By Clarence J. Henderson
https://breakingdefense.com/2018/05/permanent-evolution-secarmy-esper-on-futures-command-exclusive/ (accessed July 8, 2018).
7Corning Glass Home Page, Source Link
It is non the changing graphic symbol of state of war but the changing graphic symbol of piece of work that volition most profoundly touching the Army equally an establishment in addition to guild equally a whole. The private worker is no longer regulated to bureaucratic tasks in addition to has been empowered past times engineering to cultivate information into useful cognition in addition to increase productivity. Useful cognition tin terminate hold upwards combined with today’s lower majuscule investment requirements to farther empower individuals to conceive in addition to create innovative technologies inside their entrepreneurial organizations. What has emerged are regional in addition to global cognition economies driven past times the telephone substitution of useful information. And it’s inside these cognition economies that the Army is attempting to capitalize with entrepreneurs to keep technological overmatch against global peer threats. With the creation of Army Futures Command inward Austin, Texas the Army has placed its modernization enterprise into ane of the country’s most burgeoning cognition economy’s.
Army leaders who’ve been raised inside the bureaucratized guild of the Department of Defense (DoD) must at nowadays campaign innovation processes inward a cognition economy. To do so requires agreement 3 key concepts of innovation:
Knowledge economies campaign innovation; non information economies.
Solutions are designed; non found.
Innovation is managed; non inspired.
Incubators, accelerators, co-creation platforms, in addition to innovation districts. Army modernization is incorporating a novel vernacular of opened upwards innovation concepts. The most pronounced of those concepts is the innovation ecosystem. Innovation ecosystems be to merge knowledge, human capital, in addition to fabric resources; inward the midst of urban centers that tin terminate offering various cultures in addition to a high character of life. Collaboration is accelerated inward these ecosystems past times bringing together the money (commercial economies), in addition to minds (research economies). Proximity to academia, industry, in addition to innovators tin terminate offering an wages of accelerated innovation needed at nowadays to a greater extent than than an always inward a globe of compressed actions in addition to reactions.
The cognition exchanged inside the innovation ecosystems of America’s nifty cities render an impetus for developing novel technologies. Such technologies when merged with the Army’s internal Research, Development, Test, in addition to Evaluation (RDT&E) enterprise tin terminate make the technological wages that the National Defense Strategy demands. But innovation ecosystems are non a house where technologies are found past times chance, or at to the lowest degree they shouldn’t be. Applicable technologies arise from iterative processes driven past times individuals who pattern solutions to problems. It is the private exercising influence on the innovation procedure equally a whole that tin terminate brand innovation to a greater extent than rapid in addition to to a greater extent than precise.
Doing this is a thing of mastering the period of time in addition to agreement of cognition emanating from the developing ecosystems of America. Mid to senior degree officers who remove hold matured inside the industrial in addition to information economies of the Defense Department are at nowadays charged with leading innovation inward an opened upwards cognition economy. Capturing information in addition to information isn’t goodness enough. The mightiness to translate useful from useless technological cognition that builds value inside the operating concepts of the US Army is required. This call for for useful cognition volition occur spell navigating through irrelevant inventions, young wildcat ecosystems, in addition to start-ups whose primary objective is to brand a whole lot of money. The challenge at nowadays for the Army is to teach useful knowledge, distribute it, in addition to utilization it.
The Knowledge Economy in addition to a World of Things
We alive inward a globe of “things” in addition to seek to juxtapose each with a revolution. Robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, in addition to bioengineering are closed to of the things nosotros telephone outcry upwards revolutionary. These are non revolutions. Nor is the ubiquitous term “technology.” Technology in addition to its global diffusion is an enabler to change. But it is non a revolution inward in addition to of itself. Technology enabled the industrial revolution in addition to mechanization was every fleck equally innovative so equally artificial tidings is at nowadays but was non “the” revolution. These “things” are influencing agents inward an bounding main of cultural, social, political, in addition to scientific disciplines.
The existent revolution that has emerged alongside us is “knowledge.” No longer is land, labor, in addition to majuscule the predominant factor of production.1 The transfer of cognition in addition to its integration inside organizations at nowadays drives economies. Knowledge becomes an wages when it is used. That is, today’s successful organizations apply acquired cognition to systems, processes, in addition to techniques inward a continuous call for for incremental improvements to products in addition to services. As a revolution, the transformative alter from information collection to cognition distribution has empowered institutions, populations, in addition to individuals to teach novel technologies, alter governance, in addition to enlighten inhabitants of virtually every part of the globe to the critical human affairs earlier us.
