Technical Leadership Institute

TLI_Logo

A global learning network
of active INCOSE members
seeking to improve
their leadership skills
in an open, collaborative environment

Global network of learning leaders

 

Established in 2015, the Technical Leadership Institute (TLI) is a global learning network of INCOSE members committed to improving technical leadership skills to better address today's product, enterprise, and societal complexity. Following nomination by an INCOSE leader, participants embark on an initial two-year experience designed to increase their self-awareness, improve their understanding of complexity, and provide experience in leading through influence in the presence of ambiguity and uncertainty.

Throughout the experience, coaching and mentoring help participants maximize the benefits derived from their experiences. Upon completion of the initial two-year experience, participants are inducted as full members of the TLI, after which they continue their journey of learning together, making their own contributions as members of a vibrant, diverse and growing network for the benefit of their organizations, INCOSE, and the world at large.

Nomination and Selection

The TLI is a cohort-based program emphasizing learning together across organizational, national, and cultural boundaries. New cohorts are formed each year, and the cohort begins their journey with a kickoff workshop in June.

Nominations for Cohort 11 are now closed. Members of the new cohort will be announced in May.

Participants in the TLI must be nominated by a formal INCOSE leader (Board Member, Director, Assistant Director, Chapter President, or member of the Corporate Advisory Board) and must be full members of INCOSE or agree to become full members upon selection.  Nominees are chosen based on:

  • Proven aptitude in both systems engineering and technical leadership
  • Comfort working in an uncertain world and ability to tackle wicked, messy problems
  • Demonstrated interest in and commitment to enhancing their personal growth in systems engineering leadership
  • Potential for assuming positions of greater leadership in the future

Nominating letters must describe a specific instance of the candidate demonstrating one or more of the following technical leadership behaviors described in Building a Technical Leadership Model published at the 2016 INCOSE International Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, July 18-21, 2016:

A vision is an aspirational statement that defines who we are and where we want to go. It provides an impelling purpose that energizes people to do more than they thought they could or would. To accomplish this, however, a vision must be more than just a statement posted on the wall. It must be the start of a continual and ongoing conversation that we, as systems engineers, are well positioned to support, reinforce and encourage.

Strategic thinking is long term thinking, rather than short-term, tactical thinking. It must be continuous and ongoing, not a one-time, up-front event. Technical leaders formulate a hypothesis before acting, treat the action as an experiment to test their hypothesis, and based on the results they observe, continue along the path they are on or formulate a new hypothesis and begin the testing anew. This is the scientific method applied to everything technical leaders do.

Complex problems cannot be resolved by individuals working alone; their resolution requires the efforts of many. Individual contributions must be woven together into a collective enterprise for which success means success of the whole, not of the individual parts. This enterprise represents a vast social network and systems engineers play a vital role in building, maintaining and strengthening these networks. Our goal should be to foster not just tradeoffs that compromise between competing positions but collaboration that allows new ideas to emerge through creative conflict and experimentation. 

Often when people seek to improve their communication skills, they begin by tweaking their “transmitters.” But effective communication is not just about speaking it is also about actively listening. Technical leaders must improve their “receivers.” Active listening requires attention to both the content being spoken and the emotion with which it is communicated. Technical leaders must learn the language of those they seek to influence and speak to them in words they understand.
Since systems engineers must most often lead through influence, the outcomes they seek to achieve will necessarily be accomplished by others. The leader’s role is to influence, guide, encourage and support those who are in a position to produce those outcomes. This requires a sense of humility and a deep respect for the people they seek to lead. Technical leaders must trust the abilities of others and their capacity to learn through discovery, not lecture. The leader’s success will derive from their success, and their acknowledgement that the leader contributed to it.
In order to lead others, technical leaders must first understand themselves and their differences from others. Unless they recognize and understand those differences, they risk talking past others or causing them to reject their input completely. Leaders must continually seek feedback to decrease their blind spots and be willing to reveal things that help others know them better. While the former can make them uncomfortable, and the latter make them more vulnerable, the payoff will be more than worth the effort.

