Disruptive Thinkers… at USNI

The craze started by Ben Kohlmann's essay and was then taken up by me and the legendary Doctrine Man has made its way to the pages of the U.S. Naval Institute blog with a post by LCDR B.J. Armstrong.  As a reminder, you can find all of the disruptive thinkers pieces as they are published by going to this page at SWJ.

There are places and people that have a long tradition of creative thinking, problem solving, and innovation.  A great deal of military innovation throughout history has come from junior and mid-grade officers.  LCDR Claude Berube has documented the Naval Institute’s history of junior officer innovation and the rise of the Institute from a small group of officers on shore duty to a pre-eminent thought center.  There is a movement within USNI that is growing to bring JO’s and mid-grade Officers back to the pages of Proceedings with their innovative thoughts.  This is important, but not enough by itself. 

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Disruptive thinking is, however, the starting point.  We need critical thinking that starts with new ideas and we need to develop those into innovative solutions that are researched and workable.  Just pointing out problems doesn’t get us anywhere.  John Boyd, another great example from Ben’s essay, always did his homework and knew exactly what the staff-pukes were going to ask at the end of his briefs.  Their questions were usually intended to try and derail him or embarrass him.  But, he used his research to set traps for them, using their own questions and lack of homework against them to help push his ideas through the Pentagon bureaucracy.  He wasn’t just disruptive, he had the research done in advance and the solutions ready which made him unstoppable.

Please visit the USNI blog to read more.