The telephone substitution in addition to distribution of cognition are enhanced past times diffusion of information technologies ranging from cloud computing, large information collection in addition to analysis, access to the network of things, in addition to an array of handheld media devices. But sharing cognition ultimately involves humans engaging inward dialogue to expound upon their ideas. Humans are yet required to engage on personal levels to advance notions in addition to concepts. Through these personal interactions, intimate telephone substitution of experiences in addition to expertise enables us to advance thought to create novel technologies in addition to processes. Leaders who empathise how to leverage personal interactions in addition to cultivate relationships built on trust volition hold upwards able to promote social majuscule across a gain of disciplines. The engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, in addition to futurists tin terminate collaboratively contribute to sensing emergent technological opportunities inward a quickly changing operational environment.
And herein lays a paradox. The mid to senior degree armed forces officers responsible for extracting cognition from the innovation ecosystems remove hold themselves emerged from a bureaucratized society. Specialization inward functional areas in addition to bureaucratic tasks encourages administrative in addition to technical competence, but are non necessarily related to the vision in addition to inventiveness needed for leadership.2 Knowledge economies rely upon the intellectual majuscule of leaders instead of bureaucratic information inputs to rudimentary elements of a problem. The intellectual majuscule required for sensing novel technologies inward a cognition economic scheme deserves a competency model of its own. Competencies such equally crafting employment concern strategies, forecasting in addition to managing change, creative in addition to critical thinking, minimizing risk, in addition to applied query surpass bureaucratic competencies in addition to are required inside the innovation ecosystems.
In the absence of an innovation competency model, businesses should merely expand existing processes to cultivate innovation competencies. For the US Army, the Operations Process is a perfectly sufficient framework to empathise the surround necessary to feel novel in addition to novel technologies that tin terminate hold upwards applied against existing capability gaps. Any officeholder incapable of employing the Operations Process Framework at a betoken inward their career when it should remove hold been mastered should leave of absence the modernization enterprise in addition to render to bureaucratic work.
But innovation competencies are alone a start betoken for mastering the telephone substitution in addition to distribution of cognition inward a cognition economy. The really construction of organizations must focus less on hierarchy in addition to to a greater extent than on sharing information.3 The Cross Functional Team concept is a start in addition to volition demand to hold upwards employed across the whole of the modernization enterprise. The term “Agile” referred to so oft inward Army modernization literature is non an adjective; but rather an approach to software evolution employing a gain of values in addition to principles beneficial to iterative development. Agile evolution methods such equally Scrum, Kanban, in addition to the SAFe Scaled Agile Framework should hold upwards used to create out piece of work in addition to distribute knowledge. Delivering value to Soldiers inward the plain volition require leaders who’ve mastered the collection, analysis, in addition to dissemination of knowledge. Adopting novel ways of growing cognition in addition to expanding beyond bureaucratic tasks inward a globe of things must hold upwards pursued.
Design Solutions to Problems – Incremental Approaches to Sustaining an Institution
Solutions are non found, they are designed. An analysis of the environment, evolution of the problem, strategic pattern with the operational approach, in addition to measuring of success should occur earlier an innovation model is implemented. From this procedure arises requirements that are entered into an innovation model. Innovation models serve to move
strategies from the globe of things into a framework for incremental evolution that adds value for the cease user. Six generations of innovation concepts remove hold evolved from unproblematic linear innovation models to the electrical current interactive networks in addition to innovation systems combining cognition in addition to specific competencies.4 Key to this approach is the incremental evolution of knowledge. The incremental growth of cognition is a procedure of strategy evolution in addition to is expanded inside the ordered procedure of an innovation model.
Beware the break-through engineering that proclaims a “revolution.” In a globe of things where everything is a revolution, incremental approaches to innovation tend to hold upwards reduced or fifty-fifty discarded. Revolutions tin terminate proclaim a solution equally “found” rather than designed. Revolutions are non logical in addition to cannot hold upwards defined or predicted at the betoken of emergence. Breakthrough mindsets tin terminate circumvent incremental cognition inward this sense. Seeing innovation regarding breakthroughs in addition to ignoring the potential of incremental innovation risks “partial thinking”.5 Since most breakthrough technologies tend to hold upwards presented equally “revolutionary,” tending must hold upwards taken non to abandon incremental innovation inward a legitimate call for to onboard novel technologies. We are exactly at nowadays to a greater extent than accurately defining the phases of the industrial revolution 200 years afterward its genesis. The concept of a cognition revolution is nearing its 60-year score of postulation. Show me a break-through engineering that professes a revolution, in addition to I volition enquire to run across your strategy, in addition to incremental approach first; so 100 years from at nowadays someone tin terminate profess it a revolution.
