Policy and operations
This living case illustrates how strategic leadership principles are applied to reconcile long-term societal objectives with operational and organizational constraints. Rather than focusing on outcomes alone, the emphasis lies on decision logic, alignment mechanisms, and leadership responsibility under systemic pressure.
The edition written for the 10th Swiss Leadership Forum, Kongresshaus Zürich, 7 November 2013.
What actually happened
In autumn 2013 I wrote a topic paper for the 10th Swiss Leadership Forum in Zurich, based on the framework of The New CEO in Face of the 21st Century. I attended as an unofficial partner of the organizers and brought twenty copies of the book to the event.
The paper asked one question: could leadership method be applied to the Swiss energy transition — not as commentary, but as an instrument a room full of CEOs could actually use? A software partner agreed to develop the case with me; the meeting was confirmed on 30 October 2013.
What did not happen
The record ends there. There was no follow-up, no format, no second event. The idea had a paper, a partner, and an audience — and it did not become anything.
That is the value of documenting it. A living case is not a success story; it is a record of decision logic under real conditions. In 2013 the method existed and the occasion was borrowed. Borrowed occasions do not carry commitments.
Its continuation
Thirteen years later the same question was asked again — this time not as a paper for someone else's forum, but as a format of its own, with its own room, its own rules, and a follow-up date fixed in advance. That is Living Leadership Case 04.