Fall cleaning: purging good ideas

Today I started cleaning out my cubicle. I have saved massive amounts of “good ideas” over the past 10 years and this was the time to start purging all the associated paperwork that went with them. I didn’t realize how hard it would be. None of the problems that they address have been solved. To see so much wasted talent that had been poured into those ideas by so many people both inside the community and out saddened me deeply. Especially as the next crop of good ideas are just variations of the same ideas I threw away to solve the same problems that haven’t yet been solved. I have never underestimated the challenges in making innovation happen but now I wonder if transformation of a deeply hierarchical bureaucracy is really possible. If the system doesn’t ultimately win over the talented employees trying to do what is right. I hope that I am wrong but I keep seeing indicators of a return to mediocrity and business as usual instead of working through the challenging change times.

Can innovators and change agents survive in performance-based evaluation systems?

Today I received my first performance-based evaluation. The new system has been much cause for complaint but I was willing to give it a chance. Partly because I have never doubted my ability to perform. I set my own personal objectives and they have always exceeded those set by my employers. I was concerned about the possibility of misuse of the performance-based objectives to drive analytic skills toward mundane bean-counting quotas instead of letting employees rise to brilliance. But I hoped that managers would be able to walk that fine line between abuse and leadership. I was foolish in the extreme to think that such visionary leaders existed. So today I learned that senior leadership in the office drove evaluations to meet a bell-shaped quota of performance scores. And any failure to achieve one objective was cause to drive the score lower to the point that I am in the middle at a 3.5 out 5.0 – merely “successful”. Considering that 95% of my evaluations over my career have been above average, “successful” is a slap in the face.

But what saddens me most is that I consider this  a sign that the job that I do as an innovator and change agent is not considered valuable to accomplishing agency missions (I do not consider it a personal assault on my performance). The very nature of my job is about connecting people, collaborating and sharing knowledge, steering new tradecraft and acting as a catalyst for change. And I have just been told that my work is just average despite an amazing year of making changes in attitudes happen in how multiple organizations look at the national security implications of social media.

As if that is not bad enough, there is a move to standardize performance objectives among people who have very disparate missions. It would be like assigning the same objectives to the salesforce that you assign to the knowledge management team. Both are working toward the same goals to make the organization more effective but they do it very differently. So now I’m wondering what other organizations do to manage and evaluate their innovators and change agents. Can innovators/change agents survive in a performance-based evaluation system where objectives don’t permit agility and ability to innovate. I’d love to hear any experiences that you have had.

I have resisted leaving government like so many are doing because I feel that there needs to be internal change agents with thick skins (and maybe skulls) willing to try to break down walls regardless of how it hurts your career or other aspects of your life. Now I’m beginning to wonder at the value of trying to improve the way we do business. Should I pour out the rest of my life into an organization that cares nothing for its most precious resource – its people? Because I was not the only one being shaped by this bell-curve performance based evaluation process.  I know I won’t give up because it’s not in my nature. But I just wonder what I should do from here. Can I in good conscious continue to fight to improve an organization that fiercely resists the changes needed to transform it.

Are You on the Global Frequency?

I started writing this entry after a talk by John Kao fired up my imagination in late 2007. I have long known of his reputation as an innovative and creative thinker, but never had the opportunity to actually listen to him before. John had recently published a book about innovation as an element of national policy that was missing in the United States. Throughout his talk, he gave us great insights into some of the countries who were embracing innovation at the national level and having great success like Singapore in establishing an international relationship in life sciences innovation to include luring top talent away from their respective countries like the former director of the NIH or Stanford’s Medical College. By the time he was done, I was ready to apply even though it’s been a long time since I finished my degree in biological sciences.

“Are you on the Global Frequency” actually refers to a question that was asked during the final Q&A session about where the Intelligence Community (IC) should go – what should be the IC’s vision. John had referenced the vision put forth by Warren Ellis in his amazing book called “Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze” earlier as a means of visually communicating the story and the need for innovation. He went on to talk about the birth of the IC as a wave of innovation itself after World War II that has been forged into a deep hierarchy since then. He had no ready answers but suggested that looking to the Global Frequency to find answers.

So I picked up the book right before Christmas. Least you think this is a standard “five-steps and you’ve got it” book, guess again. This is an action packed, professionally illustrated graphic novel (aka adult comicbook) with great artwork and a scarcity of words that leaves a lot to the interpretative imagination of the reader/viewer. After reading both graphic novels, I began to wonder how it could apply. It seems to me that the concepts behind the Global Frequency include the collective intelligence of a global organization of 1001 deeply specialized experts in far-ranging skills from bio-weapons engineering to Le Parkour Runnng who are tied together by an amazing global communications system. When the call goes out to activate select members, they are “on the global frequency” and ready for action whether that includes advising a group on some aspect of an operation or conducting the actual operation itself. Members are selected when the problem arises based on the nature of the problem or threat and the unique skills of those members selected. At the heart is a centralized hub/knowledge base with access to global information run by one of the members (known as Aleph) with special skills known as “superprocessing” (handling separate inputs while performing multiple complex tasks and running deductive strings) and a true leader (vice inadequately trained manager) with a deep grasp of human nature who gets involved without getting in the way. All of them are tied together by their passionate willingness to accomplish their mission even to the point of sacrificing their lives.