Evolutionary, or iterative, innovation is a procedure that begins with an thought in addition to so incorporates concept requirements, epitome development, demonstration in addition to testing, in addition to evaluation. Incremental innovation provides an approach to engineering expansion that incorporates continuous planning, development, in addition to testing with manageable inputs. Tempered with Agile frameworks the incremental approaches to innovation tin terminate move to a greater extent than adaptive, rapid, in addition to flexible. Army Secretary Mark Esper has stated that permanent evolution with the mightiness to stay flexible volition hold upwards pursued.6 This iterative innovative procedure volition ensure constant adaptation to the “revolutions” alongside us. The most successful sustaining companies remove hold implemented incremental approaches to innovation. Companies such equally Corning Inc. (formally Corning Glass) render examples of incremental innovation inward a globe of things. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 continuing commitment to leadership development, query in addition to development, in addition to creation of innovation strategies with incremental innovation models remove hold enabled Corning to move on growth for the final 167 years.7 Corning’s combination of fabric in addition to procedure innovation using robust R&D has enabled this sustaining success.
Other industries likewise remove hold demonstrated a profound commitment to incremental approaches to innovation that are oft false equally “revolutionary discoveries.” The software manufacture has given us an array of Agile innovation frameworks born of the disk campaign wars of the 80s in addition to 90s, in addition to the petroleum in addition to gas manufacture never stops innovating inward a globe of platforms in addition to pipelines. The Army likewise is a sustaining institution, in addition to the creation of Futures Command demonstrates a commitment to the expansion of cognition for innovative technologies. The electrical current Innovation Maturity Model for the US Army directs that innovation processes should hold upwards established past times 2019; with senior leadership partaking inward the processes past times 2021.8 Currently, the Army is taking a to a greater extent than holistic approach to innovation in addition to pursuing a strategy of organizational evolution (i.e., the creation of Futures Command) equally the innovation processes are concurrently beingness conceived, developed, in addition to initiated past times 2019. New capability evolution innovation models must hold upwards developed, in addition to so driven past times leaders who know how to merge the distributed cognition of an innovation ecosystem with required capabilities. The challenge of Army Futures Command, exactly similar whatever private sector corporation, is to cut back the complexity of its innovation surround past times applying existent Agile processes to ane expandable innovation model that values incremental cognition across the organization. Until that is resolved, the incremental cognition gained inward whatever ane Army organisation volition move on to diffuse uncaptured in addition to underutilized alongside the whole.
Manage Innovation
Management is required to motility novel technologies from ideation through the incremental evolution process. Management inward today’s cognition economic scheme encompasses 3 essentials. These are the sharing of useful knowledge, cultivating the intellect of entrepreneurs, in addition to applying employment concern processes to novel technologies. For the Army modernization enterprise, the challenge becomes employing the capabilities of a bureaucratized guild into a cognition economic scheme where the capabilities of the private are valued.
Business leaders are yet required to feel opportunities, empathise markets, advise novel offerings, articulate compelling visions, atomic number 82 work, in addition to bargain effectively with customers.9 By contrast, large complex organizations such equally the Defense Department describe upon its concentration of commands, forthwith reporting units, directorates, in addition to volume of disparate cognition workers to motility agendas. The inevitable fighting is for the cognition worker who possesses employment concern leader capabilities but is inundated with bureaucratic tasks. Never the less, inward an opened upwards innovation ecosystem armed forces leaders must original innovation management.
The foremost management essential is to part useful knowledge. Knowledge is built from information, in addition to that information requires analysis to create upwards one's heed what is useful in addition to what is useless. Information begins its journeying equally information which originates from a diversity of structured in addition to unstructured sources. The alternative in addition to usage of information analysis in addition to information integration tools to enable digital transformation must hold upwards selected in addition to so applied. Capturing in addition to managing all this information tin terminate hold upwards a bureaucratic task, but converting it into information is inside the domain of the cognition worker. Information is so aggregated into content in addition to must hold upwards captured, managed, retained, in addition to ultimately delivered.10
The delivery of information is critical, in addition to it must hold upwards distributed across various disciplines ranging from managerial to engineering. And this must occur on a daily basis. Therefore, hoping information is captured in addition to cultivated to information absent a information architecture volition non suffice. Data architectures must hold upwards consummate with policies in addition to rules to ensure every informal conversation that occurs inside the innovation ecosystems are captured equally data. Failing to do so risks non sharing useful cognition to a critical leader.
The instant management essential is to cultivate the intellect of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is all almost business. There is a misconception developing inside the innovation ecosystems that an entrepreneur is an inventor or prodigy. Entrepreneurs are much to a greater extent than than that. They are responsible for introducing a novel production or service into a market; but they are primarily responsible for organizing a employment concern construct, teach resources, in addition to so create out it. The technological prodigies are a “part” of the entrepreneurial enterprise. Google refers to these technological prodigies equally the “smart creatives.”11 Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 term coined past times Eric Schmidt in addition to Jonathan Rosenberg of Google, the smart creatives disrupt industries through an aggressive passion for causing change. They also spread cognition in addition to insights to their peers at work.
