Regent Hosts “Foresight” 2003

by staff writer, Jul 23, 2003

Regent University’s Doctor of Strategic Leadership Studies program hosted a “Foresight” conference, September 26 to September 27th, 2002, in Virginia Beach, Va. to help their students and alumni focus on “strategic foresight,” a new field that has been crafted at the intersection of planning, technological forecasting, organizational development and future studies.

Dr. Bruce Winston, associate dean of the Leadership Studies program, defines foresight as anticipating outcomes before actions. Rather than focusing on the future of organizations, they are looking at the future in organizations–how they craft their foresight processes to gain new strategic knowledge beyond strategic planning.

Winston and the program’s dean, Dr. Kathleen Reid-Martinez, gathered six futurists from business, academic and faith-based settings for this first-of-its-kind “Foresight” Roundtable. The national speaker list included:

DR. TOM & CHRISTINE SINE, author, futurist, Mustard Seed Associates, Seattle, WA.,
DR. PETER BISHOP, Dean, “Studies of the Future Program,” University of Houston-ClearLake.
DR. BOB DALE, Center for Creative Church Leadership Development, Richmond, Va.
JAY GARY, president, Christian Futures Network, Colorado Springs.
ANDY HINES, ideation leader, Dow Chemical, Midland, Michigan and chairman of Association of Professional Futurists.
Regent’s Leadership Studies program enrolls nearly 400 students at the Masters and Doctoral level, in distance education degrees. Students gather at various times of the year to attend “residencies,” often featuring guest lectures. “The flip side of ‘foresight’ is ‘innovation,’ Winston feels. He claims this focus on foresight has come to help their graduates take their organizations beyond reactive or responsive modes into strategic terrain.

On Friday night, September 26th, 2002, Regent hosted a free “Leadership Focus” evening for the public, featuring Tom and Christine Sine speaking on: “Shifting the Church into the Future Tense.”

Founded in 1978 by Dr. M. G. “Pat” Robertson, Regent University has become an academic center for innovative Christian thought and action. The University enrolls 2,900 students and offers graduate degrees in Business, Communications, Divinity, Education, Government, Law, Leadership Studies and Psychology/Counseling.

Regent University’s move into “strategic foresight” comes on the heels of Christian leaders meeting in San Francisco, July 20-21st, 2002 for a “Christian Futures Network” meeting convened by Jay Gary. The consultation investigated how faith communities can cultivate foresight with respect to ministry (report). Now Regent is taking these insights in leadership development and focusing them on organizational development.

During the conference, Regent announced they will host “Foresight 2004” next September 23-25th, 2004 featuring Dr. Richard Slaughter, author of “The Foresight Principle” and Brian McLaren, author of “A New Kind of Christian.” For more information on the Doctor of Strategic Leadership program at Regent University, check their website, http://www.regent.edu/acad/sls