Last week, Vienna, a city known for its rich history, vibrant culture, and world-class venues, played host to one of our most memorable conferences . The event brought together professionals, thought leaders, and innovators from various industries, showcasing our capability as a global advisory firm in leadership.
This, our 121st, conference attracted many of our Senior Partners and Senior Consultants from more than 20 countries, making it a truly global event. With a focus on 'Innovation and Growth in Challenging Times', the program was packed with insightful presentations, interactive workshops, and lively panel discussions.
Some of the key highlights included:
Keynote Speakers: Thought leaders contributed to a truly inspiriting debate on Innovation and Growth in Challenging Times:
We are hugely grateful for their participation.
Sabine Pirkner, who heads up our office in the heart of Vienna, ensured there were numerous opportunities for networking, with dedicated sessions for attendees to exchange ideas and make meaningful connections. These included informal meet-and-greet sessions, lunchtime roundtables, and a gala dinner offering a fantastic setting to wrap up the event.
Vienna’s well-known coffeehouse culture played a subtle role, with several breaks offering traditional Viennese coffee and pastries. This created a relaxed and social environment that fostered deeper conversations among participants.
No visit to Vienna is complete without experiencing its rich cultural heritage. Sabine curated a cultural program that allowed all our attendees to immerse themselves in the city’s artistic traditions. We all enjoyed an exclusive teambuilding afternoon at Kunsthistorisches Museum Kunstkammer with the unbelievably competitive and focused team of Zoltan Petho, Lorri Lowe, Alexander Matties, Leila Othieno, Thorsten Marquadt and Anna Pommersbach declared the clear winners!
Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. Many praised the seamless organization and the mix of high-level strategic and thought leadership content together with practical advice. The venue, the quality of speakers, and the opportunities for collaboration were all cited as standout features of the event.
"Vienna provided the perfect setting for our conference. The city’s charm, combined with the high quality of the sessions and the diversity of attendees, made this a truly exceptional experience," said Zoltan Petho, Chair of Friisberg.
This conference was a resounding success and the attendees returned to their respective countries with fresh insights and new connections. They also had a renewed confidence in Friisberg as a leading Management Consultancy firm with a world class specialism in Executive Search.
Well, we had an interesting summer from a business perspective in Hungary.
Many of our assignments were stopped, or put on hold and obviously not much new business landed on our desks. We had lost half of our expected business by May - comparing it to the volume we had in H1 2019.
Over the past 6 months we had many Teams meetings with our Friisberg colleagues, globally. I spoke many times with my friend and colleague, Alexander Matthies (Friisberg Germany) about the trends impacting us in Hungary, the similar trends affecting his business in Germany and yet how he continued to be so successful – seemingly Covid proof.
He shared Friisberg Germany’s strategy designed to keep their 2020 revenue plans alive - or even exceed them. In all honesty his advice sounded a little at odds with my own instincts:
I was astonished!
Could it be that simple?
Then I thought about how much it would cost if we simply waited passively for the pandemic to be over. The answer was indeed simple: if we waited, it would cost us a lot.
So, we actively adopted Alexander’s advice and it resulted in several new mandates. Then he called us with two cross-border Searches which we quickly and successfully delivered. Now, we are currently meeting prospective consultants in Budapest to further enhance our team.
Our existing clients have increasingly turned to us during this crisis. We are objectively able to highlight the weaknesses within their organisations by suggesting they talk openly with us as a trusted partner. By sharing ideas and openly discussing future decisions with trusted friends and colleagues, we can all adopt new and successful strategies.
We decided to shape our future instead of simply reacting to it.
