with discerning which human-focused analytics to trust, leading to misguided decision-making. They tend to overvalue stakeholder perspectives without a strategic approach to prioritisation. Many leaders develop their business models defensively, reacting to disruption rather than proactively futureproofing their strategies. A particularly damaging tendency is under prioritisation, where leaders abdicate critical decision-making responsibilities while retaining the ability to blame others for outcomes. Alonso also critiqued what he termed "me-pathy" - disconnected empathy that fails to genuinely understand employees and their experiences. Furthermore, leaders frequently engage in overcommunication, through punitive and pessimistic messaging that creates transparency turmoil. Perhaps most problematically, many leaders ultimately erode their own stated organisational ethos by exempting themselves from the rules and standards they impose on others, undermining organisational integrity and trust.?

Manfred challenged the audience to recognise how power can corrupt leaders by telling the story of Plato's Ring of Gyges, which later inspired Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The story tells of a shepherd named Gyges who discovers a magical ring that gives him the power of invisibility. After discovering this power, Gyges uses it to seduce the queen, kill the king and take over the kingdom. This thought experiment poses a crucial question: Would humans remain moral if they could act without consequences? The tale challenges us to examine whether our moral behaviour stems from genuine virtue or merely from fear of punishment and whether power inevitably corrupts. Today, this metaphor remains particularly relevant in discussions about leadership ethics and the nature of human morality. Manfred asked forum attendees, “What would you do if you had the Ring of Gyges? Would you act according to your morals?” What does this suggest about the leaders we need and the checks and balances required to ensure their positive impact on the world?

Manfred advocated for "authentizotic" (authentikos - genuine self & zotikos – full of life) organisations built on pillars of meaning: belonging, purpose, competence, control, and transcendence. He emphasised that organisations are fundamentally human systems. When executives recognise their influence and prioritise the creation of healthy work environments, they can achieve superior business results (reduced turnover, enhanced innovation, better talent recruitment, increased engagement, job satisfaction and generally happy, healthy employees). However, creating these human-oriented organisations requires leaders to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Manfred called upon leaders to act as merchants of hope, providing the inspiration and energy needed to create a better future. The challenge lies in helping people overcome their anxieties and to recover their sense of possibility.

So, what can we draw from all these views and more? What is the call to action? What environment is needed for people to feel alive and engaged and for us to hope for a better future?

? Foster friendship and connection at work. Ensure five close and trusted relationships for each employee. Provide opportunities for employees to connect meaningfully and feel a sense of belonging at work. Use storytelling and intentional connection activities to build trust. Manage the size of departments and organisations to align with people’s natural relationship patterns.

? Ensure that the company has a clear purpose and is well communicated. Focus on defining values and establishing a healthy organisational culture that allows people to speak up, share feedback, learn and innovate. Encourage diversity, empathy, agility and improvisation.

? Recognise the importance of self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Ensure that leaders are not only promoted for their task orientation and technical skills and that they are astute at recognising and managing emotions, aware of their impact on others, understand how to contain and motivate others and recognise and celebrate the achievements of their teams. Move aware from “heroic” leadership models towards leadership as a team sport.

? As Amy Edmondson said – and go beyond the tendency to focus on “me” and “short-term” to a “us” and a long-term” perspective. Find other, more holistic ways to calculate organisational value beyond EBITDA and assess the organisation’s success in drawing out the best in its people.