Management as a Liberal Art Conference: Revitalization and Localization, jointly organized by Peter F. Drucker Academy and Hang Seng Management College was held successfully on Oct 13th.

 

Prof. Simon Ho, President of Hang Seng Management College delivered the welcome speech to the audiences, covered the importance of MLA Education, he stated that MLA Education enabled us “to adopt a multi-disciplinary perspective to see things,” and ultimately became better leaders for the society.

 

It was followed with the keynote speech given by Dr. Darwin Chen, Board Chairman of Peter F. Drucker Academy, who addressed on the significance of Drucker’s ideology of “Management as a Liberal Art” to the business sector, government, and non-profit organizations, as well as the development of China at large. He emphasized that “every person should be given the opportunity to develop.”

 

The pre-recorded video of Mr. Shao Ming Lo, the Founder of Peter F. Drucker Academy, was presented at the Conference. He spoke on the theme of “Management is a truly Liberal Art”. Mr. Shao’s speech discussed the essence and significance of MLA, and linked it with Chinese traditional wisdom: Zhongyong (中庸之道). He concluded that the true meaning of Liberal Art is that “all people can freely utilize their talents to create value for others while fulfilling their responsibilities, therefore to grow into a better and more abled beings.”

 

Then Prof. Peter Ping Li, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University delivered the keynote speech on “Linking Drucker with Wang Yangming, Meeting between West and East”, he emphasized that “notion of Management as wisdom, is way beyond knowledge.”

 

Lastly, the morning keynote speech series was ended with Prof. Michael Lindsay, President of Gordon College, with his presentation, “From Microscope to Telescope”, which illustrated that all successful leaders are not restricted by their specialty; but boundary crosser in their careers.

 

Followed the keynotes, we brought plenary speakers from USA, Europe, Mainland China; as well as local academics, entrepreneurs and executives, to join in the panels.

 

Prof. Hsiung Ping-Chen, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prof. Luiz Oosterbeek, Secretary-General of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences, Dr. Harold P Sjursen, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, New York University, Prof. Dai Yi Feng, Professor and Associate dean of Xiamen University Tan Kah Kee College sat at the first panel and shared views on the topic of “Classical Roots and Contemporary Practices, China and Europe”, moderated by Prof. Gilbert Fong, the Provost of HSMC.

 

The second panel was joined by Mr. David Fong, Managing Director, Hip Shing Hong (Holdings) Co. Ltd, Mr. Wayne Chau, Founder and CEO of Agent of Change Company Ltd, Dr. Eddie Chan, Co-Founder and CEO of PowerMew Technology Ltd. to discuss on the “Reality and Practice: Practitioner’s MLA Perspective on Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, moderated by Dr. Thomas Man, Associate Professor of Department of Marketing, HSMC.

 

The last panel, we have Ms. Katherine Hung, Independent Non-Executive Director, Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd., Ms. Ruthia Wong, Vice President & General Manager Hong Kong, Mead Johnson Nutrition (HK) Ltd. and Mr. Sunny Wong, Executive Director of Tibet Water Resources Ltd., to join and discuss on “Effective Leadership through a Lens of Humanity”, moderated by Dr. Royce Yuen, CEO of MaLogic.

 

The conference was concluded by Dr. Julia Wang, the President of Peter F. Drucker Academy. She thanked all speakers for their stimulating and insightful sharing, which highlighted the conference theme and marked the fundamental values of Drucker’s management philosophy. At the end of her closing remark, Dr. Wang quoted Peter Drucker’s motto “Born to see, Meant to look” as a reminder to future leaders: to broaden the vision and to see what is visible but not yet seen.