Now some of what happens in the novel is unrealistic in relation to the role of the US Intelligence Community and seems a little hard to think about how it might transition into reality. Until you start thinking about concepts like Knowledge Ecosystems with extentions into virtual worlds that David Bray had been researching while at Emory University. Finally I had a chance to begin to look at some of his papers and found his video on National Security Projection 2019 . And while the video doesn’t take you into the graphic novel or virtual world, it does remind you of where we may be trying to go with the Intelligence Community and possibly even farther into full partnership in a global organization where we connect with partners in plans, policy, operations, research and acquisition as well as the more normal partnerships in intelligence analysis. Some of that is starting to unfold on various government domains (e.g. Intelink, A-Space, Bridge) and as a result of connections through social media that are creating new communities and networks for everything from disaster relief to grass roots activism to health reporting. A lot of hard work and challenges lie ahead to achieve a vision of a global collective intelligence that is “on the global frequency” and focused on the good of all. But won’t it be fun when the story of all our efforts gets written not in a graphic novel but a virtual world that is globally connected at multiple security levels.

Thoughts on the OGI panel on Securing Web 2.0 and Social Media

While I couldn’t attend the first day of the Open Government and Innovations (OGI) conference, I was disappointed in Day 2. I won’t dwell on my overall feelings; I thought that Jaime Maynard did an excellent job in detailing the problems in her blog. However, I would like to talk about the panel on Securing Web2.0 and Social Media. This is an extremely important topic that has not been addressed in many forums to date. I was looking forward to learning about government initiatives and possible solutions for some pretty big challenges. Unfortunately, the panel did not seem prepared to discuss much of anything leaving it to the audience to discuss. I walked away frustrated by what seemed to be continuing government inertia and in several cases industry arrogance toward audience questions. So I think it is important to provide some thoughts on what I would have liked to see in a panel on “Securing web 2.0 and social media”. I would have liked to see the ODNI rep give a good threat briefing. Some folks are not aware of the implications of social media. Mr. Mark Morrison did mention one fact but that was late into the discussions. If a good threat briefing was needed, DIA recently gave one at the DoDIIS Worldwide conference that has been written up several times (see ciozone.com review or GCN article ). It would need to be expanded to include some stats on things like ddos,phishing attacks and other internet security problems in addition to social media. But that would have been easy to do. And this type of briefing would have set the stage for the next set of discussions hopefully led by NIST on challenges and government actions (e.g. setting standards, the subcommittee under the Federal CIO’s Council chaired by DHS), current government initiatives (e.g.case studies from govt agencies) followed by the industry response with both how industry can support/is supporting and how they are handling their own internal security issues. Then it could have been opened up to the audience to add challenges and their own initiatives, ask questions and suggest ideas. If handled well, the audience could have come away with some lessons learned and perhaps started to develop a roadmap.  Ideally one of the government initiatives would have been to start the equivalent of “security.gov” (similar in nature to data.gov or recovery.gov) as a starting point where both the American public and government could go to share lessons learned, report problems, and look for solutions.

“Knowledge Artists”

Earlier today Lewis Shepherd  commented on a blog post that I had written last year.  In that comment he proposed  ”Knowledge Artist” as a better phrase or term than “knowledge worker” or “information worker,” to describe people who work in information-dense but critically informed, pensive environments, whether it’s in the Beltway, on Wall Street, or in a media-centric career. …… better than “knowledge worker,” with its tone of drudgery and labor….”

The idea of being a “knowledge artist” intrigues, inspires and excites me since I think the term probably describes the holistic nature of what I am trying to do better than the phrase  knowledge worker.  That doesn’t mean that a knowledge artist does not experience drudgery at time but uses both art and science to weave many components together to create, use and share knowledge.  My focus tends to be on the visual which is where my personal artistic skills are concentrated.  But art takes many forms.  I have been inspired by John Kao’s discussion of innovation and creativity in his book “Jamming” where he talks about his experiences as a jazz musician.  And I have resonated to David Whyte’s ideas on the use of poetry in corporate America (see his book “The Heart Aroused – Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America”).  I also found Daniel Pink’s book on “A Whole New Mind” enlightening as he looks at skill sets generally designated as right-brained (versus the logical left side of the brain) that have been undervalued.  I started this blog to start discussing these kinds of thoughts to see how we could balance logic with emotion in a way that helps inform intuition (the “ah-ha moment”) and yet cross-checks the imagination.  

I have no idea where this journey to understand “knowledge artists” will be going, but it should be filled with learning and creativity even if the term turns out to be invalid.   I will look forward to hearing all your ideas along the way.

Georgia OKeefe’s desert

Where to start?  Last fall I spent a week at Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, New Mexico on an art retreat.  The land was alive with stark contrasts from the unexpectedly green floor where plants and lichen bloomed after too much rainfall to unusual rock formations that sometimes seemed alive.   I was part of a small group learning how to communicate spiritually through art using mandelas to contain our expressions.  We used everything from paper to the desert to create these mandelas.  Below the Rock Owl,  I was able to build a stone mandela around a rock altar that someone had built before we came.  As I worked in the desert gathering stones and materials to incorporate into my mandela, the Rock Owl watched over my movements just as it had watched over the happenings of the desert for many years.  It was a magical moment where I could feel part of the land while I communed quietly with God exalting in the beauty and majesty of the world that had been created for us.   

Hello world! (I just love this introduction)

I can’t think of a better title to start my WordPress blogging experience.  I am not new to blogging, although most of it has been done on an antiquated internal lan where I work.  So I am looking forward to moving out into the world in search of new knowledge and irreverant flotsam (aka junk) to create new art.