Last week I attended the Athena East Naval Innovation Competition in downtown Norfolk. More specifically, I was part of a “Shark Tank” style board, helping the contestants think through the “so what” of their idea. The ideas were strong, the passion shared by each contestant was obvious, and the interest from the audience was inspiring. There was value in each of the five ideas and I am certain that all will be implemented in meaningful ways, scaled to the appropriate level. But it wasn’t the ideas that were pitched that excited me most. What excited me most was the combination of the concept of the forum, the energy it inspired, and the opportunity to connect with those in attendance.
I have long been turned off by the overuse, misuse, and just plain dumbing down of the word “innovation”. So the concept of innovation is not one that grabs my attention as much as it did years ago. In fact, it plain turns me off. Rather than focus on the devolution of the word, I would say that for one night, this particular room was comprised of leaders committed to making the word have meaning once again. This group of creative individuals, curious enough to solve problems they see in the world and focused on delivering value to those with whom they serve, represented the actual meaning of the word. This mindset was not limited to those who pitched their ideas or the event organizer, all of whom did an amazing job, but described all in attendance.
I listened intently to each of the five ideas, exchanged thoughts during and after each pitch, and continue dialogue with some of these innovators (yes, I used “The I-word”). As much as I enjoyed interacting with each of them, and as good as the ideas they shared were, that was only a fraction of the experience. This experience was about connecting people who have self-identified as collaborators, connectors, and problem solvers. For one night, those individuals, inspired largely by the crew of the USS BENFOLD a few years ago, found a centralized location. Some were on stage, some were part of the Shark Tank, and most were in the audience. Many of us had admired each other’s work from afar and even exchanged e-mails over the years, but had never met. That alone made attending worthwhile but wasn’t the entire value proposition.
The value of that night is being realized right now and with each day that follows. The group that was centralized is now dispersed across the Atlantic seaboard. The message is growing, and the visible commitment to following through is becoming more obvious. The number of people who are willing to share their ideas is larger than ever and mentors equipped to coach our most passionate teammates are plentiful. That night was not about that night, that night was about the ripples that continue to emanate. That night is about a movement. And that movement is all about distributed problem solving across the military hierarchy. It’s about giving people at all ranks the confidence, the tools, and the support to solve the problems that they see. It’s about removing barriers so that others understand they have the requisite permission to do more than just their jobs. It’s about bringing more of the Silicon Valley culture to the Navy. It’s about redefining “us”. Don your hoodie, full-speed ahead – let’s distribute problem-solving across and beyond the Fleet!
- How do you go about encouraging others to share their ideas?
- What movement are you a part of?
- What barriers to progress are you removing?
Sean, I’ve shared a similar roller-coaster of enthusiasm and weariness around innovation talk. And I share your excitement when the word relates to on-the-ground action. For me, the Athena stories around peer-selected topics for leadership training (Williams), and portable “making” tools (Coursey), sum up the great stuff presented at the competition. When peers huddle around practical solutions and initiatives, the real learning takes place, and the old “learning by doing” formula starts to invert, into “doing by learning.” I’ve worked with all levels of practitioners on similar innovations on mine-site leadership/management development. The most radical stuff is that which sticks in the mind because it’s concrete, and once in the mind, it ripples out, as you say. I remember one solution that involved creating the means by which operators could do their laundry on-site, near the crib room, rather than 40 km away, at the their camp. Just what it took to get such a simple shift to happen was a revelation, but learning how to do it meant a lot of perceptual shift around time, safety, collaboration, convenience, etc.
Love your posts.
Thanks, Mike. We are surrounded by problem solvers…they just need a little help giving themselves permission to openly share their ideas. That’s part of our job.
The photo attached to this post seems to underscore the flaws in this recent Navy push for greater innovation and Silicon Valley-esque disruption. The hoodie in the “hoodie vs. suits” idea is symbolic. There’s nothing magical about a hoodie. The concept behind it is that if your ideas and skills are good enough your background/station shouldn’t matter. By garishly emblazoning your insignia on the sleeves of your hoodie, you’re attempting to levy your rank even in this theoretically meritocratic setting.
Much of this Navy initiative is the same. They put out a call to the IDC officer community for “innovators” to assemble a dream team of disruptive thinking, but they then select that team via the usual metrics before shipping them to a school where they’ll take a series of classes together to ensure they all think the way the Navy expects them to (per the latest message, at least).
As long as we continue to emphasize rank and seniority, we’ll never be more than a cheap counterfeit of Silicon Valley as the traditions we’ve carried since 1775 are antithetical to the mindset we’re pretending to foster.
Funny how two people can look at the same picture and see something entirely different. The beautiful thing is no one is wrong…it’s merely an interpretation. So, I do value your feedback. When I put on that hoodie, I did so with the intent of symbolizing the best of both worlds. The Navy does not want to be and should not try to become Silicon Valley, but those of us working in the cyber mission area can sure benefit from a deliberate partnership and by taking a page from their playbook every once in a while. At the same time, to totally disregard the merit of some hierarchy is irresponsible. Heck, even in Silicon Valley things are not totally flat (there is rank and seniority even at Apple and Google). I do share your concerns with the many flaws in the Navy’s push for “innovation” and I thought my words made that clear. That said, I am hopeful for the future and hope we can create a culture that lives at the intersection; the intersection I attempted to represent when mixing a little Zuckerberg (hoodie) with Navy Tradition (uniform). Again, thanks for the feedback and though you may scoff at the hoodie, please do consider joining the movement and making it more meaningful.