2nd European Managers Conference

2nd European Managers Conference

It was a typical Italian spring weekend that the ISSE SE and the ESSE Institute chose to conduct the 2nd European Managers Conference, which took place from 9^th to 10^th April 2016 in Divignano, a small town in the province of Novara, just an hour away from Milan. The meeting venue was the “Mother Sai House”, the Conference Centre of the Italian SSIO (Sathya Sai International Organisation).

In spite of a strike in Greece and Italy 50 participants, including 35 managers, from Norway, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Croatia and South Africa, came together under the motto: “Managing Change and Growth through Human Values and Spiritual Leadership”. The meeting was furthermore honoured by the presence of Mr. Alberto Pilone, Mayor of Varallo Pombia, Municipality of Novara.

On both days the participants worked intensively in focus sessions and workshops sharing thoughts and reflections on the three main topics of the conference:

• Can we raise awareness on the need for value-based management?
• In what way can we implement value-based management?
• What principles, policies and programmes can give way to the establishment of a plan of action for the promotion of “spiritual leadership”?

Mr. Manfred Müller-Gransee from Germany, Mr. Markos Lyras from the United Kingdom and Mr. Thomas Rohland from Holland, CEOs and managers in their respective countries, spoke about their experiences in implementing a management structure based on the five Human Values of Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love and Nonviolence in their companies.

Mr. George Bebedelis, Director of the Institute of Sathya Sai Education of South Europe, and Ms. Vassiliki Stephanides, Professor Emeritus at the School of Business, Deree College, both Senior trainers of the ISSE SE, shared their insights and understanding on the two cardinal human values of Truth and Righteousness. Their presentations and uplifting speeches gave way to a series of interactive workshops involving all participants in a deeper analysis of the ethical and moral need for human values in management.

This inspiring conference ended with a panel discussion and a question and answer session, to evaluate the necessary procedures to establish of a value-based management, taking into account its actual viability in European companies.