The opening speeches were given by Dr. Erhard Busek, former Vice-Chancellor of Austria, and Prof. Danica Purg, IEDC President.

"We live in the times when the need for leadership is tremendous. Even the Third World War is not impossible and the lack of leadership is definitely not a good precondition for preventing it," warned Dr. Erhard Busek, former Vice-Chancellor of Austria, who gave an introductory speech at IEDC event, titled "Today's Challenges of Leadership", organized in Vienna, at Novomatic Forum.

Prof. Danica Purg, President of IEDC-Bled School of Management, who organized the event, participated by 80 Austrian managers, among them also representatives of IEDC Austria alumni network, stressed that IEDC is recognized for its innovative way of leadership development. "IEDC is focused on what we call artistic leadership and we believe that arts help us to develop better leaders for a better world."

The inspirational lecture was led by Prof. Pierre Casse, Leadership Chair at IEDC-Bled School of Management, who is a specialist in intercultural dynamics, leadership, organizational development and change within the context of the global market place. "Leaders are facing some major and unique challenges today. They need to challenge some of their basic assumptions and values. They must re-invent themselves and adopt new leadership styles," stresses prof. Casse and adds "it is exciting and scary for many men and women in leadership positions. To think outside the box is not good enough anymore. One must create the new boxes."

His lecture was very lively and interactive, organized in the same way that IEDC lectures are structured: with creativity, a sense of achievement and people's trust and dignity. So, the audience was also provoked to reflect on their own leadership styles and to measure their own level of their VQ - the Vitality factor. "Without it nothing happens. It is essentially the ability for the leader to energize himself or herself and to boost the energy levels of others, teams and organizations at least from time to time." Even though, prof. Casse, adds "A high VQ is not a condition for happiness. On the contrary, people who are full of energy can be over-self-demanding and exhausting for the people around them."

IEDC-Bled School of Management, Slovenia, attracts the most promising executives and top managers and provides them with world-class management education and other relevant services in an international context for already 29 years. It is one of the most international business schools in Central and Eastern Europe - so far, 74.000 participants from 80 countries went through different its programs. From Austria, 74 managers finished their studies at IEDC-Bled School of Management (Executive MBA, General Management Program, Summer Schools). IEDC-Bled School of Management also provides specially designed programs for international companies (so called in-company seminars), for example, The Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), Henkel and Medtronic.