The Forum's Intent
The purpose of the Intelligence Leadership Forum (ILF) is twofold: 1)
to enable member firms to deploy and leverage the practice of
intelligence throughout their organizations as a means to enhance
strategic, operational and financial performance, and 2) to enable
participants to improve the performance of their intelligence
activities. To achieve these objectives, ILF brings together recognized
intelligence thought and practice leaders. |
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The Intelligence Imperative
Intelligence
involves analysis of all entities in and around the firm's industry or
competitive space (e.g. competitors, customers, suppliers, governmental
agencies, trade and professional associations) and the forces that
affect business performance (including the dynamics of rivalry, the
emergence and diffusion of new technologies or products). To cite
merely one example, through the analysis of all forms of competitors
(including look-alike, functional substitute, and invented),
intelligence generates unique insights into current and potential
rivals' strategies, intent, marketplace behaviors, operational details,
organizational competencies and driving mindsets. Such insights in turn
make a vital contribution to critical strategic and organizational
challenges facing every firm, such as:
- Capturing and projecting marketplace change
- Anticipating and evaluating potential competitive discontinuities
- Perceiving and delineating new business opportunities
- Detecting and shaping new strategy alternatives
- Identifying and assessing strategy leverage points, vulnerabilities, and constraints
- Determining and building required organizational assets and competencies
Every
organization therefore confronts intelligence imperatives to more
quickly identify required intelligence needs and how to create them; to
better connect intelligence to the marketplace and organizational
issues and concerns facing decision makers; and to better integrate
intelligence into all phases of strategy development and execution — in
short, to more efficiently and effectively “manage” intelligence. ILF
meets these needs by creating a forum where members share practices,
discuss challenges, consider the future of intelligence, participate in
research, and stay up to date with the latest thinking in related
fields .
Issues Addressed
The
forum addresses all facets of intelligence work, including: conceptual
(how intelligence might be different five years from now) to analysis
(e.g. new analysis frameworks) and initiatives (types of intelligence
initiative undertaking across organizations); strategic (e.g. how
organizations develop and leverage strategy); intelligence practices
(e.g. next generation of best practices in deriving early indicators of
marketplace change); intelligence leadership (e.g. the intent and role
of those leading intelligence work; and the role of executives in
creating and leveraging intelligence to the uses of technology in
extending and leverage intelligence practices and the evaluation of
intelligence outputs for both strategy and operations. Ethical, legal
and cross-national issues receive attention in all discussions.
Modes of Member Engagement
ILF
provides two principal means for participants to interact and learn
from each other: Participants meet three times per year for a day and
half each time. Every meeting explores in depth one or more aspects of
managing intelligence, examines innovative applications of existing
analysis methodologies and affords members an opportunity to report on
intelligence developments in their own organizations. Members also
interact through the forum’s dedicated, secure and a members' only
website.
Benefits of Membership
- Interaction with peers around critical issues in managing intelligence
- Learning and assessing what leading edge firms are doing to advance intelligence practice
- Dialogue with invited guests from other leading edge companies around emerging new intelligence practices and methodologies
- Exposure
to research conducted by leading thinkers from many institutional
settings (including universities, consulting firms, dedicated research
programs, and corporations)
- Access
to multiple forms of written outputs including materials from meetings,
new analysis frameworks, descriptions of best practices, documented
“cases” outlining individual firms’ approaches to managing
intelligence, and summaries of electronic issues
- The
opportunity to advance one’s own knowledge and understanding in related
disciplines and domains (e.g. the latest thinking in strategy)
Forum Members
Companies
become members by invitation only. The forum now includes 20 members.
Members represent a diverse group across industries, geographies, and
approaches to managing intelligence. Member companies can nominate
others for forum membership. Each member company sends one individual
to each forum meeting. ILF only accepts individuals who are recognized
intelligence practice and thought leaders in member companies.
Forum Organization
The
forum is a member driven organization. Participants form an executive
committee to help develop the content and direction. They also suggest
topics for each meeting, develop small working groups to address
specific issues, identify relevant research topics, and contribute
"cases" from their own organizations as appropriate around noteworthy
events and developments. Member firms can volunteer to host meetings or
special events.
Meetings
ILF
has met three times per year since its kick-off meeting in February,
2004. The most recent meeting was held in on September 25-26, 2008 in
Philadelphia, PA.. The next meeting will be February 5-6, 2009.
Membership Fee
The annual membership fee is $8,500.
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