We warmly invite you to our upcoming breakfast seminar held on the 20th February 2016 from 830 – 1030am at ETF. Please find details of the breakfast seminar below
Swarm Intelligence as Strategy
Swarm intelligence is a fairly new topic within management sciences. The idea is to learn from swarms like ants and bees. Swarms operate by an alternative logic of steering. The members of the swarm act autonomously without a center. Examples from diverse disciplines like biology, computer science, mathematics, and the Bible are discussed. Related topics like emergence and collective intelligence are explored. The main section focuses on the implications for leadership. A corresponding strategy method is: Strategy as a set of simple rules. As soon as the simple rules are given there is less need for hierarchical decisions. I argue that swarm intelligence and centralized leadership can both be useful, depending on the context. I will provide criteria how to decide which approach is more suitable. Examples from history, the business world, and the churches illustrate these criteria. Finally, the new role of leaders in swarm intelligence is discussed.
To register, please send an email to Peirong.lin@etf.edu by the 12th February 2016. This breakfast seminar is open to all at no charge, although voluntary contributions towards the cost of this event will be appreciated.
Our Presenter
Volker Kessler (Dr. rer. nat., D.Th.), born in 1962, is married, has four children and two grandchildren. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Cologne, and a D.Th. in Practical Theology, University of South Africa. For 12 years he worked for the Siemens Company, Munich, as a researcher in cryptography. Since 1998 he is director of the Akademie für christliche Führungskräfte (www.acf.de) and since 2002 he is also dean of the GBFE (www.gbfe.org). In 2012 he was appointed as professor extraordinarius at the Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, University of South Africa. He teaches (Christian) Leadership at different universities and also does professional trainings for business companies and NPOs worldwide. He authored many academic articles and many books, among others the bestsellers “Kritisieren ohne zu verletzen” and “Die Machtfalle”, which were re-printed several times and also translated in five other languages. Volker initiated the Christian Leadership Conference, an African-European initiative, which started in Pretoria, 2013, and continued in Bergneustadt, 2014. In 2016, this Christian Leadership Conference will take place at ETF in collaboration with ILE.
