technologies. Participation in the CRIC is a collateral duty that does not require a geographic relocation or release from one’s present duty assignments. Each member proposes a project and upon acceptance, shepherds their project to completion. The new members will rotate into the CRIC as current members complete their projects and rotate out. CRIC members regularly meet with leading innovators in the government and civilian sector, and have access to flag-level sponsorship, funding, and a support staff dedicated to turning a member’s vision into reality. Members generally commit about four days per month outside of their regular duties, participating in ideation events and managing their project. Because CRIC membership is project-based, length of membership depends on the duration of the individual’s project but should not exceed 24 months.
CRIC members are provided with modest funding to research, demonstrate, and promote ideas with the potential to have “outsize impact” on the future Navy. The CRIC and similar initiatives hold promise as methods to encourage innovation in the sea services. You can learn more about the CRIC at https://www.facebook.com/navycric.
The need for innovation and adaptation is evident in the Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard, and also throughout the Department of Defense. In mid-November 2014, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the Defense Innovation Initiative as “a Department-wide initiative to pursue innovative ways to sustain and advance our military superiority for the 21st century and improve business operations throughout the Department.” The letter establishing the initiative is included, for ready reference, as the final exhibit in this Wheel Book. One of the first steps taken in launching the initiative was the establishment of the Defense Innovation Marketplace (http://www.defenseinnovationmarketplace.mil) as a clearinghouse and linking tool to connect industry, academia, the scientific and engineering communities, and the DoD workforce to one another for the purpose of exchanging ideas and concepts. While Pentagon initiatives often come and go, it is hoped that this “jump-start of innovative thinking” will result in significant improvements in the way America defends itself in the decades to come.
In the pages that follow this introduction you will find book chapters and articles addressing ways leaders can establish an environment where innovation has a chance to succeed; examples of adaptation successes and failures; and some creative ideas that could shape the Navy of the future. This Wheel Book is divided into four parts:
PART I: The Innovation Imperative, where we review some general thoughts about the impact that innovation and disruptive technology can have on operations in the maritime realm, and how change can be embraced and channeled for future success.
PART II: The Unmanned Revolution, in which we consider the impact that unmanned and robotic systems are having now and will likely have in greater measure in the near future. Many of these systems represent the types of disruptive technologies described by Harvard’s Clayton Christenson: “Products based on disruptive technologies are typically cheaper, smaller, simpler, and frequently, more convenient to use.”9 The first generation of military robotics has already demonstrated that they meet many of these characteristics.
PART III: CYBER, the Most Disruptive Technology, wherein various authors reflect on the all-encompassing threats and opportunities represented by modern society’s dependence on computer-controlled and cyber-linked networks.
PART IV: Thoughts on Possible Futures, where a few specific “outside-the-box” technologies are identified and briefly discussed.
The choice of the articles and chapters reproduced here was extremely difficult, and more than 180 articles published since the year 2000 were initially chosen for consideration. This volume of information speaks to the quality and breadth of discourse that takes place under Naval Institute auspices every year. While no anthology can be exhaustive on any given topic, we hope this compilation is comprehensive enough to engender thoughtful consideration of the subject and that it will spark the intellectual curiosity of the reader.
Change is in your future; how you deal with it is up to you!
Notes
1. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (New York: New American Library, 1952), 49–50.
2. John Hattendorf, Sailors and Scholars (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1984), 8.
3. Strategic Leadership Primer, 3rd Edition (Carlisle, PA: United States Army War College, 2010), 11–12.
4. B. H. Liddell Hart, Thoughts on War (Gloucestershire, UK: Spellmount Publishers, LTD, 1944), 42.
5. Willliamson Murray, Military Adaptation in War (Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analysis, Paper number P-4452, Chapter 8, 2009), 16.
6. Ibid., 26.
7. Ibid., 16.
8. Ibid., 4.
9. Clayton Christenson, The Innovator’s Dilemma (New York: Harper’s Business Review Press, 2013), xviii.
1 “INNOVATION: THE FATHER OF ALL NECESSITY”
(Selection from chapter 13 of The Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes Command at NATO)
ADM James Stavridis, USN (Ret.)
Admiral James Stavridis, USN, is widely recognized as one of the brightest military officers of his generation. He is an operator, a thinker, and a writer who has found ways to express his ideas in print throughout his extremely successful naval career. His reputation for trying new ideas and adapting old ones to meet the requirements of evolving situations are legendary. In this chapter from his recent book, Admiral Stavridis discusses the need for innovation, and some ways in which change can be accommodated within military organizations.
“INNOVATION: THE FATHER OF ALL NECESSITY”
(Selection from chapter 13 of The Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes Command at NATO) by ADM James Stavridis, USN (Ret.) (Naval Institute Press, 2014): 156–66.
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.—Abraham Lincoln
During my years as the supreme allied commander at NATO I kept a sign on my desk visible to everyone who walked into the room. It was another quote from Lincoln: “Nearly all men can stand adversity; if you would test a man’s character, give him power.” This is a truism that applies not just in the military or politics but in every aspect of civil society, and indeed in our families.
I like that quote for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it reminded me every day that jobs steeped in power come with a built-in responsibility to exercise it in responsible, honest, and transparent ways. Second, and more subtly, the quote conveyed to me the ever-present need to overcome the day-to-day challenges—the adversities of the moment that constantly press in on a leader in any
