No Idea Left Behind

The United States has a rich history of innovation. During the past 244 years, the nation has been a revolutionary powerhouse, fueled by the minds of great inventors—Edison, Einstein, Ford, Morse, and Tesla, to name a few!

Innovation is woven into the very fabric of American society and is supported by the country in numerous ways, often financially. Former President Barack Obama noted its importance in a presidential address, placing creativity and ingenuity “at the heart of who we are and how we succeed.”

Many inventions have been the product of entrepreneurs, inventors, and academics who devoted their lives to the creative process. A surprising amount of innovation, however, can be credited to the “average Joe.” It is for this reason the company 3M launched a 15 percent program in 1948 that offered all employees the use of 15 percent of their paid time toward brainstorming and idea generation. Out of this program came the adhesive used for Post-It Notes, masking and cellophane tape, and more. The 15 percent program is a strategy adopted by many tech companies today. What lies behind its success? As surprising as it may sound, many would credit failure.

How so? Although this view seems counterintuitive, embracing failure alleviates the fear of failing that many people, particularly employees, face. By breaking the habit of fear-based decision-making, arbitrarily placed limits are removed, making way for pressure-free innovation.

Many great minds in history embraced failure as part of the creative process, failing too many times to count before developing a working concept. Even the Wright Brothers had many unsuccessful designs before finally taking flight.

Some people not only embrace failure, they plan for it. Many times, leadership in the Air Force hopes to find failures when testing new technology in order to learn and improve.

While testing the Advanced Battle Management System, Dr. Will Roper, Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisitions, explained this concept, “I hope for the 50-50 split between success and failure … if we have lots of failures, we know what to work on for the next tranche.”

The Air Force is no stranger to innovation. Through military tactics, equipment, and more, the Air Force has brought much efficiency and effectiveness to military procedures. Those innovations are why Air Mobility Command (AMC) wants no idea left behind.

AMC has several outreach programs to help ideas “be seen,” including the annual AMC PHOENIX Spark Competition. This year, AMC encourages idea submission by May 29, and finalists are selected by September 5.

An ongoing effort is also the Air Force Ideation Platform (IdeaScale), which will also be taking submissions. Through IdeaScale, “Airmen and civilians from across the enterprise are encouraged to submit innovative ideas and solutions to improve the AFMC [Air Force Materiel Command] mission.”

The Air Force is no stranger to innovation. Through military tactics, equipment, and more, the Air Force has brought much efficiency and effectiveness to military procedures.

Ideas may be submitted for any mission area. The campaign, however, mainly focuses on gathering submissions with the following themes:

• Leadership: How do we best develop people for the future?
• Culture: What can we do to help move from a culture of risk aversion to one that embraces urgency and innovation?
• Infrastructure: How can we improve our facilities to best support mission needs?
• Communication: How can we better deliver information internally and to our customers?
• Agility Transformation: How can we improve and streamline processes to be more agile in meeting the needs of the National Defense Strategy?

Team Pope’s MSgt Andrew Spaulding, Pope Field, NC, certainly did not shy away from submitting an idea. His idea for a shelter-in-place vent covering, which may be used while sheltering in place during a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear incident, earned him a place as a semi-finalist in the AMC Spark Tank innovation idea competition and could help Airmen preserve time in emergencies and ultimately save lives.

The 2020 Air Mobility Command Phoenix Spark idea that was selected to represent the command at the Air Force level in February is the Digital Aircrew Initiative submitted by Mr. Ward Walker, AMC/A6, HQ AMC, Scott AFB, IL; Capt Christopher Paegelow, 317th Operations Support Squadron, 317th Airlift Wing, Dyess AFB, TX; Maj Justin Poole, 21st Airlift Squadron, 60th Air Mobility Wing, Travis AFB, CA; Maj John Cockburn, Commander’s Action Group, USAF Expeditionary Center, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ; and Maj Stephen Heptig, 305th Air Mobility Wing, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ.

Whether you feel you have the next great idea or even a concept that could spark future innovation, follow in the footsteps of great innovators and do not let the fear of failure hold you back. There is no real failure in innovation, only learning and growth.

Go to https://usaf.ideascalegov.com/a/ideas/recent/campaigns/138 to submit ideas.