Article Information
Publication date (electronic): 30 June 2017
DOI: 10.emerg/10.17357.99297bb988774f37d01d1edd6c986870
The challenge of systemic change:
Is it time to change the way Governments use the future? Questions Inspired by the Republic of Korea's Strategic Foresight Initiatives from 1999 to 2010[1]
Bio:
For over thirty years Riel Miller has been pioneering advances in the theory and practice of using the future as a means to improve management and public policy, with a focus on transformational leadership. He has designed and implemented hundreds of projects around the world, deploying innovative ways of using the future in order to change what people see and do. In all his projects Riel walks-the-talk of co-creation, harnessing the collective intelligence of everyone, from CEOs and Prime Ministers to shop-floor workers and school children. He is an experienced and innovative educator, a pioneer of the field of Futures Literacy and the Discipline of Anticipation. He is widely published in academic journals and other media on a range of topics, from the future of education and the Internet to the transformation of leadership and productivity. He is an accomplished keynote speaker and facilitator. His unflagging ambition is to find ways to put the richness of complex emergence at the service of humanity's capacity to be free.
Abstract
Governments of the Republic of Korea have an exemplary record in providing leadership through published visions and strategies. This review is inspired by seven such endeavors conducted since 1999. All of these efforts use the future to motivate changes in the present. However, over time there has been a gradual shift in the content of the visions, revealing an unresolved tension between predictive targets based on benchmarking that is effective for emulation and a recognition that on the frontier of socio-economic change there are no knowable targets. As a result the capacity of strategic foresight processes to bring complexity and emergence to bear on the identification of opportunities in the present becomes more important. The perspective presented in this review can be summarized in three hypotheses: one is that South Korea is now at the frontier of existing socio-economic models and therefore catch-up and benchmarking are no longer sufficient foundations for South Korea's vision, although still highly important for incremental improvement and competitive positioning on already existing markets/organizational aspects of society; two is that recent developments in strategic foresight theory and practice are enhancing the capacity to focus on complex, emergent systems that are rich with unforeseeable novelty and, critically, make a practical connection to the processes of sense making and making sense that are the basis for action; and three that South Korea is in a good position to invest in developing its strategic foresight capabilities on the basis of the outstanding track record of previous efforts to use the future for the benefit of all South Koreans.
Read Full Article
Access requires a current subscription