When I was a young man, I was fascinated by the written and oral histories of interesting people and cultures. I listened to my grandfathers. I also studied the ancient teachers and philosophers of Greece and, later, studied how their journey informed the enlightenment in the 18th century. These were the stories of ideas.
I also was swept away by the great authors such as Hemingway, London, and Steinbeck, weaving their stories around individuals and their times.
One author, Jack London, was able to build a house and, within it, a round table. He envisioned poets, philosophers, business leaders, scientists, gathering in an open exchange of ideas.
This is the power of ideas, story, and a great conversation.
Ideas really do matter.
When I started The Sage Group, a strategy and consulting firm, one of my first clients was in an interesting market sector called “Security”. It was six or so months after 9/11. Security was not only needed but required a different way of seeing and acting if it was going to become viable to our nation and our organizations.
So, we began a journey to study how people performed roles in measurable processes using the tools that were provided to them, to execute their perceived mission. We looked at every part of the ecosystem of security that impacted the decisions of risk, resilience and security leaders and their teams.
We collected and organized the data, developed some working hypothesis regarding their efficacy now and in the future and began to do our part in helping the amazing men and women who had found themselves in this profession.
We would later formalize an approach to sustaining this research by reaching back into my roots and calling for a Great Conversation in Security. It has always been about this Socratic exchange that we have had with the leaders in this industry. The persistent metronome of “Why?” and “How?”.
We began to develop learning tracks to organize the conversations we had during the year. These tracks helped us shape a congress we held every year. Recently I drew a parallel to the movie producer. The producer and the director are shooting scenes for many days before finally editing the “essence” of the story down into what we see as a movie. But there is more film on the floor then there is in the film. The film is constrained by the length of the movie and the form factor in which it is viewed.
This is very similar to our research, our conversations throughout the year.
But we were often asked if we could track these conversations and have them leveraged by leaders and their teams for on-boarding and training new employees, developing next generation leaders, and stretching the mind of current leaders as they took a seat at the table of a great conversation.
So, as we say on our website. We finally said “Yes”.
I will be recording sessions during the week with a wide variety of leaders and practitioners. I will be challenging them to share with us transparently what they are learning, how they are activating those lessons, and, ultimately. how those lessons learned are leading to innovation and change.
We will have a vetted and respectful leadership community. We will be asking that community who they want at the table. After all, real change happens when minds are influenced and shaped and a sense of shared mission is achieved. For those working in a risk, resilience, and security program within an organization, you can receive a free subscription to these interviews and panel discussions once your are vetted through our membership process that can be accessed within this website.
I am writing this a few days before the launch of the online conversations. I am excited for all of us. There is nothing like feeling your ideas matter and you paid it forward to help better our world.
Ron Worman
Founder
The Sage Group and The Great Conversation