I live in the Venn diagram overlap between Intelligence work and innovation, and blog irregularly about things I think are important for both. A friend of mine who’s both US Army and extremely creative (it happens!) came up with the name for the blog.
Regardless of what my resume shows, what I’ve learned to be over the last 20 years is a professional irritant. I’ve learned how to be the burr under the saddle blanket that keeps the organization from getting too comfortable and relaxing. I’ve learned from my successes and my failures when it’s not worth the fight, when it is worth the fight, and how to approach it when that needs to happen. There are concrete programs that I can point to and say I helped build that, but I still don’t think of myself as an innovator.
I’m a lot of things. I’m a storyteller and a graphic designer. I’m a facilitator and a friend. Ivan orbiter of the giant hairball and a professional outsider. I’m a science shaman, acting as the intermediary between my tribe and the shadowy uncertainties beyond the firelight.
I’m a connector and an amplifier. I’m an analyst and a synthesist, a Creator and a critic. But mostly I’m a guide. It’s you. You are the innovator.
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