Once nominated, candidates must submit an application package that includes:

  • A copy of the nomination letter from the INCOSE leader
  • A letter of recommendation and support from the candidate’s home organization, including recognition of the required two-year commitment
  • A personal statement describing the benefits for participation the candidate expects will result for themselves, their sponsoring organization and INCOSE
  • A resume describing not only positions the candidate has held but also specific systems engineering results and accomplishments produced

Application packages are due at the end of March and both should be sent to [email protected].  Applicants will be notified of their selection by the end of April and will join the new cohort in July.  Interested members should discuss their interest with their Chapter President, Sector Director, CAB Representative, or other INCOSE International Leader.

Resources for Nominators and Applicants

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Meet the Coaches



Suja Joseph-Malherbe, South Africa

Suja Joseph-Malherbe

Suja is passionate about leadership and systems engineering, with over two decades of experience across defense, commercial, and academic sectors. As the Director of Letter27, Suja offers consulting, training, and coaching services focused on systems engineering and personal leadership development.

Suja is actively engaged with INCOSE at both local and international levels, having held the position of President of INCOSE South Africa from January 2017 to December 2018. She was a member of the inaugural cohort of the INCOSE Technical Leadership Institute and joined the Institute as a coach in 2020.

An INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP) and a Solution-focused Brief Coach (ICF-ACSTHs training), Suja also serves as a sessional lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), where she teaches postgraduate courses on systems engineering.




David Long, United States

David Long

For over 30 years, David has helped organizations around the world increase their systems engineering proficiency while simultaneously working to advance the state of the art. David is an internationally recognized leader within INCOSE and the greater systems engineering community. He works with government and commercial organizations as they assess, adopt, and deploy methods and tools to enhance their engineering enterprise. 

Throughout his career, David has played a key technical and leadership role in advancing and expanding the practice of systems engineering. David founded and led Vitech where he developed innovative, industry-leading methods and software to engineer next-generation systems. Today, as President of Blue Holon, David continues to guide organizations as they advance their systems engineering capabilities and navigate their digital transformation.

An INCOSE Fellow and Expert Systems Engineering Professional (ESEP), David was the 2014/2015 President of INCOSE. David joined the TLI as a coach in 2019 and currently serves on the INCOSE Board of Directors as the Director for Strategic Integration. 



Donna Long, United States

Donna Long

Donna has a passion for systems engineering and systems thinking across all aspects of life. After spending the first part of her career performing test and evaluation for satellites, she spent 25 years supporting the development and deployment of systems engineering software serving clients around the world.  She managed the customer support and quality assurance teams while also serving as a systems engineering subject matter expert for the development team.

She joined INCOSE in 2017, volunteering to be on the event committee that manages INCOSE’s premier international conferences (IS) and workshops (IW). From July 2021 until Feb 2025, she served as INCOSE’s Associate Director for Events, leading the team to increase quality and attendance at each event.

She is an INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP) and a member of Cohort 8 of the INCOSE Technical Leadership Institute. She joined the Institute as a coach in 2025. 



Rob Schwenke, United States

Rob Schwenke

Rob is a scientific engineer with nearly 35 years of experience in helping people find, filter, and fast track fresh ideas and strategies to address seemingly unsolvable problems. He has worked across various fields, including automotive, food, and solar, and holds a roster of patents in diverse areas such as antenna design, robotic motion, and printable sensors. For the past 10 years, he has focused on tackling complex national security challenges and advancing systems science initiatives.

An autodidact with interests in critical thinking, stoicism, and socioeconomic psychology, Rob is also a compelling storyteller who believes in fostering a culture of empowerment and collaboration. With a charismatic and passionate approach, he encourages his team to innovate and think creatively, all while maintaining a sense of humor. His mantra, "Say no to the status quo," reflects his commitment to challenging conventional thinking.

Rob has been an active member of INCOSE since 2017 and participated in TLI Cohort 8. He began his journey as a TLI coach in 2025, where he continues to inspire and guide others in the systems engineering community.







 
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