The Forum opened with a speech by Dr. Corinne Flick, Founder and Chair of the Convoco Foundation. Historian Prof. Saul David then approached the topic from an historical perspective with a lecture titled “Clausewitz and Strategy: An Enduring Phenomenon.”
He was followed by Prof. Burkard Schwenker, CEO of Roland Berger Strategy Consulting, who examined “How Strategic Leadership Can Help Overcome Uncertainty.”

This led into the first panel discussion, chaired by Dr. Corinne Flick.The panellists were Prof. Dr. Jens Beckert, Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies; Prof. Wolfgang Schön, Vice-President of the Max Planck Society and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance; Prof. Schwenker; Prof. Rudolf Mellinghoff, President of the Federal Supreme Tax Court of Germany; and Prof. Stefan Korioth, Chair of Public and Ecclesiastical Law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. 

The panel discussion was followed by a lecture by Prof. Jörg Rocholl, President of ESMT, who took a closer look at “Strategies for Uncertain Times, with Reference to the Financial System.” The second panel consisted of Prof. Kai Konrad, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public and Director of the Council of Scientific Advisors to the German Ministry of Finance; Prof. Rocholl; Prof. Christoph Paulus, Professor of Civil Law, Procedure, and Insolvency Law at the Humboldt University in Berlin; and Prof. Paul Kirchhof, Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (retired). 

Two hundred guests from the fields of politics, business, and science then took part in the debate during several Q&A sessions.