August 2008 Ongoing Discussion Announcement, with Sheila Ronis

Sheila Ronis is Director of the MBA and Master of Science in Strategic Leadership Programs at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan. She teaches "Issues of Globalization" in the Doctorate of Management program, and "Strategic Visioning and Leadership" in the Master of Science in Strategic Leadership program. She is also President of The University Group, Inc., a management consulting firm and think tank specializing in strategic management, visioning, national security and public policy. PWR's Enterprise Thinking Network is pleased to welcome Sheila to our Ongoing Discussion.

Sheila's Thought Piece, "The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR): Vision Working Group Update," can be downloaded from the In2:InThinking Netwprk web page at this link. As a preview, two of the working group's conclusions follow here;

"Systems scientists are not trained to look at parts of a puzzle. We're trained to step out into the next larger system or the system beyond that to look across the entire mosaic at the elements and their interdependence and interactions to better understand the whole and its behavior."

"And, that is what the Vision Working Group is trying to do for the Project on National Security Reform. We are developing a vision of success for a new national security system for the country - well into the 21st Century. To do that, we are using visioning tools to develop guiding principles that will be used, with our colleagues, to create a new national security system and structure, along with the strategies and processes necessary for success."

The subject of reforming national security is a large one. It seems that keen inquiry skills are needed if we are to examine a mosaic of "interdependence and interactions". Here are some questions we invite you to consider as you read the Thought Piece, and that you might bring to the conversation.

How can we bring the perspectives of "better thinking about thinking" to the idea of national security? One way to begin is to ask open, generative questions, keeping in mind that "it depends" is often the "answer." How can we continue to explore the complex and dynamic context while making progress toward a new sense of national security? How can we sense what might be emerging from the larger system, and how might we then affect or shape what is emerging? What does "reforming" actually mean? What if the goal is to transform the national security system?

Is it possible to frame this conversation in terms of the Red Pen Company - Blue Pen Company metaphor? How might the idea of and approach to national security be different in a Red Pen country than in a Blue Pen country? What are key questions that you would ask?

What if idealized design, as applied to various systems within our society by Ackoff and Rovin in Redesigning Society, were used to redesign our national security system? What is the nature of an ideal national security system?

If you designed a World Café conversation around the idea of reforming national security, what powerful question would you offer to the participants? (Remember, from Peter Block, a "powerful question" is one that is both ambiguous and personal, and creates a little anxiety.)

If you were participating in an Open Space event around the theme of reforming national security, what issue would you post on the wall?

Sheila arrived at Walsh College after working in industry and government, and at AT&T and the Department of Energy. Her clients include General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, the U.S. Department of Defense, Congress, and the State Council of the People's Republic of China. Her B.S. is in Physics and Mathematics. Her M.A. and Ph.D. are from The Ohio State University in Organizational and Social Systems Behavior. Known as a systems strategist, Sheila has authored 172 papers and 2 books. She has been studying the national security implications of the economic element of national power for nearly 2 decades.