Educating Future National Security Leaders at National Defense University’s The Eisenhower School

Educating Future National Security Leaders at National Defense University’s The Eisenhower School

The Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy is one of National Defense University’s five graduate colleges tasked with preparing military officers and federal government and private sector civilians for strategic leadership and success in developing national security strategy.

As former Assistant Professors of Behavioral Science in the Strategic Leadership and Industry Studies Departments, Jim Chapple and Larry Colby have seen first-hand how The Eisenhower School’s work meshes with the capabilities within their own department (Human and Organizational Systems [HOS]), MITRE Labs, and the Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) managed by MITRE.

MOCHA is Way More Than a Drink

MOCHA is Way More Than a Drink

When you launch a project team, what are your go-to methods for kicking off, building cohesion, establishing goals, and delivering value together? If you’ve been thinking about refreshing your toolkit, would you consider a customizable process—with or without steamed milk—to ensure that everyone knows why they are on the project and why it is going to be the best one ever?

Capturing Knowledge for Future Work

Capturing Knowledge for Future Work

Like life, our projects move fast, and it is hard to find the time to stop and look around, causing us to miss insights that could be valuable to future projects. That’s where the Knowledge Harvesting (KH) Framework comes in.

The ROAR Awards: Two Years and Counting

The ROAR Awards: Two Years and Counting

Charles Schmidt worked with his leadership in the Cyber Security Technical Center to figure out ways to incentivize better use of Tech Stature to record outreach activities. The Collaboration & Information Management department in Corporate Operations created the initial ROAR website to record awardees, and the Digital Content and Creative department designed the ROAR ribbons with their roaring lion icon. Thanks to these collective efforts, the Ribbons for Outreach Activity Recognition, or ROAR, was born.

Another Update on the Aviation Industry, with Michael Wells and Bob Brents

Another Update on the Aviation Industry, with Michael Wells and Bob Brents

Air travel has become commonplace to the point where many of us never even think about the wonder of flying on an aircraft or being able to send things around the world over night. And yet every day, countless agencies and individuals around the world move in a coordinated ballet even in the face of a global pandemic. Listen in as MITRE’s own Michael Wells and Bob Brents pull back the curtain on the latest news from the aviation industry and what they’re doing to help keep our economy flying high.

Jen Choi and Josh LeFevre and the power of “Yes, And”

Jen Choi and Josh LeFevre and the power of “Yes, And”

Innovation, much like improv, isn’t easy, but it can be a powerful way to bring people into a conversation they might typically avoid or feel excluded from. In our latest discussion with the Innovation Toolkit Team, Jen and Josh walk us through the power improvisation can have to start these conversations and how they refined their unique approach.

A Faint Silver Lining Emerges From 2020: A Couple of Lessons Learned About Change

A Faint Silver Lining Emerges From 2020: A Couple of Lessons Learned About Change

It’s no secret that change can be difficult and slow, especially when it comes to changes at work. Just this week, I heard an executive say, “Anyone who tells you that change is easy hasn’t done it before.”

Yet this year, many of us have quickly embraced virtual collaboration tools. We’ve all experienced numerous other changes, especially as we untethered from the “40 hour+ work on-site” culture. Why have we been so quick to adopt Zoom, Slack, and Office 365? What can we learn from this recent experience so that we can support our colleagues through future change?

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love (Certain) Public-Private Partnerships

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love (Certain) Public-Private Partnerships

In 2012, The Economist penned an obituary for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The headline: ‘RIPPP’. Eight years later however PPPs are very much alive and the appetite for them has not slowed in spite of high-profile scandals and debates about the commodification of public infrastructure.

PPPs, while diverse and increasingly complex, can most easily be thought of as a long-term contract between a public agency and a private party to execute or operate a project.

Emotional Resilience in Professional Life

Emotional Resilience in Professional Life

Regular sources of stress in our lives can arise from challenges at work, challenges in personal life such as with partnership and parenting, and challenges from societal divisions at home and abroad, among many other factors. With one public crisis after another appearing in the news to add to what’s happening directly in our lives, these stress factors may pile on and conspire to make well-being hard to maintain.

Symptoms, Systems, and Soap

Symptoms, Systems, and Soap

On the evening of April 13, 1970, there was a loud “BAM!”, then “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”

Apollo 13 had “lost” the moon because an oxygen tank explosion that wasn’t predicted caused a series of systems failures in propulsion, electrical power, and life support, and the world focused on how three isolated men over 200,000 miles from Earth would get safely home.

Turkeys vs Swans, with Imanuel Portalatin

Turkeys vs Swans, with Imanuel Portalatin

Despite our modern world, many systems aren’t built with uncertainty in mind. Alas, these unexpected events may become the new normal. Fortunately, Imanuel has been leading the charge to re-examine how we design and implement systems with new approaches that make them more resilient to the unexpected. Listen in as we explore how his work is helping the world prepare for the next natural disaster or global pandemic.

Let’s Maintain Agility After the Coronavirus Crisis

Let’s Maintain Agility After the Coronavirus Crisis

It’s an understatement to say that we’ve all experienced a lot of change during the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the challenges, some positives have come out of this situation, especially when it comes to how federal agencies and other organizations have quickly adapted to keep the government running and work moving. Organizational agility has been a goal for many years now, with numerous agency mission statements highlighting the need for it.

Field of Teams: Building it so They’ll Come with Change Management

Field of Teams: Building it so They’ll Come with Change Management

“Field of Dreams” is a delightful movie. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and curl up on a do-nothing night and watch it. But even if you haven’t seen “Field of Dreams”, I’m sure you’ve heard the most famous line from it, “if you build it, he will come.” But since language is more fluid than the ocean, and changes to suit the context du jour, you more than likely have heard it as, “if you build it, they will come.”

Getting the Most Out of Your Failures

Getting the Most Out of Your Failures

A few days ago, I was taking an exercise class at the gym. The highly motivational instructor often tells the class, “Your goal tonight is to fail! If you get to the point that you can’t do the exercise or lift your weight, then you have achieved your goal of muscle failure!” It got me thinking…

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