The bureaucratized guild does non nurture smart creatives; it crushes them. Managing the smart creatives requires leaders in addition to managers who tin terminate foremost position who they are in addition to so insulate them from bureaucratic redundancies that lack conceptual problem-solving talent. Smart creatives don’t autumn into whatever ane discipline. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 electrical current error is assuming anyone with a Ph.D. is a smart creative in addition to so must hold upwards on an innovation team. Smart creatives demand non emerge from the globe of academia. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 goodness house to await for smart creatives inward the Army inventory are those junior officers in addition to non-commissioned officers who remove hold published mag articles, franchise in addition to pocket-size employment concern owners, in addition to the degree of global professionals working inward manufacture equally reservists. Scientific literacy is non required to pattern a solution in addition to gibe it to a requirement. What is required is a passionate wishing to solve complex problems through innovative experimentation.
The 3rd management essential is to apply employment concern processes to novel technologies. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 employment concern procedure is a beginning-to-end progression of tasks that culminates with valued added to a customer. It incorporates an innovation model but also expands to strategic development, fiscal capital, in addition to employment concern portfolios. Inputs to the employment concern procedure are identified which volition increase value. Automating the employment concern procedure through the application of tools volition ensure a measure flat of performance. It volition also ensure measure production of measures of effectiveness in addition to mutual operating pictures to ensure all members are operating equally efficiently equally possible. Just equally the iterative steps inside an innovation model are tempting to discard inward a wildcat innovation ecosystem where “everything is a revolution,” so likewise are employment concern processes they are attempting to circumvent. But employment concern processes volition ensure that of import tasks required to add together value to the cease user are non neglected.
Conclusion
Individual productivity, the diffusion of technologies, economical growth, in addition to the enlightenment inward human affairs each enabled inward a cognition economic scheme volition shape societal progress into in addition to beyond the 21st century. These cognition economies volition resultant inward a changing graphic symbol of piece of work in addition to volition remove hold the most profound number on the Army equally an institution. How this cognition is shared in addition to applied volition ultimately create upwards one's heed the success or failure of the Army’s modernization enterprise. The Army modernization enterprise must suit to seeing things inward a novel way, in addition to opened upwards innovation volition render novel ways to streamline employment concern practices, modify innovation in addition to acquisition concepts, in addition to foster leadership development. But inside the opened upwards innovation ecosystems of America’s nifty cities tending must hold upwards taken non to neglect the gist concepts of innovation. Leaders must empathise that cognition economies campaign innovation, solutions are designed, in addition to innovation is managed. The challenge for the Army inside the cognition economies is to teach useful knowledge, distribute it, in addition to utilization it.
Colonel Clarence J. Henderson is a traditional drilling fellow member of the US Army Reserve. He is assigned to the DAMO-SSW (War Plans), US Pentagon. He is the old commander of the 72nd IBCT in addition to 3-141 IN Battalion in addition to has deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Central America in addition to the U.S./Mexico Border. He holds a BS inward Botany, an MS inward Soil Science from Stephen F. Austin State University in addition to an MSS from the US Army War College. He has been a pocket-size employment concern possessor inward the construction manufacture of Houston, TX for over 20 years.
Views contained inward this postal service do non stand upwards for the US Army, or the Department of Defense.
Notes:
1Peter F. Drucker, “The New Society of Organizations,” Harvard Business Review, September-October 1992, 95-104.
2Henry A. Kissinger, “The Policymaker in addition to the Intellectual,” The Reporter, March 5, 1959, 30.
3Joseph A. Maciariello, Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2014), 71.
4Benjamin Taferner, “A Next Generation of Innovation Models? An Integration of The Innovation Process Model Big Picture Towards the Different Generations of Models,” Review of Innovation in addition to Competitiveness, 3, Issue 3 (2017): 53.
5Joe Tidd, “Innovation Models,” Tanaka Business School, Discussion Paper 1 (2006): 4.
6Army Secretary Mark Esper “Permanent Evolution: Secretary of Army Esper on Futures Command,” May 7, 2018. Breaking Defense, https://breakingdefense.com/2018/05/permanent-evolution-secarmy-esper-on-futures-command-exclusive/ (accessed July 8, 2018).
7Corning Glass Home Page, https://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/innovation/culture-of-innovation.html (accessed August 12, 2018).
8U.S. Department of the Army, Army Innovation Strategy 2017-2021, (Washington, DC: The Office of Business Transformation, 2017), 3.
9Andrew McAfee in addition to Erik Brynjolfsson, “Big Data The Management Revolution,” Harvard Business Review, Winter 2017, 49.
10Danny P. Wallace, Knowledge Management (Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007), 143.
11Eric Schmidt in addition to Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle (with), Holter Graham (read by) “How Google Works,” Hachette Audio, 2014, Disk No. 3, 6/11.
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